Holden designs Supercar

Holden is set to unveil an all-new Supercar … virtually.

The brainchild of Efijy creator Richard Ferlazzo, the chief of GM Australia Design, the concept is a vision of what a future Holden Supercar racer would look like.

But before you get too excited, the Supercar will not be physically built. Instead, it will lap Mount Panorama in a digitally-constructed video to be shown as part of the Bathurst 1000 telecast this October.

motoring.com.au understands the project is meant to impress with its technology, but not be taken too seriously.

In other words, don’t expect it to be the basis of the replacement for Holden's ZB Commodore production car or racer.

Details are scarce but we can tell you this is not one of those concepts that barely disguises a future production model with big wheels and a different grille.

Instead, this is a totally bespoke vision, a challenge Ferlazzo delivered to his designers to create their version of what a Holden Supercar racer could look like.

It is something that no longer exists in the real world since local manufacturing ceased – a vehicle that is a Holden first and not a rebadged version of a Chevrolet, Opel or GMC, in the case of the soon-to-arrive Acadia large SUV.

GM Australia Design, which has grown out of Holden’s design department and is still based in Port Melbourne, completes work for all of GM’s divisions globally. It has 150 employees.

The organisation has a strong tradition of building impressive concept cars for local and international consumption, including the aforementioned Efijy, as well as the Buick Avenir, Opel GT and Torana TT36, to name a few.

Intrinsic to the development of those vehicles is world-class digital modelling capability, which the virtual Holden Supercar will show off.

In the past a number of Holden’s show cars have been serendipitously timed to gazump appearances of new cars from other local manufacturers, not least of which is long time arch-rival, Ford.

This Bathurst is the very last for Falcon and Ford has planned special events to mark the occasion. Far be it from us to suggest the timing of the virtual Holden is anything other than coincidence.

Pictured: Opel Insignia GSi