Iconic Holden Commodore turns 30

The iconic Holden Commodore has turned 30 and among those invited to celebrate was
one of the people who helped design it for Australian roads.
Director of design at GM Holden during the development of the original VB Commodore,
Leo Pruneau, admitted Saturday was a bit like celebrating the birthday of one of his
children.
"It was a terrific time to be at Holden and it was a terrific project to work on,"
he reminisced.
"Even though there were a lot of ups and downs and ins and outs, which always
happens, it was a lot of fun."
Mr Pruneau said that at the time his brief was to create a car to replace the
Kingswood as Holden's leading family car, something for both city and country
drivers.
Not even he could imagine the success of the car, which has been Australia's
best-selling passenger vehicle for the past 12 years, with 2.5 million built since
the first one rolled off the line on October 25, 1978.
So far this year 37,505 have been sold. This puts the Commodore more than 700
vehicles ahead of the next largest seller.
The current design director of GM Holden, Tony Stolfo, said he was confident the
Commodore would continue to evolve and celebrate another 30 years.
"The family household might be getting smaller, but there is still the desire to
have a driver's car, the ability to fit five passengers in a vehicle with a big boot
to travel longer distances," he said.