South African super Holden ute

Specialist South African tuning company LupiniPower has trumped our Holden an outrageous supercharged version of the 6.0-litre Holden SS ute.

Dubbed the Chevrolet SuperUte and selling in its home country for around $A91,000, the ute boasts the seriously impressive figures of 400kW of power at 5600rpm and 800Nm of torque that is on tap at a pretty relaxed 3400rpm..

Its big highly tuned V8 can sprint the ute to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds in six-speed automatic guise and surprisingly, LupinaPower says the ute, that is also known as the Pontiac G8 in the United States, is more fuel efficient and greener than the standard ute.

The company claims a combined fuel-consumption figure of 11.9 litres/100km for the SuperUte (compared with 12.2 litres for the standard version) and its 227g/km CO2 emissions figure compares with 237g/km in standard guise.

The SuperUte reaches 160km/h in 9.9 seconds and 200km/h comes up in 15.5 seconds - that's more than five seconds quicker than its standard sibling.

The new South African-tweaked rocketship can cover the quarter-mile dash in 12.7 seconds and break the timing light at 182km/h.

Its standing-kilometre time is 22.8 seconds at 241km/h while top speed is 282km/h. LupiniPower's Michele Lupina said there has already been interest from Australia so we might get to see the stove-hot ute here before too long.

To help drivers manage all this power and performance, LupiniPower has fitted bigger race-specification front disc brakes and calipers and tweaked the suspension for better handling, road holding and overall driving dynamics. The company insists these enhancements have not compromised ride and comfort.

Speaking of the brakes, there are 320mm ventilated discs at the front and 290mm units at the rear. Both use four-piston alloy calipers.

One enhancement, known as the TractionBar, is unique to the SuperUte and the wild machine rides on 20-inch alloy wheels that are 8.5Js at the front and 10Js on the rear.

They are shod with 245/35R20 Bridgestone Potenza RE050 ultra-high performance tyres at the front and beefy 285/30R20 rears put the power to the road.

If buyers are not content with the SuperUtes's suspension, they can tick the options box for a full Bilstein setup and add a limited-slip differential.

The other news is that if a ute is not the kind of vehicle that appeals, LupiniPower will build a Chevrolet SuperLumina sedan.

It is based on the Holden Commodore SS.