Talk:Holden Royale

Email from Holden

To try and end some of the confusion about these cars, I have emailed Holden (who in turn spoke to Holden New Zealand).

Original reply:

Thanks for your email regarding information about the Holden Royale.

We advise, to this point we have not located any information in our records about these models, however we will enquire further internally and reply to you in due course.

Should you need to contact the Holden Customer Assistance Centre, please refer to the case reference number mentioned above.

Yours sincerely,

Jeff Calvert

Holden Customer Assistance Centre

I have since received the following reply:

We advise, we have had a response from Holden New Zealand, to your Commodore Royale enquiry.

They advised they now have no records of these vehicle, however they have provided information, relying purely from "memory" so, in a nutshell, we can't guarantee the accuracy of the information provided.

The information was been added in blue to your original email, so we will mark each addition with a double asterisk **

Please see your original email with additions, as follows:-

*** ***

Hi, I am emailing to get information regarding the "Holden Royale" or "Holden Commodore Royale". This was a New Zealand-only model. On the web, this is what I have found so far (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Royale): Holden VH Commodore Royale (1981–1984): badge engineered Holden VH Commodore SL/E sedan, built and sold exclusively in New Zealand. These VH models were fitted with the 1.9 litre Starfire: four-cylinder mated to either a five-speed manual or three-speed automatic.

** Correct - don't know if sold in Aust

Holden VK Commodore Royale (1984–1987): badge engineered Holden VK - Calais sedan

** Royale sold in NZ in both 4 and 6 cylinder, car was reasonably high spec but can't comment on Calais spec

built and sold exclusively in New Zealand. VK Calais in both Australia and New Zealand were fitted with either the three-speed automatic-only 3.3 litre Black straight-six or 5.0 litre Holden V8. Royales however, featured the 1.9 litre Starfire: engine from the VH or the optional 3.3 litre six. Unique 13 inch alloy wheels were also fitted along with several other minor detail changes.

** 13" wheels for four cylinder & 14" for 6 cylinder as per all VK product

Holden VL Commodore Royale (1987–1989): badge engineered Holden VL Commodore sedan, built and sold exclusively in New Zealand. The VL Royale was sold alongside the more upmarket VL Calais, but did not share its unique semi-concealed headlamps and rear disc brakes. If keyless entry. was specified, it was fitted by Remac Components in Napier, New Zealand. Engine-wise, the 2.0 litre Nissan RB20 straight-six was fitted, with the 3.0 litre RB30E six made optional. Both engines were coupled with a four-speed automatic.

** We have never seen a VL Royale - cannot confirm

Holden VN Commodore Royale (1992): badge engineered Holden VN Commodore sedan, built in Australia for exclusive sale in New Zealand. Like the VL, the VN Royale was sold alongside the more upmarket VN Calais, but was fitted with the 2.0 litre Family II four-cylinder engine and a different four-speed automatic. Holden VN Royale (1989–1990s): stretched version (1,525 millimetres (60.0 in) longer) of the Holden VN Calais sedan.

** We have never seen such a VN Royale - cannot confirm

Jakab Industries initially undertook the conversion in Tamworth, New South Wales, until passing the job over to later Specialty Vehicles (SPV) in Sydney. In total, 54 examples were built, with the majority of examples exported to right-hand drive Asia-Pacific markets for airline, rental and hotel use, with an even smaller number of sedans special made featuring custom and optional Calais equipment.

Holden VS Commodore Royale (1995–1998): badge engineered Holden VS Calais sedan, built in Australia for sale in New Zealand. While in similar specification to the Calais also sold in New Zealand, the Royale featured the front-end of the Holden VS Caprice, the alloy wheels from the Holden VS Berlina and 2.5 litre X25XE V6 engine manufactured by Opel. The VS Royale was in turn badge engineered and sold in Malaysia: and Singapore as the Opel Calais.

** VS Royale was sold in NZ and did feature the 2.5 litre X25XE Opel V6 Engine, (Our understanding is the cars were a cancelled Singapore order which could not be sold in Australia but where ok to sell in NZ). I believe there was also a VR variant which featured a 2.6 litre straight six Opel engine - I believe a variant of the old 1900 Opel Torana motor but have never seen one.)

I also believe that VX and VT versions of the Royale were offered.

** These cars where Aussie engineered pack vehicles sold in both markets

*** ***

Holden Customer Assistance repeats, the above information cannot be substantiated by Holden.

All the best with the Wikipage

Should you need to contact the Holden Customer Assistance Centre, please refer to the case reference number mentioned above.

As for the absence of VL Royale records, the images here and the listings on Red Book New Zealand certainly cover this information (or some of it anyway). As for the VN, I have a Wheels magazine from 1990 detailing the Royale limo and information from Tuckey, Bill (1999). Commodore Lion King: Celebrating 21 Years. Middle Park, Victoria: Quil Visual Communications. ISBN 0646382314. Lastly, from observation, the VT and VX model were never sold in Australia. OSX (talk • contributions) 05:35, 3 June 2009 (UTC)