Honouring the Last Monaro

The last Monaro featured special embossed wheels, leather seats, colour accents and security Data Dot technology on the major body panels. Melbourne show goers finally got to see in the flesh the fabulous retro EFIJY coupe that stole last year's Sydney motor show.

As in Sydney the retro FJ was a show stopper, and again there were no shortage of offers to buy it! On the technology front Holden announced the welcome introduction of a turbo diesel engine to the Astra five-door hatch. The 1.9-litre turbo engine will be mated to a six-speed manual producing 110kW of power at 4000 rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2000 rpm. An optional six-speed auto transmission is available, with the engine producing 88kW of power and 380Nm of torque. The new engine variant will be introduced mid-year. Also on display were various VZ Commodore models, all featuring the new 6.0-litre alloy V8 engine, which delivers 260kW of power and 510Nm of torque.