Holden's revival rides on VF

Will this car recapture the interest of the Australian car buyer?

It certainly has all the features people want in a car and it is a good-looking vehicle with a level of luxury we have not seen in an Australian-built sedan.

The new VF Commodore, which was revealed at a lavish function in Melbourne's Docklands yesterday, will be the most sophisticated, technologically advanced car built in Australia.

It has been launched at a time when Australians have turned their backs on the large, traditional Australian-built family car.

The SUV has become the car of choice for those wanting a bigger vehicle, while many families are downsizing into smaller, better equipped and more economical sedans and hatches from Europe, Japan and Korea.

But Holden believes it now has a car that offers all of the features Australians have identified as important.

It is certainly the case for the top-of-the-range Calais V revealed yesterday.

It will come with features such as head-up display, automatic park assist and one of the most advanced infotainment systems available.

Features that are expected to become standard across the range include lane departure warning, forward collision alert, blind spot alert and reverse traffic alert that warns the driver of passing traffic when reversing out of a parking spot.

The quality of materials and finish of the all-new interior are also vastly improved.

It is also one of the best-looking cars to come out of Holden's Elizabeth production plant in South Australia.

But whether that is going to be enough to turn around falling sales of our once-favourite car will not be known for several months.

The heavily revised VF will go on sale in June.

_The Weekend West _will bring you all the details of the iconic sedan, including photos and details of the sporty SS-V, in WestWheels on Saturday.