And that's not all. Europe is emerging as a serious prospect for Holden exports, along with potentially lucrative Asian markets like China and Korea.

The European prospects could firm up within a month when Opel is expected to decide whether it will take the next generation VE Commodore as a replacement for the ageing Omega.

A green light could mean up to 20,000 Commodores exported annually to Europe.

Holden boss Peter Hanenberger confirmed these exciting opportunities after a round of meetings in Detroit this week, most importantly with General Motors' new product supremo Bob Lutz, who has taken a big shine to the profitable Down Under brand and its ability to produce exciting rear-wheel drive cars on a budget.

"Export of the Ute is up to Bob Lutz but I know he is very keen," Mr Hanenberger told automotive e-news exclusively at Detroit this week.

He indicated that if Mr Lutz said yes to the Ute, Holden could be ready to commence exports by the third quarter of 2002.

However, Mr Hanenberger stressed there were certain infrastructure and industrial relations issues to be resolved before extra capacity could be realised via a third shift at the Elizabeth production line in South Australia.

"We don't want to promise anything we can't deliver," Mr Hanenberger said. "It's early days yet. He (Mr Lutz) only started in September and he needs to decide which products and in what numbers he can sell, how the branding and distribution would work and so on."

While short wheelbase "Vcar" platform Commodore sedan and Monaro coupe will almost certainly have to wait until 2005 and the new generation Sigma platform-based VE before the fuel tank position moves between the axles and meets US crash regulations, the Ute sits on the long-wheelbase "Wcar" platform where the fuel tank is already ahead of the rear axle.

Mr Lutz, renowned for his product work at Ford and Chrysler, was lured back into the fray by GM as vice chairman product development just four months ago at the age of 69 and has already started a dramatic reshaping of the world number one's future vehicle lineup.

Mr Lutz is already on the record as saying the Ute is the 21st century version of the "late, lamented Chevy El Camino".

But that's not the only Holden Mr Lutz is keen on, citing the Monaro as having huge potential in the USA: "It's clearly very appealing to me to think about bring the Monaro into the US in left-hand drive with a Generation III V8 of say between 350 and 400 horsepower fully federally emissionised in either manual or automatic," he told e-news. "With the weak Australian dollar I think the business case could be made to work out. It would give us relatively quickly a real kick-arse rear-wheel drive muscle car."

Mr Lutz will travel to Australia later this month to sample current and future product at the Lang Lang proving round and study Holden's successful business methods.

"When we go over there we're definitely going to see what we can do," Mr Lutz said. "There's really a number of Holden vehicles which if you could wave a magic wand you'd have them in the US to fill gaps," he said.

On Europe, Mr Hanenberger said: "We have a very strong appetite to export to Europe."

He confirmed corrosion testing of external plastics was underway to meet the more sever winter weather requirements in Europe and the USA, with the results due around February.

The Commodore is currently certified for -15c climates but needs to be certified for -30c to export to Europe and the USA.

Holden is also involved in a diesel engine test program with US giant Cummins - as revealed exclusively in e-news last year - and that ties in with prospects for a European exports, as diesels are a growing part of executive car sales on the continent and in the UK.

In China, the next generation WK Statesman is shaping up as a big export chance with up to 15,000 sales per annum. That's rather than Commodore because a Buick model is being developed - with heavy Holden involvement - for that market. In Korea, the forthcoming four-wheel drive has been mooted as a potential GM model.

All this activity means Holden's publicly stated aim of lifting exports from 2001's 29,000 to 50,000 by 2008 as part of a total annual production run of 180,000 cars is looking conservative. At least one senior GM executive queried by e-news spoke of Holden's potential to be exporting 100,000 cars by then.

Holden's internal business plan is aimed at a 25 per cent share of the domestic market by 2004 and 30 per cent by 2010, which means total Holden production by the end of the decade would be heading toward 300,000.

Considering Elizabeth can yield only another 30,000 units per annum with a third shift, that suggests Holden may have to consider major investments in new production facilities.

Editor's note: This raises the possibility of the Holden GTO coming over to the US as the rebadged Pontiac GTO. The GTO name badge was giving to the Holden coupe at the last minute.