Quote Originally Posted by HK1837 View Post
Just a few points, there would have been no WH, WK or WL utes. VH, VK and VL were all V sized vehicles. The W sized vehicles (HJ-WB) would have continued into whatever came after WB whether that be WC, WD etc. If the W shape had still been around in 1988 it would most likely have got an injected 5.0L like the V sized Commodore/Calais. 6cyl version of WB successor would have been the hardest option for GMH to build as the 3.0L Nissan and the old Jatco auto would have been of no use in a commercial vehicle (ever driven a 3.0L GQ patrol?). This may well have been why the W series ended in early 1985, as they knew the Nissan engine was coming, and at that stage the Holden V8 was to be dead at the end of VK (remember Street machine's "Save the V8" campaign) and the "big" engine was to be the turbo Nissan engine. The V6 Buick engine came after the Yen went ballistic and made the Nissan engine too expensive.
I wonder whether the styling cues would have come from the appropriate model commodore with no W series sedans, or would it have become an orphan for design and evolution. It's hard to imagine a WD ute that shared the looks of a VH/K commodore. Even harder to imagine it looking good.

The dimensional differences were probably significant enough to prevent sharing a front end - WB width 1877mm/Front Track 1520mm vs VB Commodore width 1722mm/Front Track 1451mm.