Correct, Holden is owned by GM... and has been for a very long time. The Holden Monaro is a General Motors product, regardless if it be GM of Australia. In any case, I have found that GM sells a much higher quality vehicle in other countries. While in Detroit, I sat inside of the Buick Regal sold in Japan, in the GM building lobby. The differences were night and day. The refinement, fit and finish and quality of materials was MUCH better than the Regal/Century sold here. It was also powered by a 210 hp 3.0 DOHC V6 engine rather than the 3800 motor. Id be willing to automatically assume that the new GTO is miles ahead of anything else GM has sold in the past. GM is striving to improve the quality, styling and driving characteristics of their vehicles. They may never exceed Japanese levels, but they are certainly closing the gap. IMO, the new GTO looks very handsome...it's not 'overdone' As for reliability, I've owned an LS1 for 3 years and 50k+ HARD miles... it's never been back to the shop once except for oil changes and regular scheduled maintenance. The only two issues that were common with this engine were piston slap and oil consumption. Mine does emit a slap until it reaches full operating temp (this is supposedly caused by an over boring of cylinders #1 and #2) and does burn up to 1.5 quarts per 3,000 miles if driven hard (this is caused by faulty piston rings) but the LS1 was a relatively new engine design, and flaws are to be expected (especially from GM) and their track record with aluminum engines hasn't been the greatest (a.k.a the early 80s Cadillac HT4100) But both of these defects have been resolved. Other than that, the LS1 is probably GM's most successful engine to date. If the rumors are correct, the GTO's LS1 will be even more durable. Speaking on behalf of the chassis...it is RWD w/ all independent suspension. Sounds like a winner to me.