HSV tweaks VE for motor show

Something special is simmering at Holden Special Vehicles as the clock counts down to its 20th-birthday celebrations.

The main course will be served at the Melbourne Motor Show next year, but there will be an appetiser at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney in October with the coming VE Commodore ute.

The new HSV Maloo is a definite, but HSV chief Scott Grant is not being specific about other plans.

Still, he is hinting about a tweak job on one of its existing VE-based cars for Sydney before going all-out with the main game in Melbourne next March.

“We'll have a number of events and vehicles for the anniversary,” Grant says.

“We are going to celebrate our 20 years in the business, and in typical HSV style we will create something of a limited nature for the Australian International Motor Show, as well as showcasing the new Maloo.

“Sydney gives us an opportunity to have the brand-new production car called the Maloo, and to celebrate a successful Australian business there will be something else."

“For Melbourne we want to do something substantial, to really capture the imagination. We're looking at a vintage car of the future.”

Grant says the Sydney plan is signed off and ready to go, but he says the hero car for Melbourne is not solid.

“We're trying to get there, but we're not there yet,” he says. “We hope to have the car approved, but we don't have it signed off or the budget approved.”

He also rules out a move to a seven-litre V8 engine in place of the 6.2 used by HSV, despite the potential for a power-up plan using a fresh power plant from the US.

HSV has built a 427 Monaro concept car in the past, but it never made it to production.

“We'd love to do that. It is something we're working on,” he says.

“There are a few engines we've been testing for a while, but we haven't chosen one. It's not easy to make it work."

“We'd love to do a super high-performance engine, but they are not easy to come by.”

Grant is happy to confirm the Maloo, without going into detail.

“Yes. It's all done,” he says. “Holden will release the VE ute in the middle of the year and we'll follow in the usual HSV style."

“You can expect the typical front-end look of the current HSV line-up, but we've also done a fair bit to the side and rear to make it more differentiated from where the previous utes have been."

“We've spent a fair bit of money on differentiation, as we did with the V-Series sedan. That's what people can expect on the new Maloo.”

What about adding the Maloo to HSV's export drive in Europe, which is under the control of Phil Harding, who was Grant's predecessor as managing director?

“No. Not at this stage. We're open to it, but it's a unique vehicle for Australia,” Grant says. “You don't see too many of those types of vehicles making a presence outside Australia.”