The VL Commodore was the last of the mid-size Commodores and something of a historical oddity in that it used a Nissan RB30 engine more commonly found in Skylines.

This engine had been fitted to comply with unleaded petrol being introduced in 1986 and new emissions standards. The trouble was there was an increasing disparity between the Australian Dollar and Japanese Yen between the time the deal was signed and when the car went into production, which ended up costing Holden a lot more money to fit Nissan engines. To alleviate this, the next Commodore, the 'widebody' VN, was rushed into production on a stretched VL chassis with the Buick V6 engine.