Mercedes-Benz AMG GT vs HSV Colorado

What's the difference?

Once upon a time, people would dream about owning a Mercedes-Benz 450SLC – the C107 sports/luxury coupe flagship of the 1970s.

Sexy, stylish, secure and incredibly solid, it embodied the brand’s ‘Engineered Like No Other Car' mantra of the era.

Today’s all-new, second-generation, C192 AMG GT Coupe is something of an indirect descendant of this sort of thinking, changing tack from its supercar-esque 2014 C190 predecessor, with more space, more seats, more sensibility and, conversely, even more steak and sizzle from its glorious V8.

A modern-day SLC? The Porsche 911, Aston Martin DB12, Maserati GranTurismo and Bentley Continental GT’s worst nightmare? Or something else entirely?

These questions and more are answered below.

The SportsCat Series II is perhaps not the kind of HSV we've grown accustomed to over the years. But that’s ok. Because HSV is no longer the brand we’ve grown accustomed to, either. Their core product has changed, you see. And so their core buyer has changed right along with it.

In fact, HSV sees itself as almost starting again; rebuilding its customer base (and even its newsletter subscriber base) as it shifts from power-soaked Commodores to imported Camaros and this: the Holden Colorado-based SportsCat Series II.

It looks tough, and has better equipment and finishes than the Holden, but there is not one kilowatt of extra power on offer from its diesel - yep, diesel - engine. 

“We see it as performance, just a different kind of performance,” HSV tells us, pointing to the ute's off-road chops rather than any blistering power figures.

So does this Colorado-turned-SportsCat live up to HSV’s history? And more importantly, does it paint a rosy picture of HSV’s future?