Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) was long the Aussie carmaker’s high-performance group tasked with building its most powerful and fastest models, but when GM announced it would kill off Holden in February, the future of HSV was left a little uncertain.
However, as reported by local publication Which Car, HSV isn’t going anywhere and will take on a new name in the form of GM Speciality Vehicles (GMSV).
While unconfirmed, it is understood that GMSV will be a joint venture between General Motors and local company Walkinshaw Group. The man behind the local brand, Tom Walkinshaw, was also responsible for establishing HSV back in the day and in recent years, Walkinshaw has since built itself into a successful company creating race cars and working on road cars.
Since the closure of local manufacturing in 2017, Walkinshaw turned its attention away from tuning and upgrading local models and has since become the leader in converting left-hand drive vehicles from the U.S. to right-hand drive and selling them in Australia. Today, it converts a number of vehicles, including the Chevrolet Silverado and Camaro, as well as various RAM trucks.
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It is reported that through the Walkinshaw and GM joint-venture, the company will continue to convert vehicles in Melbourne and then distribute them through a revised and slimmed-down network of HSV dealerships. GMSV will initially focus on converting Chevrolet pickups, SUVs, and performance vehicles, including the C8 Corvette.
Walkinshaw has the capacity to remanufacture and convert more than 10,000 vehicles a year. However, the vehicles it does convert will not be cheap.
More details about GM Speciality Vehicles are expected to come in the near future.
