Production Of Holden GTSR W1 Begins As The Final Australian-Built Flagship Sells Out
Holden Special Vehicles has pre-sold all 300 of its final, most powerful run of Commodores before production ceases for good, and the ultimate GTSR is a hell of a way to go out.
The GTSR W1 is HSV’s ‘road-legal race car’, with a 636bhp supercharged LS9 V8 boasting titanium con-rods and inlet valves. It’s a serious piece of kit; effectively it’s the same engine as you’ll find in the latest Chevrolet Corvette. Pub fact alert: the supercharger can pump 2.3 litres of air with every revolution of the crank. At 6500rpm that’s just under 250 litres of air a second.
It gets a six-speed manual gearbox – also from the sixth-gen Corvette, making it a seriously hot potato. But more remarkable than all that is the fact that every W1 will first be built with the standard GTSR’s supercharged, 583bhp LSA V8, before being shipped to a different facility where that engine will be ripped out and replaced. Efficient.
The W1 will be built alongside the standard GTSRs, of which 1000 will be saloons and 600 will be Maloo utes, to use the Australian vernacular. W1 spec adds carbonfibre side vents, matt black wheels and semi-slick Pirelli P-Zero Trofeo R track-biased tyres that come with a wet-weather warning. No, really.
Another difference between the GTSR and W1 is the former’s Magnetic Ride Control suspension to the latter’s SupaShock coilover-based setup. HSV says the W1 will sprint from 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds and be limited to 155mph, and stopping shouldn’t be a problem thanks to AP Racing six-pot calipers gripping 410mm front discs.
Of course, there’s also a limited-slip diff, a high-flow exhaust system that we bet sounds pretty badass, Alcantara trim and a model-specific I.D. plate on the centre console. Buyers of the $169,990 (£102,700) special edition also get sat-nav, Bluetooth and all that boring stuff that they won’t even think about while doing huge burnouts everywhere. When the notoriously strict Aussie police aren’t around, anyway…
As for Holden itself, it’s not yet absolutely certain whether the brand will be revived and built elsewhere, or whether that really is the final curtain. We’ll be watching.
Comments
“As for Holden itself, it’s not yet absolutely certain whether the brand will be revived and built elsewhere, or whether that really is the final curtain.”
Someone has been living under a rock. Holden is going to Germany, rebadging Opels like some claim they always did (which up till 2018 was false)
For $170,000 I’m better off getting a R32, mod it up and still have enough money for a holiday.
Sure… Good luck getting that fixed when it breaks down.
Note the use of when instead of if.
You are better off getting a hellcat and a gtr hahaha
Is this car’s chassis in any way related to the Evo X?
Why cant they just give us all the fallen badass Aussie cars like the utes, coupes and sedans from HSV and FPV?
We could give the El Camino and Ranchero another chance here and have awesome rwd family cars again. I’m assuming with the hault on these the “Chevy SS” will no longer be. Sucks.
Even the non-HSV Holdens are pretty good. The base level V8 manual ute was sold for 42,000 AUD (US 31k) for a 404hp 6.2
G’donya M8!!!11!!
Good god that’s overpriced
NEVER FEAR Holden will still produce models but they won’t have the Commodore. Well, at least I know of. The new Commodore (NG) is just an Opel/Vauxhall Insignia with a V6TT instead of a V8. I’ve got a feeling a V8 edition may happen in the near future.
The next commodore is going to be a NA V6 not twin turbo. Also there’s no chance of a V8 as the engine bay is too small to fit one.
Me looking at this holden and thinking why can’t the company sell anything in the US.
Does it not sell as the Pontiac GTO in the US?
The Commodore is probably the only brand new car that sells out of manual transmission before auto. Too bad it’s dead.
RIP Commodore. I mean, technically, the nameplate will be alive, but the former car itself will be gone…