GTS to head HSV export push

Convinced the GEN-F GTS is one of the world’s great performance sedans, Holden Special Vehicles owner Ryan Walkinshaw has declared his ambition to market it beyond Australia and New Zealand.

While almost certainly bound for the UK, where HSVs are sold under the Vauxhall VXR brand, Walkinshaw would logically have his sights set on the USA and perhaps India and China, where he has already established strong automotive business relationships.

Walkinshaw, the son of HSV founder the late Tom Walkinshaw, told motoring.com.au in an exclusive interview in the Holden Racing Team garage at the Austin 400 that other models in range were also under consideration for export to new markets.

“If we can come to a discussion with Holden and General Motors about how we can do that I’d love to start selling HSVs abroad. With the Australian dollar going down that helps us significantly in being able to compete in foreign markets.”

There is no doubt Walkinshaw’s primary focus is on the 430kW/740Nm GEN-F GTS. Australia’s most powerful production car, it is powered by a 6.2-litre supercharged LSA V8.

“Not only is it the best car that has ever been built in Australia from a performance angle, it’s also one of the best performance cars of that kind in the world,” Walkinshaw declared.

“When you get behind the wheel and drive it around a circuit you’ll see why it’s very impressive. The engine and the technology both turn it into a significant player on the international performance car market.”

Walkinshaw stopped short of confirming specific countries he would like to sell the GTS into. When asked about the USA, where it could sell above the Holden Commodore VF-based Chevrolet SS, he was particularly cautious, describing such as a scenario as “complex”.

“There are relationships between General Motors USA and Holden and there are also a lot of cars of that nature in the USA already. GTS would be a bit different to what they have already, but as I say we would have to look at the business case.

“There are political issues and relationships that we have to understand in those sorts of things.”

Walkinshaw also warned that any export program would have to be a money-maker and have the support of HSV’s management.

“It would depend on the business case. We are not just going to just go and throw things out there just from a brand perspective. It has to make smart business sense to do so. I can’t speak for HSV for the whole matter, but my personal view and ambitions are to do something like that.

“We already do that with the UK with Vauxhall and I don’t see why we couldn’t start relationships in other countries doing a similar sort of thing if the business case works.”

Successfully exporting the GEN-F would be a crucial boost to HSV sales volumes, which has been hit by the general downturn in rear-wheel drive large car sales over the last few years. However, Walkinshaw believes the new generation car could boost local interest as well.

“The market has been decreasing for the last few years but hopefully the new brand of HSVs will help lift that. It is a significantly better car than E-Series and the interior, exterior, under the bonnet and the technology angle of the whole thing is a serious game changer. So that should see bit of a spike going forward – at least we hope so.”

Walkinshaw also confirmed that HSV was investigating concepts beyond its V8 base, hinting that the opportunities presented by a mooted a Holden move to a front-wheel drive architecture for the next generation Commodore would be investigated.

“Going forward we would be happy to look at different solutions.

“If the [Commodore] platform changes in the future we would be happy to look at solutions there as well. For as long as Walkinshaw and Holden have a relationship and HSV continues to go forward we will be making the best cars that we can possibly build.

“We have done various things from various concepts. I am not going to go into future concepts, but we are looking at different things obviously,” he said.

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