HSV SportsCat range to split

The second-generation Holden Colorado SportsCat by HSV is likely to split into two distinct streams -- one building up its off-road capability to go after the Ford Ranger Raptor and the other with sporting on-road ability as its key performance attribute.

But you’ll be waiting for some time to see what HSV’s engineers and designers come up with for the new SportsCat as the next-generation Holden Colorado 4x4 dual-cab ute on which it will be based isn’t due to appear until early next decade.

Speaking to carsales.com.au at this week’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 launch, HSV managing director Tim Jackson forecast the ‘two-stream’ future for SportsCat.

“I think we’d look to develop that into the future, we’d look at having both [on- and off-road] options but keep them separated,” he said

The SportsCat has been a cornerstone of the transformation HSV has undergone since the end of local Holden Commodore production in 2017.

HSV upgrades Thai-built Colorado dual-cab to SportsCat spec at its Walkinshaw Park facility in Melbourne, where the Chevrolet Camaro coupe and Silverado pick-up are converted – or remanufactured as HSV dubs it – to right-hand drive.

But while the Chevrolets have no local performance modifications, at least not yet, the Colorados undergo both technical and visual changes as part of their transformation to SportsCats.

At the moment the SportsCat range is one stream of vehicles, building on capability as the price rises. Optional Supashock dampers add road focus to the driving behaviour.

Jackson confirmed the Raptor was a target for HSV: “The short answer is yes”.

But he said how closely the next SportsCat would compare to Raptor would depend on a bunch of unresolved factors.

“We’ve driven it [Raptor] and had a look at it, if you want to call that benchmarking.

“But there are a lot of things the Raptor does that we may or may not have access to and there are other things that we have access and may look to do that they don’t have.

“We’d look how we can put together a product that delivers typically for our niche.”

As previously reported, the option of taking the US-market Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and converting it to right-hand drive for Australia has been ruled out by HSV.