HSV Colorado SportsCat V8 revealed

The Walkinshaw Group has revealed the HSV Colorado SportsCat V8 ute that would have been rolling into showrooms priced from under $80,000 around now if Holden had not been axed by General Motors in 2020.

While the production version may have worn another name, the HSV SportsCat V8 would have been the flagship of the wider MY22 Colorado dual-cab 4x4 ute range, which would also have included a more powerful four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine as standard.

Featuring a 350kW/630Nm LT1 Chevrolet pushrod V8 matched to a 10-speed auto and upgraded transfer case, the SportsCat V8 was essentially confirmed for production, with engine installation planned at the Rayong plant in Thailand and second-stage manufacturing at the Walkinshaw campus in Clayton.

The price target was $79,990 plus on-road costs and HSV expected to be able to sell around 2000 per year.

“This vehicle development program came about because people kept asking for a V8,” Walkinshaw Group commercial director Chris Polites told carsales.

“The aim for that vehicle was to get that really price competitive. I reckon $79,990 was where we were going to get to.

“At HSV our business case was approved. We still had to finalise the manufacturing solution with GM, but they were working very collaboratively on that.”

The pricing pitched the SportsCat V8 right up against the Ford Ranger Raptor turbo-diesel, although the HSV would have had a road-oriented chassis tune rather than being a focussed off-roader.

In parallel, the development program also included a pitch to Chevrolet to develop V8 version of the Raptor-rivalling Colorado ZR2 for sale in the USA.

Both programs had ground to a halt by the time GM killed off Holden in early 2020 and sold the plant where Colorados destined for Australia were being built.

“We were never going to build the ZR2 here, but we were in talks with GM to develop the car for them over in the US,” HSV managing engineer David Kermond confirmed.

“We travelled to Detroit and presented. There were talks that were had, but it didn’t get off the ground.

“We were talking with their engineers, we had a three-day workshop going through what we were doing here and what we were doing there. The ZR2 was probably something that wasn’t going to happen overnight.”

Both the SportsCat V8 and the ZR2 V8 were shown off as part of a Walkinshaw Performance media day last week, when details of the new Chevrolet Silverado supercharger kit and a number of other initiatives were also unveiled.

The ZR2 was available for brief sampling on the soaking wet Sandown racetrack, but carsales had the chance for a day in the SportsCat V8 later in the week and you can watch the video and read our road test assessment and technical backgrounder here.

Painted in the same Panorama Silver hue as the legendary 1988 VL Group A SS, the SportsCat V8 development mule is officially the last-ever car built by HSV and has the compliance plate to prove it. It will be auctioned off within months.

“It is the true last HSV,” said Kermond. “It’s built correctly, it’s built to a spec.”

The V8 Colorado development program began in late 2016, about a year before Holden’s Elizabeth plant closed in South Australia, ending supply of the rear-wheel drive Commodores that HSV had built its high-performance reputation on.

The SportsCat was intended as HSV’s new volume model, but launched initially with an unchanged 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. That engine also would have been tuned for increased outputs a part of a significant MY22 update that according to Kermond also included a new fascia, wheels, tyres and brakes.

The first V8 test mule was a US-spec left-hand drive Chevrolet Colorado Z71 found unused at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground. A ZR2 was then purchased and imported from the USA to continue development, while the third and final test vehicle was uprated to SportsCat spec from a standard Colorado LT.