Holden VF Commodore ute revealed

Holden has confirmed that all three Commodore body styles - sedan, Sportwagon and Ute - will go on sale at the same time. This bucks the recent trend of performance, and particularly commercial, models being released later than their sedan counterparts.

At present, the VF range - including utes - is undergoing customer quality and on-road engineering evaluation programs around Australia. Holden engineers will conduct more than 1.4 million kilometres of local and overseas validation testing before the first VF Commodore reaches Holden showrooms. This includes 350,000 kilometres of customer verification testing of early production models by Holden employees over the coming months.

Since the evaluation program's inception in 2009, Holden has introduced a range of new measures to ensure the 2013 VF Commodore exceeds customer expectations.

Holden Chief Engineer Brett Vivian said customer experiences of Holden and competitor products were front loaded into the VF program planning from the very beginning.

"The insights we've gained from customer feedback have played a critical role in shaping the VF program, resulting in a fantastic-looking car that is the most refined Commodore we've ever engineered. It's also packed full of features and technology that take the driving experience to new levels.

"We've put VF through its paces around the globe - from Sweden to North America to the Middle East, but the most critical testing is the thousands of evaluation kilometres we cover on local roads in Australia.

"Whether sedan, Sportwagon or Ute, the new VF is a car we can all be very proud of - it's a truly great drive."

The SSV Ute (pictured) will be joined by entry-level variants, but engine and transmission options, load rating, specs and additional features won't be announced until closer to the June/July release date for the entire VF Commodore range.

Images: courtesy of Holden