Holden is just weeks away from its opening shot of what insiders have described as a "raft" of alternative fuel and fuel saving launches. The company says it will fire the first of a salvo of fuel-saving launches and technological upgrades in early August.

The first of Holden's 'alt-fuel' sedans will be a diesel-powered version of the Epica. That car will debut as part of a new facelifted Epica line-up early next month (more here).

Though some pundits expected the Lion to launch cylinder-deactivation capable petrol V8s in its range of Commodore Sportwagons this week, the roll out of that technology, Active Fuel Management (AFM, more here), will now take place later this year.

Speaking at last Friday's media drive of the Sportwagon range (look out for our embargoed drive impression later this week), Holden Executive Director Sales, Marketing and After Sales, Alan Batey, told the Carsales Network that launching AFM in Sportwagon would have unnecessarily held up the vehicle's launch. Nonetheless, the technology is still imminent, he says.

"You'll start to see some roll outs [of Holden alternative fuel vehicles and fuel-saving technology] actually, as quick as in the next couple of weeks and you'll see it ongoing from there on," Batey explained.

"We've got some stuff that will come short term, we've got some stuff that we're looking at medium term and then, of course, the long term play... All the technology's there, it's a question of is it affordable and does it drive mainstream volumes or not?"

Holden already fits AFM-enabled V8s to its VE-derived export model G8 Pontiac sedans. Batey says the local release of the technology, that sees the V8 engine operate on four cylinders at light loads, is an important part of Holden's strategy.

"We will be making announcements in that type of space as well in the not too distant future. We've got the technology today, it's in G8, and that's [a] technology that will work for us here, no question about that... You'll hear pretty quickly that we're going to do something in that space."

In the six-cylinder and fleet markets, Batey says Holden is well advanced with a mono-fuel LPG version of the Commodore. He dismissed suggestions, however, that GM is holding back on updating its Alloytec V6 petrol engine with a new direct-injected version, ahead of Cadillac's arrival in Australia with the DI V6-power CTS.

"We're not holding anything back," Batey said. "Everything we've looked at is really just about setting the priorities and understanding what we want to do," Batey said.

"The sort of [fuel price] headlines that you read today are somewhat misleading to a lot of consumers. If there was a time when we needed to qualify what a customer requirement actually is, now is that time. We need to do that because no single technology's for everyone.

"It's like diesel. Diesel's gone from zero to hero back to zero again and that's just because of the headlines. It still makes sense to a lot of fleet customers, even at today's fuel price, so it's really just a case of qualifying the customer, and that's what we're trying to do is make sure that we bring the technology that's relevant and that we really understand what we're trying to deliver against."

Batey says though LPG is regaining some ground with fleet customers, new car buyers, private and business are asking for solutions, rather than a particular fuel type or technology.

"LPG is a technology that we think has a lot of possibilities here in Australia.  Mark's [Holden boss, Mark Reuss] talked about the fact that mono-LPG's another opportunity going forward.

"We've got dual fuel available [currently], it's been well received and I think as we speak, a lot of fleets are back in looking at whether that is actually where they should be... So my fleet team is telling me they're having lots of discussions with lots of fleet customers around, well, maybe this is the technology that we should be moving towards.

"I think most customers will tell you they want low running costs and therefore [LPG] that's a solution. That's what they're really saying... And rightly so -- they're asking us to give them that expertise. They're saying this is what I want to do, now you tell me the best way to do that," Batey opined.

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