The top of the line Holden Caprice was recommended by the Attorney-General's Department last year as the preferred option for a fleet of nine specialised blast-proof VIP vehicles to be used by the prime minister and other dignitaries, according to confidential government documents.

The revelation appears to contradict reported Abbott government sources as saying Holden had not even submitted a bid in the tender because the car maker simply ''was not interested''.

Holden viewed that claim - which appeared in a News Corporation newspaper on Wednesday, just hours before the car maker announced its withdrawal - as part of a deliberate negative backgrounding campaign by Coalition ministers designed to make the company look uncommitted to Australia.