Supercharged HSV 'confirmed'

Australia's most powerful ever production car will be launched next month. But you didn't read it here first.

HSV's upgraded GEN-F series GTS will pack a fire-breathing 430kW/740Nm version of the supercharged LSA 6.2-litre V8 that powers Chevrolet’s Camaro ZL-1 when it goes on sale as a fully fledged production model later this year, following the release of mainstream models in June.

The new GTS -- and the rest of the naturally aspirated GEN-F range -- was the subject of a series of in-camera media briefings and a dealer launch over the past few weeks.

The media briefings were held on the basis that media outlets would honour a May 15 embargo, when the new HSV line-up will be publicly unveiled.

motoring.com.au chose to honour that embargo but a series of leaks and blatant breaches of trust have effectively spilled the beans on the MY14 HSV rollout.

HSV's latest GEN-F range is the first the standalone company has developed fully in-step with a General Motors timetable and draws on new production and validation processes.

The hot Holden brand’s new flagship will also feature other Aussie firsts -- including massive six-piston aluminium front brake callipers with race-spec rotors and a Porsche-style torque vectoring rear differential.

The GTS will eschew the front foglights of the rest of the new-look HSV line-up to adopt a larger front airdam with greater airflow, while 20-inch alloy wheels with new Bridgestone-replacing Continental tyres will be standard across the GEN-F range.

However, all models will lack the twin bonnet vents, large trapezoidal exhaust outlets, repositioned tail-lights and distinctive black front-end design elements that differentiate the current line-up.

Based on Holden’s upcoming VF Commodore, which officially goes on sale on June 1, HSV’s mainstream GEN-F range will be powered by a carryover 6.2-litre LS3 V8 offering 317kW/550Nm, while Maloo R8 ute and Clubsport R8 sedan models will run a 325kW/550Nm version.

A new 340kW/570Nm ‘SV Enhanced’ version, incorporating a new 'bi-mode' air intake, will be an option for R8 buyers and standard in the Senator and Grange luxury sedans.

But the centrepiece of HSV’s MY14 range will be the GTS – the most powerful Australian-built car ever, thanks to outputs of 430kW at 6000rpm and 740Nm of torque at 4200rpm.

That should be enough for the GTS to easily eclipse direct rival FPV’s blown 335kW/575Nm GT R-SPEC as Australia’s quickest new car, and betters the outputs of BMW’s famous M5, the twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 in which delivers 412kW/680Nm.

Slamming out a huge 105kW (or 32 per cent) more power than the outgoing E-Series GTS, it also matches the 430kW power play (but not quite the 800Nm peak torque figure) of Mercedes-Benz’s upcoming E 63 S AMG sedan.

Perhaps most impressively, the new GTS should easily better the R-SPEC’s Aussie-benchmark 4.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration time and match the 4.3-second pace of those $230,000 German super-sedans with a pricetag of about $95,000, setting a new yardstick for sub-$100K performance.

But the new HSV kingpin (which will nonetheless be its second most expensive model ever, after the limited-edition $155,500 W427 of 2009) doesn’t use now-common engine technologies like double overhead camshafts or even direct fuel-injection to achieve its brutal results. Instead, the oversquare 6.162-litre (376 cubic-inch) all-aluminium V8 continues to run just one block-mounted camshaft operating only two valves per cylinder via pushrods. Compression is a low 9.1:1 and fuel delivery is by sequential port injection, backed by a 1.9-litre intercooled supercharger.

The US-sourced LSA V8 was first revealed in 2008 in the Cadillac CTS-V and is closely related to GM’s most powerful engine, the 6.2-litre supercharged LS9, which employs a larger-displacement four-lobe Eaton blower, forged pistons, titanium conrods and higher compression to deliver 462kW.

Expect the new GTS, unlike the auto-only Senator and Grange luxury sedans, to continue to be available with both six-speed manual and automatic transmissions, as well as a switchable five-stage stability control system.

Of course, all MY14 HSVs will also come with the host of new technologies already revealed for the VF Commodore, including electric power steering, an electric parking brake, forward collision warning, blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning and a head-up display.

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