Holden Caprice

Holden Caprice
Holden Statesman (WM)
Overview
Manufacturer	Holden (General Motors)
Also called	Holden Statesman HSV Grange Buick Park Avenue Buick Royaum Chevrolet Caprice Daewoo Veritas Daewoo Statesman
Production	1990–2017
Assembly	Elizabeth, South Australia
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size
Body style	4-door sedan
Layout	Front-engine, rear-wheel drive
Platform	GM V (1990–2006) GM Zeta (2006–2017)
Related	Holden Commodore Bitter Vero Buick Park Avenue CSV La Classe
Chronology
Predecessor	Statesman

The Holden Caprice is a full-size car which has been produced by Holden in Australia since 1990. The similar Holden Statesman, which was also introduced in 1990 as a model below the Caprice, was discontinued in September 2010. Between 1971 and 1984, Holden marketed their long-wheelbase sedans under the Statesman marque.

Statesman and Caprice are essentially long-wheelbase variants of the Commodore range and, as of 2006, were the largest rear-wheel drive sedans offered by GM. Internationally, Statesmans and Caprices have been rebadged as the Buick Royaum, Daewoo Statesman and Chevrolet Caprice. In addition, these cars have formed the basis of the Chinese-built Buick Park Avenue and the Bitter Vero, a rebodied version from Germany.

The main difference between the Statesman and the Caprice lies within their equipment packages. Moreover, Caprices are commonly powered by V8 engines rather than V6s and, whilst modern Caprices may be mistaken as fully specified versions of the cheaper Statesman, the two were separate Holden models in the past. Appearance wise, Caprices can be distinguished by their unique interior and exterior trim such as the grille insert. In addition to the large V8 engine, in latter years the Caprice suspension was often more sport-orientated (from the 2003 WK series).Holden Special Vehicles has modified a version of the Caprice called the HSV Grange since 1996 with styling and performance enhancements. Previously, HSV has offered HSV Statesman and HSV Caprice models in the same tradition.

Traditionally in Australia, the Statesman and Caprice have been direct rivals to the Ford Fairlane and LTD, respectively. However, Ford's decision to discontinue these models in 2007 left Holden without direct competition at pricing point occupied, at least until the launch of the Hyundai Genesis in 2015. As announced by Holden in 2014, its entire Australian production comprising the Caprice will cease in 2017.