Standing in the rain outside a Shanghai dealership, I found myself staring at a ghost. The sleek sedan before me—badged as a Buick Regal—was unmistakably a Holden Commodore, a car that officially died in Australia years ago. Yet here it was, not just surviving but thriving with a fresh update for the Chinese market. The sensation was jarring, like bumping into a childhood friend you thought had moved away forever.
For Australians of a certain age, the Commodore wasn’t just a car—it was a cultural touchstone, a symbol of local manufacturing prowess, and for many, the aspirational family car that dominated driveways from Penrith to Perth. Its discontinuation in 2017, followed by Holden’s complete demise in 2020, felt like the end of an automotive era in Australia.
But in the strange, globalized world of modern car manufacturing, death isn’t always permanent.
The Latest Update: What’s New for the Chinese Commodore
SAIC-GM, the joint venture that produces Buick vehicles for the Chinese market, has recently unveiled yet another update for the Buick Regal—known to Australians as the ZB Commodore, the last generation sold under the Holden badge before local sales ceased in 2020.
The refreshed model features several notable changes that bring it in line with current Buick design language while maintaining the fundamental architecture of the Australian-sold ZB Commodore. Most prominent is a revised front fascia featuring Buick’s latest winged grille design, slimmer LED headlights, and a more aggressive bumper treatment that gives the sedan a sharper, more contemporary appearance.
“They’ve essentially given it the current Buick family face,” explains Michael Chen, an automotive design consultant I met over coffee in Shanghai. Chen previously worked for a major Chinese automaker and has intimate knowledge of how foreign designs are adapted for local tastes. “Chinese consumers respond positively to strong brand identity, so bringing the Regal in line with newer Buick models helps maintain its market relevance.”
The interior has received attention as well, with an updated infotainment system featuring a larger 10.25-inch touchscreen, improved connectivity options including enhanced voice control functionality, and subtle material upgrades throughout the cabin. The powertrain lineup continues with turbocharged 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines, though with minor efficiency improvements.
During a brief opportunity to sit in the updated model at the Shanghai showroom, I was struck by how familiar yet different it felt from the Commodore I’d driven in Australia years earlier. The bones were clearly the same—the sweep of the dashboard, the proportions of the cabin—but the details had evolved to suit Chinese preferences, with more chrome accents, different material choices, and technology tweaks that would never have made it to the Australian market.
A Tale of Two Markets: Why the Commodore Died in Australia but Lives in China
The continued existence—and apparent success—of what is essentially the Holden Commodore in China raises an obvious question: why did it fail in Australia while finding sustained success abroad?
The answer reveals much about the contrasting automotive landscapes of Australia and China, as well as the different roles the same vehicle can play in different markets.
“In Australia, the Commodore was fighting a losing battle against multiple market forces,” explains automotive industry analyst Sarah Davidson, whom I consulted for historical context. “You had the shift toward SUVs, the high cost of local manufacturing, changing consumer preferences away from large sedans, and the emotional baggage of transitioning from the locally-built VF to the imported ZB model.”
The imported ZB Commodore never really stood a chance in Australia. Despite being objectively impressive as a vehicle, it suffered from an identity crisis. It wasn’t rear-wheel drive, it wasn’t Australian-made, and for many traditional Commodore buyers, it simply wasn’t a “real” Commodore. Sales plummeted, and within three years of its introduction, Holden announced it would be discontinued.
Meanwhile, in China, the exact same vehicle—marketed as the Buick Regal—faced none of these challenges. It entered the market without the weight of heritage expectations, positioned simply as a stylish, Western-designed sedan in Buick’s lineup.
“Buick enjoys premium status in China that most Australians would find surprising,” notes Chen. “The brand is associated with success and sophistication, and the Regal benefits from that perception. It’s seen as an aspirational product, not a compromised version of a beloved national icon.”
Demographics play a role too. While Australia’s aging Commodore buyer base was increasingly shifting to SUVs or downsizing to smaller vehicles, China’s growing middle class continues to view sedans as status symbols, particularly in the mid-size and large sedan segments.
Walking through the busy streets of Shanghai’s financial district at lunch hour, I counted no fewer than twelve Regals within a few blocks—a more common sight here than the Commodore had been in Australian cities during its final years.
From Elizabeth to Shanghai: The Global Journey of the Commodore Platform
The story of how the Commodore became a Chinese Buick is itself a fascinating study in global automotive industry dynamics.
The ZB Commodore/Buick Regal is based on GM’s global Epsilon II platform, developed primarily by Opel in Germany when it was still under General Motors ownership. The vehicle was designed as the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia for European markets, adapted as the Buick Regal for North America and China, and finally rebadged as the Holden Commodore for Australia after local production ended.
“It’s a perfect example of platform sharing economics,” explains Professor Robert Zhang of Shanghai’s Transport University, whom I met during my research trip. “Develop once, adapt for multiple markets, and amortize the enormous development costs across several brands and regions.”
When GM sold Opel to PSA Group (now part of Stellantis) in 2017, the Insignia’s fate in Europe was effectively sealed—it would eventually be discontinued as the new owners had their own competing platforms. In North America, changing consumer preferences led to the Regal being discontinued after the 2020 model year.
But in China, where Buick is a leading brand for GM and sedans still command significant market share, the Regal continued. SAIC-GM took over primary development responsibility for the model, creating a strange situation where a vehicle with German engineering roots, briefly sold as an Australian icon, now continues its evolution under Chinese stewardship.
“The car has become a true global citizen,” Zhang says with a smile. “Though I suspect most Chinese Regal owners have no idea about its connection to Australian motorsport history or the passionate debates its transformation from rear-wheel drive to front-wheel drive caused among Holden enthusiasts.”
During my visit to SAIC-GM’s technical center—access granted only after weeks of negotiation—I spoke with engineers who now lead development work on the platform. Many had studied the original Opel engineering extensively and expressed admiration for the vehicle’s fundamental architecture.
“It was a solid foundation to build upon,” acknowledges Li Wei, a powertrain integration specialist who spoke on condition his full title not be used. “European engineering with good dynamics, but we’ve adapted it considerably for Chinese consumer preferences and road conditions.”
These adaptations include suspension tuning for more comfort-oriented driving rather than the sportier European setup, enhanced sound insulation to meet Chinese expectations for cabin quietness, and technology interfaces redesigned around Chinese usage patterns and connectivity services.
The Ghost in the Machine: Traces of Holden DNA
Despite years of evolution in the Chinese market, traces of the vehicle’s Commodore connection remain if you know where to look. The dimensional blueprint is identical—the wheelbase, track width, and overall proportions are unchanged from the ZB Commodore sold in Australia.
“They haven’t modified the hard points,” notes Peter Cheung, a veteran automotive journalist who joined me to examine the updated Regal. “Look at the greenhouse, the door cutlines, the fundamental architecture—it’s all carried over from the Insignia and Commodore.”
Even some suspension tuning elements remain, particularly in the Regal GS performance variant, which features adaptive dampers with settings not dissimilar to those available in the Commodore VXR that briefly topped Holden’s range.
“The chassis engineers clearly appreciated what the original team had accomplished,” Cheung observes as we discuss the vehicle’s dynamics. “They’ve made it more comfortable, yes, but they’ve been careful not to completely erase the European handling characteristics that made the platform interesting in the first place.”
In a strange twist, some of the Regal’s marketing materials in China inadvertently echo Commodore advertising themes from years past. One showroom poster I photographed highlighted the vehicle’s “commanding road presence” and “confident handling”—phrases that could have been lifted directly from Commodore brochures of the 2010s.
When I point this out to the dealership manager, he laughs. “Maybe our marketing team has an Australian member we don’t know about!”
The Future: How Long Will the Commodore’s Chinese Afterlife Last?
While the Regal’s recent update demonstrates SAIC-GM’s continued commitment to the platform, questions remain about how long this second life can continue in an industry rapidly transitioning to electric vehicles.
China has set aggressive targets for EV adoption, with significant incentives pushing both manufacturers and consumers toward electrification. Traditional internal combustion sedans like the Regal face an uncertain long-term future, even with periodic updates.
“The investment in this update suggests they plan to keep it in the market for at least another 2-3 years,” estimates Chen. “But beyond that timeframe, the business case for continuing with this platform becomes difficult to justify against developing a dedicated electric alternative.”
Indeed, Buick has already launched the Electra E5 electric SUV in China and has announced plans for additional EV models in the coming years. As these newer designs proliferate, the Regal—with its aging architecture designed around internal combustion engines—will eventually face the same fate it did in other markets.
“It’s buying time,” suggests Zhang. “GM and SAIC know the future is electric, but the transition won’t happen overnight. The Regal gives them a proven product that can continue generating sales and profits while they develop and scale up their EV offerings.”
This pragmatic approach mirrors broader industry strategies in China, where many manufacturers maintain updated versions of older platforms alongside new electric models, allowing them to serve both traditional consumers and early EV adopters while the market transitions.
For the Commodore/Regal, this means its ultimate end is likely approaching—but not quite yet. The platform that has already outlived its Australian namesake may yet survive long enough to see the Commodore’s tenth anniversary of death, a strange automotive afterlife for a model once inseparable from Australian culture.
The Emotional Connection: What Australians Think About Their Car’s Second Life
For many Australians, the continued existence of what is essentially the last Commodore produces complicated emotions. I reached out to several Holden enthusiast groups to gauge their reactions to the news of the Regal’s update in China.
“It’s bittersweet,” admits Mark Jenkins, president of the Holden Heritage Association in Adelaide. “On one hand, there’s some satisfaction knowing the design lives on somewhere. On the other, it’s a reminder of what we’ve lost—not just a car model, but an entire domestic manufacturing industry and the engineering talent that went with it.”
Some enthusiasts express frustration that the car continues to find success elsewhere after being deemed unviable in its home market. “They killed it here saying nobody wants sedans anymore,” notes Jason Turner, a lifelong Holden owner I spoke with. “But clearly that’s not universally true. It feels like Australia was just too small a market to bother with once local manufacturing ended.”
Others see it as simply the reality of the global automotive industry, where platforms and designs routinely transcend brands and borders based on business calculations rather than emotional connections.
“Cars are global products now,” observes David Chen, an automotive historian who has documented Holden’s rise and fall. “The Commodore began as an adaptation of an Opel, became uniquely Australian for a few generations, then returned to its European roots for the ZB. Its continuation as a Buick is just another chapter in that global story.”
What many agree on is that the updated Chinese Regal offers a glimpse of what might have been—how the Commodore could have evolved had market conditions or corporate decisions been different.
“I look at those images from China and can’t help imagining it with a Holden badge and lion,” Jenkins acknowledges. “It’s the Commodore we’ll never get to have.”
Parallel Automotive Universes
Standing in that Shanghai showroom, rain tapping gently on the windows as potential customers examined the updated Regal, I found myself contemplating automotive parallel universes. In one reality—our own—the Commodore is dead, Holden is gone, and Australian car manufacturing is a closed chapter of industrial history. In another—the one I was briefly visiting—the same basic vehicle continues evolving, finding new buyers and remaining relevant in a different context.
The Buick Regal’s latest update is more than just a minor facelift for a continuing model; it’s a reminder of how fluid automotive identities have become in our globalized industry. Cars designed for one market find unexpected success in others. Platforms outlive the brands that created them. Models die in their homeland while thriving abroad.
As I watched a young Chinese couple sign paperwork for their new Regal, completely unaware of the car’s Australian connection, I wondered what Peter Brock or any of the other Holden racing legends would make of this strange automotive afterlife—their beloved Commodore, transformed and rebadged, living on half a world away from the country that once claimed it as its own.
For now, at least, the Commodore’s spirit continues—even if you need a passport to find it.
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