Holden introduced a mid-life cycle refresh for the Capric/Statesman lineup in 2003, trying to revive their executive sedan’s sales.
The Australian arm of GM unveiled the second generation of the Statesman in 1999, and it had high hopes from the executive sedan. It dreamed of seeing the car parked in front of every official building and major HQ office around the country. Yet, the car didn’t meet its expectations. Soon, the management asked the design team to rush back to the drawing board and worked something for the struggling brand and refresh the vehicle. And that’s what they did.

The design team made a major revamp in the WH lineup and introduced the WK series at the beginning of 2003. There were sharper lines and straight-cut headlights that replaced the oval-shaped ones from before. A chromed trim surrounded the grille, and in the lower bumper area, there were new rectangular fog-lights. Holden claimed that it improved the aerodynamic coefficient by six percent and took it to 0.30, which was remarkable for such a big vehicle.

Inside, the Caprice was the first Australian-built vehicle that featured a standard dual DVD player with screens mounted in the back of the front headrests, yet the sat-nav system was on the options list. But Holden upgraded the overall interior look with a new design for the dashboard and instrument panel. The standard upholstery for the Caprice was leather, while the Statesman featured velour seats.

Holden improved the engines and offered the 5.7-liter V-8 with up to 340 hp instead of 306 hp. Unfortunately, they got stuck with the four-speed automatic transmission, which wasn’t that helpful for the fuel-efficiency.