HSV sees the light

There is a little bit of Audi R8 in the new HSV line-up.

HSV design chief Julian Quincey has revealed to the Carsales Network that the Melbourne-based operation turned to the German brand for inspiration and technical know-how for its new DRLs.

"We went out, we bought two LED daytime running lamps -- we bought an Audi R8 one and an Audi A4 one," Quincey said. "We took them apart and benchmarked how they worked. We've picked up the best design out there and really learnt from them.

"We've obviously got them brighter than Audi. Audi sell in Europe and it's going to be a lot brighter over here once we hit summertime."

Quincey explained that the idea for adding the DRLs came after the success of the company's decision to fit unique LED taillights to the original E Series range.

"[HSV chief engineer] Joel [Stoddart] will tell you its all about engineering but we wanted it to stand out in traffic!" Quincey explained.

"They were on our styling agenda right from the word go," he added.

While not insisting it was an engineering driven concept Stoddart admitted there are a number of advantages of the DRLs, including extra visibility for better safety.

"Julian wanted differentiation, we saw some safety aspects," Stoddart said. "So the more boxes you tick the better."

However, it wasn't a straightforward process getting the DRLs over the line for the E2 production models. Late in the program, the high-intensity beams were almost cut due to budget constraints. Quincey wrote to HSV owner Tom Walkinsahw to plead for the inclusion of the DRLs.

One feature that did miss the cut for E2 though, were the steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles for the automatic models. Stoddart admitted that the company has considered such an addition, but the benefits of paddle shifts weren't great enough for the current transmission.

However, he left the door open to the possible addition of paddle shifters should HSV adopt a dual-clutch transmission sometime in the future. He believes only with a DCT can paddle shifts make a worthy gain to the car's performance.

For more details of the HSV E2 range, see our extended coverage.

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