The incident took place Sunday morning in Parklea, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, and the good news is that nobody in the house was injured when the "late model Commodore sedan" got out of control, hit a light pole, jumped a dirt mound, and flew about 90 meters through the air to land on the roof of a nearby house. The driver and passenger of the Commodore ended up in the hospital, where they're reportedely in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. We're sure they're answering a lot of very pointed questions posed by members of Sydney's law enforcement community right about now. Thanks to Alf, In Pog Form for the tip!
[Herald Sun, full gallery]

In an exclusive interview with the Aussie hoons at Drive.com.au at the Frankfurt Motor Show yesterday, GM CEO Fritz Henderson said the company was making good progress with a plan to sell the Commodore to US law enforcement agencies. Specifically, as we've reported earlier this year, the LAPD.

"We've been working on a package for police applications. I just think that's going to work. We're pretty optimistic about it and that product will be sourced in Australia," he said.

But, while Fritz was all about the fleet applications, he wasn't geeked about other short term roles for the Commodore. But in the long term? He didn't rule out a wider role for the car in General Motors' plans going forward.

"It's a global architecture, it gives us options in the future but right now you'd say, near term, no," he said.

Holden has been searching for alternative export programs ever since, but in June GM shut the door on plans to revive the car as a Chevrolet Caprice.

It was thought the GM plan to import cars from Australia to US enforcement agencies would meet with strong opposition from GM's new owners, the unions and the Government, in light of the mass plant closures and job losses in the United States that followed the company's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

But senior GM exectuive Bob Lutz played down those fears in a blog on a company website in June this year.

"While the large (rear-wheel-drive) cars may be made in Australia, they are an integral part of GM, contain US-built engines and transmissions and numerous other components, and are so ‘American' in character that I don't believe the law enforcement agencies would have any problems with the assembly origin of the vehicle. Plus, they'll love it," he said. (Hat tip to Ben!) [via smh.com.au]

Apparently, the move to stop the export program in the wake of GM's bankruptcy and the killing off of the Pontiac brand has left a warehouse of parts once destined for cars to be exported to the US. Holden's marketing department — sensing an opportunity — has decided to use the stockpile on VE Commodores, which will be sold as a premium priced, limited edition Holden. Brilliant!

Even better news is the special edition will apparently also be available as a ute and wagon! GM had announced plans to bring over a G8 El Camino Sport Truck ST to the United States but then nixing those plans, along with even the idea of a wagon version of the Zeta-platformed RWD G8.

Although there's no official confirmation yet from Holden, the mere thought of the G8 surviving provides us some level of comfort — even if we're not getting it here. Frankly, the mere thought of a Pontiac El Camino vastly increases the likelihood we may have to move to Australia for some good ol' fashioned muscle car hoonage! Seriously, this is the best news we've heard in weeks.

UPDATE: Aussie site carpoint's reporting the following:

"It is unclear how many of each will be made, but dealer contacts have suggested it will be close to 1500 in total, or about 500 of each body style.

Prices of each limited edition model will be $1000 more than a regular SS V. The Holden bulletin outlined to dealers the following:

Pontiac G8 SS-V ute manual $47,490
Pontiac G8 SS-V sedan manual $55,290
Pontiac G8 SS-V wagon manual $57,290"

[via Drive, carsales.com.au, carpoint]

The conversion kit includes a new hood, hood latch, hood insulator, front bumper fascia, upper grille, front bar fascia and fog lamps. All the badges will cost you extra, but by our estimation are well worth the extra $150. The price of a full upgrade? $1,990 for the base G8 or $3,880 to convert your GT into an HSV model. [via Autofiends]

About 674,000 viewers watched episode 2, which was about 250,000 fewer than the first episode. Even worse, it was the least-watched show in its time slot, and only the 26th most-watched show of the whole night. Nonetheless, everyone feels the new Top Gear still has potential to improve. After all, the first season with Clarkson at the helm of the BBC show wasn't amazing either. [TheAge, YouTube] (Thanks Brett!)

And what about the fictional cars? There are at least a few V8 Interceptors running around the outback doing their best Mad Max. What's your favorite Australian car, old or new?

Rick, you've got the G8 coming and hitting shores now, Camaro coming next year — what other options are being discussed for the Commodore — excuse me — Zeta platform?

I can think of at least two other potential products that have been and remain on the table. One has a reasonably high likelihood, and one maybe not as high likelihood...due to fuel economy concerns.

Not at this time. I think the general discussion going forward...as we look at these products will be challenging ourselves whether we need an eight in these products going forward. Hey, when you develop products...we've got to hold ourselves to a higher standard on these. I saw some early data...not sure if it was just a region of the country...but it definitely skewed towards the four's. That's a big change from the old generation.

That's not to say the Camaro...for younger buyers maybe a six or a turbo-charged six may hold a higher cache...

We're also told we'll be getting a RWD wagon based on the Commodore — and it'll also be a Pontiac G8. So basically the G8's going to become a mini-RWD lineup under the Pontiac badge with the sedan, ute and wagon all bearing the alpha-numeric name — and all based on the Holden versions. So yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he's Australian. Who knew?

Sales of light cars are up 9.2%, but four-wheel-drives are leading the market with a 15% increase year-over-year. The best-selling car is still Holden's Commodore sedan, but Ford's older Falcon was down 22% through October compared to last year. Ford is pinning its hopes on a refreshed Falcon to turn things around next year. [Sydney Morning Herald]