The designers sought to soften the lines for the VL, rounding off the panels and introducing a small tail spoiler built into the boot lid.

Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning control graphics changed slightly, the center console offered more storage with new transmission shifter and surround.

A comprehensive Black engine was completely dropped in favour of an imported 3.0-litre RB30E straight-six unit designed and manufactured by Nissan in Japan.

The reason for the Nissan-Holden combination was because all cars manufactured in Australia from 1 January 1986 had to run on unleaded 91 octane fuel.

As the tooling for the Holden straight-six engine had become worn by this stage, it also was not considered cost-effective to adapt the design to unleaded petrol.

The new engines included features such as an Electronic Combustion Control System (ECCS) and a ram-tuned intake manifold.

The 5.0-litre V8 was released in October 1986, it still featured the familiar Rochester four-barrel carburettor, not electronic fuel injection (EFI).

[2] With the 150 kilowatts (200 hp) 3.0-litre turbocharged engine being the performance flagship, Holden marketed the V8 as ideal for towing due to its low-down torque characteristics.

Introduced in Commodore SL, Executive and Berlina variants, the VL series also included a luxury Calais model.

The cars were assembled at Holden's Dandenong plant and modified at the HDT Special Vehicles located in Port Melbourne.

This was the last Group A Commodore produced by the HDT after Holden sensationally ended its relationship with Brock and the team in February 1987, after Brock had begun fitting a device known as the "Energy Polarizer" to HDT vehicles, including the VL SS Group A. Brock claimed that the Polarizer, a small box with crystals and magnets encased in an epoxy resin, aligned the molecules around the car and "made a shithouse car good".

[citation needed] Regarded as pseudoscience by Holden and the vast majority of the Australian motoring community, a new VL series "Director" model was released by Brock in February 1987 which incorporated not only the Polarizer but also a new independent rear suspension system developed by HDT without Holden's approval.

Allan Moffat and John Harvey drove their Rothmans sponsored VL Commodore to victory in the very first race of the championship at Monza in Italy.

Peter Brock and his HDT had a well publicised split with Holden in early 1987 which saw the factory stop all support for the race team.

The two Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500's that finished 1st and 2nd were eventually disqualified in February 1988 for illegal bodywork (wheel arches that were 1 size too big) and Brock's HDT were declared winners giving the HDT spec VL Group A SS Commodore two wins from the 11 race WTCC.

Allan Moffat's big money gamble to run a Sierra backfired as the car he leased from British driver/engineer Andy Rouse proved to be woefully unreliable.

Moffat later claimed that he should have stuck with his original entry for Bathurst, his VL Commodore, stating that his Commodore (which at the time was in storage in Europe) was in much better shape than Brock's #10 which, by the HDT's own admission was cobbled together from whatever spare parts they had and was only run due to the teams contract with primary sponsor Mobil which called for two race cars.

Against the lighter (by approximately 225 kg (496 lb)) and more powerful (by up to 130 bhp (97 kW; 132 PS)) Ford Sierras, as well of the introduction of the new Nissan Skyline GTS-R turbo, Perkins and the VL simply didn't have the speed to successfully compete for wins in the ATCC's shorter sprint races, while the weight of the car (1,325 kg (2,921 lb)) usually saw heavy tyre wear.

Races were primarily held at the Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne, a 1.801 km (1.119 mi) quad-oval speedway with 24-degree banking in the turns for high speed built by millionaire tyre retailer Bob Jane.

The car carried Holden badges because of Group A racing homologation regulations, which necessitated at least 500 road-going versions to be sold to the public.

TWR developed the famous Walkinshaw bodykit that was stated to reduce drag by more than 25% over the previous Holden Dealer Team SS Group A.

[citation needed] The Group A SV was made as a limited run of 500 from March to November 1988, but HSV subsequently decided to make 250 more units to meet demand.

However, these were slow to sell with some examples having their appearance modified by dealers in an effort to get them out of the showrooms and others sold years after their launch.

However, due to the split between Holden and Peter Brock in 1987, the car was severely delayed in the change from HDT to HSV.

This was also the last time Tom Walkinshaw raced as the 1984 European Touring Car Champion retired from driving after the event.

At the Sandown 500, Perkins teamed with Win Percy to finish 2nd behind the Skyline of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife.

The car was replaced for 1991 by the Holden VN Commodore SS Group A but made a comeback of sorts in 1992 again campaigned by Perkins who reverted to the VL model once more, winning the 1992 Sandown 500 before going on to start on the front row at Bathurst.

During 1986, Peter Brock's HDT Special Vehicles were instrumental in engineering the final fitment of the unleaded version of the carburetted V8 into the new updated Commodore, delivering 126 kilowatts (169 hp).

The SV88 also did not utilize the Group A motor and instead came equipped with the familiar Rochester quadrajet powered 4.9-litre, which was up-specced using left over HDT internals to produce 136 kilowatts (182 hp) and 355 newton-metres (262 lb⋅ft).

Interior in the SV88 was HSV sports leather and velour in light blue, with optional car phone and or mobile fax available for order.