The ZB Commodore road car, produced from 2018 to 2020, was itself a re-engineered version of the Opel Insignia, manufactured in Europe for General Motors' Holden division. Unlike every previous Commodore, which had been built in Australia, the ZB was the first Commodore produced outside the country. For motorsport marketing purposes, Holden placed a Commodore-shaped body over the Supercars control chassis to compete under the ZB nameplate. The race car continued to use the same 5-litre V8 engine as its predecessor, the VF Commodore Supercar, despite early plans to develop a turbocharged V6 for 2019 — a project cancelled in April 2018 due to engineering concerns about competitiveness.
The ZB Commodore made an immediate impression on its racing debut in the 2018 Supercars Championship season, prompting Ford's DJR Team Penske to push for upgrades to their ageing FGX Falcon, which was in its final year of competition. Despite the controversy, the ZB was unable to secure the 2018 drivers' title, which went to Scott McLaughlin driving the upgraded FGX Falcon.
From 2019 onwards, the series' Ford runners switched to the new Mustang GT, and the ZB found itself in a prolonged rivalry with that car. After three years of McLaughlin and the Mustang dominating from 2019 to 2021, the ZB hit back in 2021 and 2022 with Shane van Gisbergen winning back-to-back championships, becoming one of the most celebrated Holden drivers in the modern era. Van Gisbergen's 2022 title had particular symbolic weight: it was Holden's final championship as a brand, with the company having exited the Australian automotive market in 2021.
The ZB Commodore achieved immediate success at the Bathurst 1000, the most prestigious race in the Supercars calendar. It claimed victory at the Great Race in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The 2022 Bathurst 1000 win was Holden's final race victory as a manufacturer. Over its lifespan in the series, the ZB Commodore accumulated 87 race victories and delivered the final Bathurst win, the final championship, and the final race win for Holden before the brand's retirement from both the road and the racetrack.
The ZB Commodore was the last racing car to carry the Holden Commodore name. Its competitive career — bookended by an upset-threatening debut in 2018 and a fairytale championship in 2022 — gave Holden a dignified exit from the sport it had helped define for decades. Van Gisbergen's back-to-back titles with the ZB stand as the final chapter of a rivalry between Holden and Ford that had shaped Australian motorsport since the 1960s. After 2022, the Holden-branded entries in the Supercars Championship were replaced by Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-bodied cars, marking the end of the Commodore's era in Australian touring car racing.