T
HE PAST 12-18 months have been at
times sombre ones at MOTOR HQ.
We’ve planned, prepared and produced
commemorative issues farewelling the
locally built Ford Falcon and Holden
Commodore, in the process saying
goodbye to a large chunk of Australia’s
automotive industry.
This issue is different. Yes, we’re
farewelling HSV as we’ve known it for 30
years – a hot-rod shop primarily focused
on Commodores – but there’s also a good
news story to tell as HSV and the wider
Walkinshaw Group will offer new vehicles to Australian
enthusiasts which are intended to grow the business in
both sales and the number of people it employs.
Leading the charge, initially at least, is the product
that’s the biggest departure from HSV’s traditional
offering, the Holden Colorado SportsCat by HSV. The ‘by
HSV’ suffix is due to the SportsCat not receiving a power
boost beyond the standard Colorado’s 147kW/440Nm
(500Nm in auto guise). It was investigated, but gains
would have been marginal for the outlay required and
HSV did not feel comfortable giving the vehicle its full
branding without providing a power increase.
HSV’s engineering expertise has been applied
elsewhere, with the standard SportsCat receiving 18
x 10-inch wheels wearing 285/60 Cooper Zeon LTZ
Pro tyres, retuned suspension and ESP, to which the
SportsCat+ adds larger AP Racing brakes, the option of
Supashock suspension and a rear anti-roll bar which
decouples automatically when low-range is selected.
Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but production will start
in January 2018.
The second branch of HSV’s new operations
is undertaking right-hand drive conversions of the
Chevrolet Silverado and Camaro. Despite its MOTOR-
worthy outputs of 332kW/1234Nm, the enormous
Silverado is aimed at those who require heavy-duty
towing capabilities. Of most interest to the majority of
HSV SPECIAL
(^52) january 2018 motormag.com.au