Holden is on the verge of losing assembly of the Monaro to the US. The new model, due in 2007, is expected to be built in one of several under-used General Motors factories in America.

If assembly of the Monaro is moved from Australia it will be a cruel blow for the coupe that was built after visitors to the 1998 Sydney motor show lobbied Holden to bring the car to life.

Once it was built, the Monaro was so highly regarded by GM's global product chief Bob Lutz that he fast-tracked the Monaro's export to the US as a Pontiac GTO. But now, because the GTO outsells the Monaro by almost five to one, the Americans want to take control of the Commodore-based coupe's assembly. Pontiac has sold 9487 GTOs in the US in the first 10 months of 2004. Holden has sold 2149 Monaros in the same period.

A Holden insider says customers don't care where a car is made as long as the quality is good. However, General Motors - and US car makers in general - are regularly out-classed in independent quality surveys.

Holden spokesman Jason Laird says GM executives in Australia and the US are still in discussion about the Monaro's future production plans. "It's by no means a done deal and there is still a lot of debate on this issue," Laird says.

"There is an argument that the car should be made in the country that sells the most [coupes]. What's most important to us is that Holden will still be able to offer a coupe to Australians. The spiritual home for the coupe is still very much Australia and Australians will still be involved in the engineering of the car."

The news of the Monaro's US assembly plans comes as Pontiac announced it would cut the number of GTOs it orders from Australia. The GTO was meant to be a big boost for the struggling Pontiac brand but sales have not met expectations.

Despite the 2005 GTO's major power upgrade (in the form of a 6.0-litre V8 engine from the new Corvette) and a more aggressive appearance (thanks to new bonnet scoops), Pontiac sales forecasts are still pessimistic.

Respected US industry journal Automotive News reported this week that Pontiac will cut GTO production by about 30 percent next year.

Automotive News says that Larry Pryg, marketing manager for Pontiac's premium mid-sized cars, acknowledges Pontiac did not conduct enough initial market research on the GTO and misallocated inventory.

The magazine quotes Pryg as saying that the next generation GTO (which will share most if its components and body panels with the next generation Monaro) will "start from scratch with something for US tastes. We are going to stretch, but there will only be a few retro cues."

Two scoops, please

Holden is being selective about whom it sells the new, vented Monaro bonnets to after a rush from people fitting them to older Commodores. The VZ Monaro bonnet costs $984.50. "That bonnet is specific to the VZ Monaro and is designed to protect the identity of that car. We don't want to see that diluted by having those bonnets on other cars." says Holden.

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