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It was a bold move for Holden to switch the direction of its Australian-designed station wagons back to the sedan's standard wheelbase (more here) for the first time since 1971*.

When the first design studies were commenced as early as 2000, the motivation was to build a sportier, more compact wagon that would supplement plans for a Captiva-style SUV wagon.

This included offering an all wheel drive performance model to take the battle to the quickest performance versions of the Subaru and Audi wagons. Despite these plans to offer an all wheel drive version, the new Sportwagon was never intended to support an Adventra-style high rider model.

Not even Holden could have anticipated the rapid rise in petrol prices since these early plans. However, the changes motivated by the decision to develop a sporty new Commodore wagon that was sleeker, lighter and more agile also happened to reduce fuel consumption.

The emphasis has since quickly moved to exploit the new Sportwagon as an alternative to a heavier, less slippery five seater SUV hence the emphasis on green fuels and future fuel saving measures in this week's AIMS concept car.

Because the extra weight of the planned all wheel drive option no longer fits in with this revised positioning, it is not on the agenda for next year's launch. Yet the Sportwagon has been developed to exploit a sophisticated all wheel drive system if and when a market requires it.

While all wheel drive is no longer a big asset in this style of vehicle in a local context, if it ever was, this doesn't stop Holden from building such a version as an export model.

This would also leave the door open for a special HSV version that would revive the positioning of the Coupe4 in the absence of a Monaro but very different to the almost forgotten HSV Avalanche wagon. 

HSV officials were tight-lipped when asked whether they intended to offer an HSV version of the Sportwagon. If HSV exports continue to grow in Europe and expand to include the US, an HSV high-performance AWD version of the Sportwagon would start to add up.

* The VB-VL Commodore wagon which shared the sedan wheelbase started out as an imported back section from the 4 cylinder Opel Rekord mated to the local Commodore front.

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