What Now For Supercars?

The men in charge reveal the vital next steps for a category defined by ford vs holden

- Mark Fogart

Supercars is caught in a perfect storm of events that is likely to wreak unprecedented change, if not havoc, at a time when the future has never been more uncertain.

Holden’s demise was the unexpected development, with the announcement coming just as two deals critical to Supercars’ outlook were being negotiated. One is the new broadcast rights agreement that will underpin finances for the next several years, and the other is the looming sale of the business.

As well, Supercars is trying to work out what the next generation of V8 racers will look like – literally and figuratively – from 2022, seeking to attract new manufacturers and institute much-needed cost reductions.

With all this going on, the timing of the news that Holden will be gone by the end of the year couldn’t have been worse, if only from a perception point of view. Supercars was prepared for life after the Commodore, a staple of Australian touring car racing since 1980, but not an automotive landscape without a significant General Motors presence.

On the surface, it’s like Formula 1 without Ferrari, or the AFL without Collingwood.

Replacing the Commodore with the Chevrolet Camaro to compete against the Ford Mustang was always part of the plan for Gen3, the coming major rules overhaul aimed at making it easier and cheaper for manufacturers – and teams – to compete with a wider range of two-door body shapes.

Originally, Gen3 was to be an evolution of the current Gen2 rules, which themselves were an extension of the game-changing 2013 Car of the Future regulations.