Sacrilege! Yes, the 2018 Holden Commodore uses an all-wheel drive system for the flagship version. But it appears the nameplate will still be able to power oversteer.

Holden’s European cousin Opel has released a video of its new Insignia Grand Sport 4×4 –essentially a Commodore SV6 replacement Down Under – being able to power oversteer, with handling and an all-wheel drive design that largely mirrors that of the Ford Focus RS.

Andreas and Insignia

“[With] the new all-wheel drive system … two clutches replace the rear differential, and this enables torque vectoring,” he starts.

“The pre-emptive function allowing the all-wheel drive system to react even before the engine delivered torque to the rear. The yaw-damping function stabilises the vehicle in oversteer and understeer situations. This increases safety and delivers great driving fun.”

sports driving mode

“That’s really fun.”

graph display

Holden hinted that it has some tricks in store for its VF Series II sedan replacement, the ‘New Generation’ or NG Commodore version of the Opel Insignia, both of which from next year will be produced in Germany.

Insignia Grand Sport 4x4 overtsteering

It has also been revealed that the Insignia Grand Sport 4×4 weighs 1649kg.

brembo brakes

The Commodore V6 AWD also will be the only model tuned at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria – home to four decades of the nameplate’s development since 1978. It gives us some hope that the local arm might be able to include an even more rear-wheel driven mode than the Insignia’s Sport, but either way this is no boring all-paw system.