This is a Holden so unpopular, a book was written on trying to find one.
Holden was struggling during the 1980s, it was behind Ford in the local marketshare and was financially in a bit of strife.
Japan contributed to Holden’s hopes of a resurgence when the range included the Jackaroo, Rodeo and Shuttle from Isuzu, while Suzuki contributed the short wheelbase Drover and Scurry.
Injecting a wide range of commercial vehicles was what Holden required following the discontinuation of the WB ute in 1984.
However, another Isuzu model was on sale in Holden dealers and its performance on the road proved just as slow as it was to leave showrooms.
When the Piazza arrived in Australia as a high-price two-door coupe in 1986, it was already five-years old and this was young compared to its underpinnings.
It marked Holden’s return to the coupe fold since the body style was dropped at the end of the TD generation Gemini in 1979. However, the chassis was the same and the Piazza was made to pay.
Despite its futuristic and modern Giorgetto Giugario-designed exterior, this failed to make up for the deficiencies underneath the skin courtesy of its decade-old platform.
The Piazza was the first Holden model to feature a turbocharged engine. The 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine produced 110kW and 225Nm of torque, but the downfall proved the chassis, which was unable to handle the power.
Holden soon after the Piazza’s launch became desperate to sell its stock, so it featured on Sale of the Century and slashed thousands off the original price during its 18-months on the market.
Just 379 were sold leaving it as one of the rarest to wear the Lion badge, with Chris Warr and Joe Kremzer writing a book documenting their pursuit of finding a Piazza. In Search of the Holden Piazza is a humorous tale detailing the quest of finding on of these ‘dodgy’ coupes.
Later down the line, Isuzu enlisted Lotus to improve the handling and it did so successfully, but the Piazza had already been discontinued in Australia.