Holden Special Vehicles to Build Exclusive LSA-Powered GTS Maloo

Posted By John Gibson

@  LSX TV

Could this be the next El Camino ???

 

Image Source: CarsGuide.com.au

 

For the past four years Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) have been working on a project that they masterfully kept out of the headlines.

 

 This past week HSV announced to dealerships that they will be producing a limited number of a supercharged LSA-powered GTS Maloo utes.

 

The Maloo, aboriginal for ‘thunder’, will easily become one of the rarest vehicles in Australian vehicle history, with only 150 expected to be produced. More importantly, it is expected to become the fastest ute of all time.

 

 With the closing of the Holden factories coming in 2017, this might be the last hurrah for the famous Australian car maker.

Fast Facts

HSV GTS Maloo
Price: $85,000 (estimated)
Engine: Supercharged 6.2-litre V8
Power: 430kW and 740Nm (560 horsepower)
0 to 100 km/h: 4.5 seconds (estimated)

 

The Maloo will come powered by a familiar mill that also motivates HSV’s $100,000 GTS Sedan. Lift the hood on the Maloo and you’ll see the supercharged LSA that produces 560 horsepower, almost as much as a V8 supercar.

 

 Priced at $85,000, the UTE will be capable of going 0 to 100 km/h in an estimated 4.5 seconds, and rather than following suit and utilizing the magnetically controlled suspension like the GTS sedan, the Maloo will feature a conventional performance suspension.

HSV has held the title of world’s fastest ute since 2006, when Mark Skaife claimed the record back from Dodge with an average speed of 271.44 km/h. Since then every Ute has been outfitted with a speed limiter of 250 km/h. HSV has yet to confirm if they will disable the limiter in an effort to try to break their 2006 record.

 

In less than a week after being announced, the rare 150 were already all spoken for. You read that correctly; in less than 24 hours after the news broke about the upcoming ute, ALL 150 are already sold.

 

Which has left many wondering if HSV will produce more to meet the demand from those trying to grab what very well could be the last performance vehicle produced under the Holden name on Australian soil.

 

 Speculation is that Holden could produced 50-100 more to meet the demand and still build a vehicle that is more exclusive than Ford’s final Falcon GT, where only 500 were

produced.