2015 HSV GTS Maloo is a Hell of a Sendoff [w/ Video]

Australia is the land of extremes: Extremely deadly critters. Extremely large unsettled/undeveloped areas. Extremely hot women (Seriously, Oz is at least tied with the likes of Brazil and the former Soviet Bloc in that regard.). And, for the past eight decades, extremely cool car/pickup truck mashups called utes. Sadly, with GM and Ford (the two remaining ute builders) in the process of winding down their Australian manufacturing operations, these minotaurs of the motoring world are living on borrowed time.

But Holden and its in-house skunkworks, HSV, are making absolutely sure that GM Australia’s last ute (based on the VF Commodore) does not go gently into that good night. This is the HSV GTS Maloo, and it’s more powerful and more badass than any stock passenger car with a bed in history. It’s powered by an LSA supercharged 6.2L V8 lifted from the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. In GTS Maloo form, it tickles the dyno to the tune of 430 kilowatts – which works out to 577 horsepower – and torque tops out at 546 lb.-ft. That muscle reaches the rear wheels (which, like the fronts, measure 20″ across) through a standard 6-speed manual transmission, though a 6-speed automatic with manual shift mode is optional.

Want one? Unfortunately, the 250-unit production run already sold out weeks ago, and even if that wasn’t the case, you’d have to live in Australia (which will be getting 240 HSV GTS Maloos) or New Zealand (which will get the remaining 10). Of course, it beats the alternative (i.e. not doing any wacky-fast special edition and phoning it in until the last HoldenVF uterolls off the line).

Source: HSV