Number’s up for special edition Commodores

HOLDEN has given buyers of its swansong special-edition Commodores, consisting of the Motorsport Edition, Magnum and Director, the opportunity to select the build number for their car.

Owners of the sold-out special-edition vehicles were directed to a build number selection website, which 15 minutes after going live had taken reservations for 50 per cent of build numbers, which increased to 80 per cent after three hours.

As reported, 1200 examples of the Motorsport Edition are being built for Australia, as well as 240 of the Magnum ute and 360 of the Calais-based Director.

Any owners who are yet to confirm their build number have until midday on May 10 to do so. Selection is available for those who bought their Commodore before April 24.

The Commodore special treatment is not just for buyers of the limited-edition versions, with all buyers of 2017 Commodores being provided with photographs on their car on the production line in Elizabeth, South Australia.

Photos can also be downloaded via an email link provided by Holden, however the photos are sent after the car has already been delivered.

Holden CRM manager Rich Wright said that the number allocation service provided a unique experience for special-edition Commodore buyers.

“Providing a customer experience that’s over and above all expectations is critical for us and the feedback we’ve had from these two initiatives so far has been phenomenal,” he said.

“One minute before the Special Edition build number selection website went live we had over 1,000people waiting for it to open and three hours later almost 80% of numbers for sold cars had been claimed.

“We’ve seen some definite trends in number popularity. For example all of the first 200 and last100 Motorsport Edition numbers have gone as well as all double and triple digits like 55 or 555. It’sbeen great to watch.”

So far in 2017 Holden has sold 7048 Commodores, comfortably the best-selling sub-$70,000 large sedan ahead of the Toyota Aurion (865) and Skoda Superb (284).

It is down 12.3 per cent over the same period last year, when it moved 8040 units. Production of the Australian-built Commodore ends in October this year and it will be replaced by an European-sourced model from early 2018.