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  The Colorado four-wheel-drive dual-cab (like the one pictured above) at the show is a one-off, not a production vehicle.

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• Australian International Motorshow

A concept car with a twist will put the spark into the Holden stand.

It’s the all-new, trade-tough and leisure-ready Holden Colorado.

The dual-cab hero was designed and built in Melbourne by the Holden Design team and is also going to be engineered by local experts to prepare it for action next year.

To be built in Thailand and on sale in the first quarter of 2012, the second-generation workhorse to wear a Colorado badge also marks the official split between General Motors and Isuzu – its long-term Japanese partner – on development of future workhorse utes.

The Colorado four-wheel-drive dual-cab at the show is a one-off, not a production vehicle, and follows similar vehicles that have been shown in Bangkok and Buenos Aires.

Holden says its Colorado design delivers a unique look to a vehicle that will be sold in Australia and up to 100 countries.

The top-secret Colorado project was led by 26-year-old creative designer Ben Last, who applied Holden’s sports-performance design flair to the new-look ute.

Last, an industrial design graduate from Monash University, worked on the Australian show car project for more than a year and collaborated with the car’s global "home room" in Brazil and design studios in the US and Thailand. He applied Holden’s design touches to the Colorado by playing heavily on the vehicle’s stance and wide proportions.

Working to a brief of "refined ruggedness", the Colorado gets locally-styled panels, including the front fascia, bonnet, fenders and tailgate. Designers also introduced a series of machined aluminium details to the vehicle, including side steps, bumpers, rear step plates and side mirror attachment arms, as well as striking 20-inch satin-finished wheels.

The exterior is further enhanced by unique LED head and tail lamps, custom rear-vision mirrors with integrated turn signals, hard tonneau cover and a brilliant Red Rock metallic paint finish.