Monaro or Monza? Holden faces a coupe conundrum

THE Holden Monza could be a reality by 2018 as the local arm of General Motors shores up its next sports car. The name was last on the bootlid of a Holden when Peter Brock’s Holden Dealer Team produced two V8 coupes in 1984, based on the Opel Monza coupe.

General Motors has trademarked the name ‘Monza’ for use in Australia, the name given to a stunning, be-winged two-door concept car shown by German arm Opel in 2014. Opel had been on sale in its own right in Australia from August 2012, but GM suddenly closed the Aussie arm of the brand after 12 months. Importantly, this trademark application was filed well after Opel shut its doors Down Under.

That means that this name is not for an Opel-badged model in Australia, but more likely a performance model wearing the Holden lion up front.

GM’s Stefan Jacoby, vice-president of Consolidated International Holdings in Singapore that oversees the Australian operations, confirmed to Wheels in March that the Australian carmaker would offer a desirable model in the wake of its locally made performance Commodore disappearing from showrooms in the wake of the closure of its Australian manufacturing arm. “We will bring a Holden sports car in the near future,” he told Wheels. “It will be something which truly fulfils the requirements of a genuine Holden sports car.”

The Monza name hasn't been seen on a two-door Holden since Peter Brock produced several Holden Dealer Team Monza coupes in 1984. Based on the two-door Opel Monza, which used the same platform as the VK Commodore that was in showrooms at the time, the racing legend fitted them with Holden 5.0-litre V8 engines in what became his vision of a Commodore coupe.

The HDT Monza graced the cover of Wheels in May 1984, but only two were built and the model didn't become a full-time member of Brock's operations, which at the time was Australia's "sixth-largest car manufacturer".

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