Ready To Launch

The Age

Wednesday June 25, 2008

Andrew Heasley

LOCAL performance car outfit Holden Special Vehicles has thumbed its nose at rising fuelprices and announced it will build up to 427 examples of its new hero car, the W427, which will be priced at $150,000 each, plus on-road costs.

The Commodore-based car will be the fastest, most powerful and (in all likelihood) the thirstiest Holden ever built, due to its Corvette-sourced, 7.0-litre, V8 engine.

All driveline components of the car have been strengthened to cope with the engine's herculean output: 375kW (that's 500horsepower) and 640Nm of torque.

That power will be sent through a six-speed manual gearbox - the only transmission offered.

HSV chairman and former racer Tom Walkinshaw, who was in Melbourne for the announcement, says the cars will only be built to order. He defends the release of such a performance car (pictured) in the current climate.

"We're in the business of making quality, high-performance motor cars," he says. "Our job is to make the cars, each time, faster and safer and more enjoyable than the one that went before.

"Are we supposed to stop making big cars or enjoyable cars to drive?

"If you take it to the extreme, we'd all be driving around in a golfcart."

HSV is confident of selling the full quota - it already holds 1500 expressions of interest following the car's first public airing at the Melbourne motor show in February.

Up to 90 examples will be made available to its dealers this year.

Each car takes days to build and only six a week are planned to come off a dedicated production line at HSV's Clayton plant.

The car is the result of more thantwo year's planning and development. Two years ago, petrol cost about $1.35 a litre, though it dropped under $1.10 in October 2006.

The company has two

diesel-powered "mules" in testing, anecessary option for HSV to crackthe European market, MrWalkinshaw confirms.

-- ANDREW HEASLEY

© 2008 The Age

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