http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1226629539865
IT has been one of the best-kept secrets in Australian automotive history.
But today News Limited can exclusively lay bare classified information on what will be the fastest and most powerful car Australia has ever produced, and likely ever will produce, the new Holden Special Vehicles GTS.
Its supercharged V8 also has more power than the fastest European sedans on sale in Australia today. Only the next Mercedes E63, which goes on sale locally later this year, will match it.
Priced close to $100,000, the new HSV GTS will cost almost three times as much as a regular Holden Commodore, but less than half the price of its European rivals. It is due on sale in August.
The new HSV GTS has 575 horsepower, only 25hp less than a V8 Supercar racing machine.
Performance times are yet to be announced, but the new HSV GTS is said to accelerate quicker than most Porsches, reaching 0 to 100km/h in "comfortably less" than 4.5 seconds, which also happens to be the unofficial time for the latest supercharged Ford Falcon GT.
Its top speed would in theory eclipse 300km/h (matching its European rivals) except it has been capped at 250km/h to comply with General Motors' global policy. However, the limit will still allow enthusiast drivers to explore its potential on a race track, where many of these new HSVs are expected to spend their weekends.
Given the likely switch to locally-made four-cylinder economy cars in the future, the new HSV GTS is poised to become a collector's item; a fitting exclamation point for a manufacturing industry on the brink.
As with most HSVs built over the past 25 years, the new GTS is built to a partially-complete form alongside regular Commodore models on the Holden production line at Elizabeth, north of Adelaide. It is then transported to HSV's final assembly area in Clayton, near Melbourne, where the performance brakes, tyres, suspension and unique bodywork is fitted.
The 6.2-litre supercharged V8, borrowed from a race-bred Chevrolet Camaro, is fitted on the production line in Adelaide. HSV's previous horsepower hero, the W427 built in 2008 and 2009, had its engine fitted at its Clayton facility. This makes it the most powerful engine to ever go down a Holden production line.
The new HSV GTS has Porsche-inspired "torque vectoring" technology to help it stay glued to the road. The suspension is the same type used by Ferrari, responding to changes in road conditions in milliseconds. It also has the biggest brakes ever fitted to an Australian-made car, and tyres initially developed for Mercedes-Benz.
The new HSV GTS was so secret that only an inner-circle of senior Holden executives were allowed in the planning meetings over the past four years. Early HSV prototypes were assembled by hand so they didn't go along the regular Holden production line, to ensure the secret would not get out.
HSV GTS
Price: $95,000 plus on-roads (approx)
Engine: Supercharged 6.2-litre V8
Power: 430kW and 740Nm
0 to 100km/h: Less than 4.5 seconds
BMW M5
Price: $229,500
Engine: Twin turbo 4.4-litre V8
Power: 412kW and 680Nm
0 to 100km/h: 4.3 seconds
Mercedes-Benz E63
Price: $240,485
Engine: Twin turbo 5.5-litre V8
Power: 386kW and 700Nm
0 to 100km/h: 4.3 seconds
Porsche Panamera Turbo
Price: $382,400
Engine: Twin turbo 4.8-litre V8
Power: 382kW and 700Nm
0 to 100km/h: 4.1 seconds
Ford Falcon GT
Price: $70,790
Engine: Supercharged 5.0-litre V8
Power: 335kW and 570Nm
0 to 100km/h: 4.5 seconds
Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III (1971)
Price: $5250
Engine: 5.8-litre V8
Power: 280kW and 513Nm
0 to 100km/h: 6.8 seconds
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Originally Posted by Vombil
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