Australian Car Spotters Guide - 1986

The XF represented the last of the fourth generation cars, and featured softer, more rounded styling with revsions to the grille and bumpers, and new tail lamps. The XF had big shoes to fill, the XE having taken Ford to the top of the sales charts, however Ford needed the XF to be something special with the General's VK Commodore quickly closing the margin. The Ford enginners gave the XF a softer styling treatment, and even a new dash which presented a far more modern look than the outgoing XE.

The VL Commodore represented a substantial makeover of the VK, and would be the last of the "compact" Commodores. The engineers sought to soften the lines of the VL, rounding off the panels and introducing a small tail spoiler built into the boot lid. One major innovation was the use of semi-retracting headlight covers on the Calais model, the first for a production Holden (although the never released GTR-X featured fully retractable headlights).