Holden Commodore lives on in China as a Buick

The Holden Commodore lives on in China – but under another name, and not as we knew it.

When the homegrown Holden Commodore reached the end of the Australian production line in 2017 – after a 39-year run that started in 1978 – it was replaced by a sedan built by General Motors' European division Opel in Germany.

From 2017 to 2020 the 'Holden Commodore' sold in Australia was in fact a rebadged Opel Insignia – which was also marketed in the US as a Buick Regal.

The car was axed by Holden and Buick before the end of its tenure due to declining sedan sales – just months before the entire Holden operation was shut down in Australia.

But the car Australians last knew as a Holden Commodore remains on sale in China as the Buick Regal – and has just been given a bold new nose.

Although the vehicle is now more than seven years old – and the rest of the bodywork and the interior are unchanged – it is still being marketed as a new model in China.

The engines are also the same as before. Unlike the V6 and V8 engines that powered the homegrown Holden Commodore, the new Buick Regal for China has a choice of 1.5-litre or 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines.

Little other information is available at this time, however photos on Chinese motoring websites show what appears to be the first examples arriving in local showrooms.

Holden announced its shock exit from Australia in early 2020 and closed its doors by the end of the year, after shutting its Adelaide assembly line in October 2017.

Holden sales went into freefall once local production ended and the company never recovered.

Many Holden dealers switched to selling MG cars from China. In a strange coincidence, in the lead-up to its exit, Holden had secretly canvassed the idea of selling rebadged MG models as Holden cars as a way to reverse its sales slide.

But MG didn't need Holden's help. The Chinese brand sold 49,500 cars in Australia last year. In Holden's last full year on sale in Australia – in 2019 – it sold 43,000 vehicles.

Above: The last generation 'Holden Commodore' sold in Australia from 2017 to 2020 was a rebadged Opel Insignia from Europe.