Details emerge of ultimate HSV

The secret is out as supercar power is readied for the homegrown Commodore to create the fastest Holden of all time in 2017.

But it won’t be cheap. The Commodore with the most power and the fastest top speed since the car hit the road in 1978 is rumoured to have a pricetag in the $165,000 region, with some HSV dealers asking for deposits of up to $10,000.

The headline numbers are huge: 475kW, or more than 600bhp, with too much torque for any of Holden’s automatic gearboxes. Between 200 and 250 will be built. The key to the conversion is the supercharged LS9 V8 engine from the latest Chevrolet Corvette, which will be shipped specially from the USA and then installed on a revised production line at Clayton in Melbourne.

It’s been approved for a once-only installation by HSV for a car that is already known by fans as the GTS-R but it expected to have something more charismatic for showrooms next year.

HSV refuses to comment on any future-model plans, even company chief Ryan Walkinshaw keeping his powder dry, but some details are leaking from eager dealers. The ‘last of the big bangers’ will easily trump the current HSV headliner, the GTS, with genuine supercar performance at the Ferrari and Porsche level. It will even top the HSV W427 built in 2008. That car – only 137 were built, costing $155,000 each, before the Global Financial Crisis killed demand – had a seven-litre V8 engine also sourced from GM in the USA.

Meanwhile, HSV chalked up another milestone in June when a supercharged GEN-F2 ClubSport R8 LSA became the 85,000th vehicle to roll off the Clayton production line. It’s earmarked for HSV’s oldest dealer, Garry and Warren Smith in Oakleigh.

“From humble beginnings at our Notting Hill production facility in 1987,” HSV chief Tim Jackson said, “with just three employees, a single desk, two chairs and one telephone, to the production of our 85,000th vehicle, we are constantly reminded of the dedication and passion our employees, dealers and owners continue to show. This is a milestone that can be proudly shared by them all.”

The news followed confirmation HSV will build three limited edition models in 2016 – the last to feature HSV’s 6.2-litre LS3 engine. Production of ClubSport R8 SV Black and Maloo R8 RV Black models commenced in June, with ‘Grange SV’ and ClubSport R8 ‘Track Edition’ to follow in September.