UPDATE: The 2014 Chevrolet SS has been confirmed as the VF Holden Commodore. Click here for all the details.
A prototype for the facelifted VF Holden Commodore has been spotted testing in Australia ahead of its local launch pegged for early next year.
While it’s normal for Holden to test vehicles on public roads in Australia, a close inspection of an image of the prototype that was posted on CarsGuide reveals that Holden engineers are testing a left-hand drive model.
With Australia being a right-hand drive market, the engineers are clearly testing a model for export.
Holden does export left-hand drive versions of the Commodore to markets such as the Middle-East, where they are sold as Chevrolet Luminas like the one pictured above, but according to one of the people that saw the prototype, Holden was testing it alongside a Dodge Charger which is only sold in North America.
GM has confirmed that it plans to launch a new nameplate for its Chevrolet brand next year, a nameplate that it will also use as the replacement for the Impala in NASCAR. Many have suggested that the new nameplate will be for an American version of the Holden Commodore sedan, a car previously sold in the States as the Pontiac G8, and a slip on GM’s own OnStar vehicle compatibility guide in April revealed that a new model dubbed the “SS Performance” will be joining Chevy’s lineup for the 2014 model year.
Thus, the upcoming VF Holden Commodore is expected to be sold in the U.S. as a 2014 Chevy SS, in limited numbers and positioned as the bowtie brand’s performance flagship. It will most likely debut with the same 426-horsepower 6.2-liter V-8 found in the Camaro SS, a vehicle with which it shares a platform. If sales prove successful, there’s a chance that GM may even start production of the car’s successor in North America, paving the way for even more variants to be launched such as a utility and wagon.
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