Kiwis await HSV hot rod
Kiwis fortunate enough to secure Australia’s last homegrown muscle car are not yet cashing in on the emotion of the HSV’s V8 monster.
The GTS-R W1, built by HSV from the Holden Commodore, is a limited run of 300 with only 20 made available to the New Zealand market and most pre-sold shortly after the model was announced earlier in 2017.
Across the Tasman, at least one Australian buyer is tipped to make A$100,000 (NZ$106,908) profit in a week as one of the cars heads to auction on August 10.
The 474kW GTS-R W1 is considered the ultimate rendition of the Australian V8 sedan, packing a supercharged engine along with world-class suspension and tyres making one of the most potent sold for the road.
With a price tag of NZ$189,990 in New Zealand and A$169,990 in Australia, it was eagerly sought after by long time HSV owners and collectors on both sides of the Tasman.
Plenty of potential customers missed out on the sold-out sedan and none of NZ’s 20 are yet to arrive.
In Australia, a handful of customers lucky enough to have received their cars have listed them for sale online for prices starting from A$250,000 (NZ$267,000), running to ‘‘offers over $300,000’’ (NZ$320,000) for cars yet to be built or delivered to customers.
Manheim Australia will be the first auction house to put a GTS-R W1 under the hammer when a black example crosses the block on August 10.
Manheim auctioneer Aaron Lofts says the car is the 35th example to be built by HSV, and the first to be publicly available since the cars were originally offered to loyal HSV customers.