HSV's new boss promises future beyond 2017

THE new boss of Holden Special Vehicles says the performance car division will have a life after Holden stops making cars in Australia in 2017 -- but would not elaborate on what type of vehicles.

Tim Jackson, who joined HSV four years ago, has been promoted from his director role in charge of sales, marketing and product planning, to become the managing director who will oversee the transformation of the company once local manufacturing ends in three years.

For 27 years HSV's business has been almost solely reliant on the locally-made Commodore range of V8 sedans, wagons and utes, modifying them to increase their performance and handling -- and selling them for up to three times as much as a basic Commodore.

It currently builds the fastest and most powerful car Australia has ever created: the Holden Special Vehicles GTS, priced close to $100,000. With 430kW of power from its supercharged V8 it was briefly the fastest sedan of its size in the world until it was overtaken by a Mercedes-Benz AMG that costs more than twice as much.

But HSV, which currently employs about 100 workers at its Clayton assembly line and engineering centre, will be forced to modify and adapt imported models if it continues its relationship with General Motors once Holden stops making cars locally in 2017.

"We are excited about the future," said Mr Jackson. "Our job is as it always has been -- deliver great value performance cars and we definitely plan to continue. We don't plan to stop. Our product offering has been evolving constantly and will continue to do so."

Mr Jackson, a former high-ranking executive at sports-shoe and apparel company Adidas in Australia and overseas, will succeed the long serving and highly regarded Phil Harding, who led HSV for 8 years over two separate terms and has been working with the Walkinshaw Group for 19 years.

Ryan Walkinshaw, the son of the company's late founder Tom Walkinshaw, issued a bulletin to dealers late on Wednesday 26 February 2014 advising of the leadership change, following a board meeting earlier that morning.

Mr Harding, originally from England and a former Rolls-Royce executive and engineer, will stay at HSV as a non-executive director and work on "key projects".

Mr Harding told News Corp Australia: "I'm not retiring, just spending more time on other Walkinshaw (company) interests for three days a week and the rest on what I want to do after 47 years in the automotive industry."

In the statement to dealers Ryan Walkinshaw said Tim Jackson was "ideally positioned to continue our focus on performance, innovation, and design" of motor vehicles.

Ryan Walkinshaw also paid tribute to Phil Harding's work with the Walkinshaw Group: "I would like to thank Phil for his leadership, as well as his 19 years working within the Walkinshaw family businesses. Phil has contributed an enormous amount to HSV and TWR, and we cannot thank him enough for the commitment, experience and expertise that he has brought to the various businesses in which he has been involved."

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling