This is HSV’s last Commodore

This orange GTSR W1 was the last Holden Commodore-based HSV vehicle to roll off Holden Special Vehicles’ assembly line in Melbourne last Friday (December 29).

The final, ‘Light My Fire’ coloured W1 -- build #275 of the 275 built for the Australian market -- caps nearly 30 years of production of modified Commodore V8s (and a small number of more forgettable vehicles) by HSV.

HSV’s landmark W1 -- powered by an epic 474kW/815Nm supercharged 6.2-litre V8 -- was the final MY17 HSV produced and will be retained by the company.

“For all at HSV, this is a time for great reflection on what the company has been able to achieve to date,” said HSV managing director Tim Jackson.

“Any success we’ve enjoyed has been directly attributable to our passionate staff, our dedicated dealer body and of course our loyal fans who have helped build this brand through its 30-year journey.”

Jackson said HSV – the final full-vehicle manufacturer to close its doors in Australia following similar moves by Ford, Holden and Toyota -- is now looking to a future in which it will fettle Holden’s Colorado ute and convert Silverado pick-up and Camaro coupe vehicles to right-hand drive.

“The last 30 years have set a wonderful foundation for future growth. With our recent launch of the Colorado SportsCat, together with our commitment to bringing to market key Chevrolet models including the iconic Chevrolet Camaro, the future is looking very bright,” he said.

HSV’s swansong W1, which we named Australia’s Best Driver’s Car for 2017 , was the greatest Commodore model ever developed by HSV and the and the last derivative of the homegrown Holden Zeta platform that underpinned Commodore from 2005.

In total, HSV has built 90,114 vehicles since its establishment by the Walkinshaw family to replace Peter Brock’s Holden Dealer Team as Holden’s official performance partner in 1987.

Production of the first model, the VL Group A SS, didn’t start until early 1988 at HSV’s original Notting Hill base.

HSV moved to the former Nissan plant at Clayton in 1994 and will now relocate to a new state-of-the-art facility a few kilometres from its current site, where it will modify the Colorado SportsCat and convert the Chevrolet Camaro coupe and Silverado pick-up.

The Clayton South site also houses the Walkinshaw co-venture with Neville Crichton’s Ateco Automotive that converts Dodge RAMs to right-hand drive under the ASV banner.

The current site will continue to house the former Holden factory Supercars racing team, which from January 1 will become Walkinshaw Andretti United after investments by US racing legend Michael Andretti and British motorsport company, United Autosports.

Key HSV production volumes by model:
VL Group A SS -- 750
VL SV88 -- 150
VN SV3800 -- 491
VN SV89 -- 200
VN SV5000 -- 359
VN ClubSport -- 410
VG Maloo -- 132
VP GTS -- 130
VS GTS-R -- 85
GTS Coupe -- 423
Coupe 4 -- 132
W427 -- 137
25th Anniversary GTS -- 140
GTS Maloo -- 255
GTSR sedan -- 1270
GTSR Maloo -- 606
GTSR W1 -- 298

Key HSV production milestones:
5000th vehicle built -- June 1991
20,000th vehicle built -- April 1997
50,000th vehicle built -- July 2006
75,000th vehicle built -- February 2013
90,000th vehicle built -- December 2017

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