What you’re looking at above is a design rendering of a Holden Monaro concept from an Australian design firm called Dsign International, along with some help from a few gents from Holden itself. Personally, I love its grownup yet brutish good looks.
Let’s backtrack a second for background. The forthcoming 2014 Chevrolet SS is essentially a rebadged Holden Commodore SS V from Australia. Holden used to make a coupe variant of the Commodore called the Monaro. It, however, has been subsequently axed. When it existed, though, the Monaro became the basis for the fated last-gen Pontiac GTO here in the U.S.
Dsign put this Monaro concept together as an afterhours project – but it doesn’t look in any way half-assed. Admittedly, it’s a stretch to hope that this rendering could become a production Chevy. Stranger things have happened, though.
Aside from logistics, there’s one other big, brightly colored wedge between the Monaro concept and the factory floor: the Chevrolet Camaro. The Camaro is mechanically identical to the aforementioned late GTO and this Monaro with a big V8 up front and rear-wheel drive.
Motor Authority smartly pointed out that the Monaro would make a handsome Monte Carlo here in the States. Reborn Chevy, though, isn’t too keen on competing with itself. Been there. Done that. And we know how well that turned out for GM the first go-round.
If this rendering were pushed to GM U.S., we’d have to choose between the Camaro and the Monte Carlo. I’ll tell you right now: Camaro wins. Not because it’s better but because of heritage and name recognition.
I think that’s a shame, frankly. I love the Camaro – especially the ZL1 – but I love the mature styling of the Monaro. It has all the same giddy-up as the Camaro without looking like a Hot Wheels toy. It could easily be mistaken for a European luxury coupe. And I like that. The rear three-quarters looks like a Mercedes-Benz CL that we could actually afford to own.
