COULD this masterfully-disguised car be our next hometown hero?
Is the new Holden VE Commodore hiding under that heavy, black cladding?
Sorry to disappoint you hot-blooded Holden fans but the Swedes have shown their sense of humour, running a very Commodore-like Volvo around Holden heartland.
The new generation Volvo S80, photographed by a member of the public as it cruised around the Patawalonga this week, sparked calls from excited Holden fans as enthusiasm for the Elizabeth-built VE Commodore builds.
There are definite similarities between the Volvo prototype and a test VE Commodore which features in spy photographs taken recently at General Motors' Milford Proving Ground near Detroit, Michigan.
The Swedes' trickery, however, really comes into play with the sculptured plastic cladding which shapes the car like older model Commodores.
"(The driver and passengers) really were not happy with me taking the photographs," the anonymous photographer said.
"They even did a U-turn into oncoming traffic in a bid to track me down after they saw me taking photographs."
The VE Commodore is considered critical to Holden's future and is being burdened with the task of reinvigorating the large car segment of the Australian new car market.
The Volvo S80, snapped on the Adelaide foreshore, had been undergoing final sign-off testing before it is revealed to the world at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
The new S80 is expected to go on sale here towards the end of the year, with the twin-exhausts suggesting the flagship car is powered by a V8 power plant. Volvo Cars Australia public affairs manager Todd Hallenbeck confirmed it was a new S80 that had been spotted doing final testing in SA as well as some undisguised versions involved in shooting still photography around Hindmarsh Island off the state's south coast.
"It was a disguised version of the S80 spotted in Adelaide. We were doing some of the international photography for the international campaign out here," he said.
Mr Hallenbeck said the Swedish company had been doing hot weather and dust testing in Australia for more than a decade.
He would not, however, confirm any more details on the company's new-look car.
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