How Holden and GM robbed Australians of Very Good Utes | Opinion

Holden is no more, and while the pain of its departure is now beginning to fade, it is quickly being replaced by a new and furious anger over the fact that - as is becoming increasingly obvious - we really got a raw deal, and then some.

When GM quit Holden, and Australia, the brand was flogging a European almost-Commodore, some relatively painful American SUVs, and the forgettable Holden Trax, amongst others.

Critically, it also sold a Colorado ute that couldn't put a dent in Ford's Ranger sales, had no hardcore Raptor rival, and was trounced by the Toyota HiLux.

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Not the most illustrious lineup, you'd have to say. And the results were tough. Put it this way, in 2019, Holden sold 43,176 vehicles across its entire range. In that same year, Ford shifted 40,960 examples of the Ranger alone.

Anyway, Holden was no more. And then, all of a sudden, GM started making good cars. The Corvette, for example, or the Hummer EV.

But the one that's really making my skin itch is the reborn Colorado. Easily the most important model in Holden's local line-up, and one that - thanks to the USA - is now better, stronger and tougher than ever before.

The new Ranger-ready version of the Colorado appears plenty up to the task of taking on Ford (and the Toyota HiLux, for that matter).

Called the ZR2, the toughest variant of the new Colorado is designed as the "ultimate off-road performance" vehicle, and at first blush it appears to live up to that claim.

Sure, it's a four-cylinder donk, but it is equipped with a "High-Output" version of the brand's turbocharged 2.7-litre petrol engine, which pumps out a considerable 231kW and 583Nm, and which is paired with an eight-speed Hydra-Matic automatic. While down on kilowatts, and cylinders, the ZR2's torque is on par with the new Ford Ranger Raptor.

It also, unsurprisingly, delivers the best off-road specs in the new Colorado family, with approach, departure and break-over angles of 38.3, 25.1 and 24.6, as well as ground clearance of 27.1cm.

The ZR2 then continues to up the tough stuff, with a heap of standard fit goodies, including a spray-on bed liner, LED lighting, off-road designed front and rear bumpers (for better ground clearance), an aluminium skid plate and rocker panel protection.

The wheels are 17 inches, and have chunky all-terrain tyres wrapped around them, and there are front and rear electronic locking differentials, those Multimatic DSSV dampers, and new cast-iron control arms, too.

So, we were already jealous. And then the USA upped the stakes again, this time with the GMC AT4X, a sibling of the mud-munching Colorado, and which includes a 3.0-inch lift, a 2700kg towing capacity and a Baja mode designed for high-speed off-roading.

The 17-inch wheels are wrapped in Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT rubber, and - in Edition 1 package - a 17-inch bead-lock wheels, a bash bar, a light bar and a recovery winch.

Make no mistake, these are exactly the kinds of headline-stealing utes that Holden needed, and needed badly. And instead we remember vehicles like the Captiva and Trax, and not a Ranger Raptor-rumbling mega ute.

Too little, too late.