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The new Holden Special Vehicles GTS -- the fastest and most powerful car ever made in Australia -- will be sold in the UK for less than it costs at home.
General Motors’ Vauxhall brand unveiled the supercharged V8 sedan in the UK overnight with a pricetag of £54,999 on the road, which at today’s conversion rate equates to $86,500 Australian dollars.
HSV announced yesterday the price of the GTS started at $92,990 plus on-road costs, which brings the equivalent drive-away price close to $100,000.
The HSV price disparity comes as the rest of the Holden Commodore range has been slashed by between $5000 and $10,000. The cost of the new HSV GTS meanwhile has increased by $2000.
HSV was unavailable for comment as this story was published. However Australia’s Luxury Car Tax (33 per cent of the cost above $59,133) will likely account for much of the disparity.
Vauxhall spokesman Simon Hucknall told News Limited: “It hasn’t always been the case that the car is cheaper in the UK than Australia. Over the years we’ve seen currency fluctuations. At the moment it’s a lot more favourable for us to have it over here.”
The first shipment of HSV GTS sedans is due to arrive in England in December, but the company has modest sales expectations.
“This is a niche vehicle for us,” Hucknall said. “Since 2007 we’ve sold 568 cars.” Last year Vauxhall imported a HSV Maloo ute as a demonstrator model and sold just one car.
“This is an enthusiast’s car, a halo model for the brand,” said Hucknall. It gets a disproportionate amount of press coverage compared to how many we sell. “Petrol is a lot dearer here.”
A litre of petrol costs about $2.20 in the UK, or £6 per gallon. It costs about $160 to top-up the petrol tank.
Vauxhall, which has used HSV cars in recent years to add some polish to its dowdy image, said in its press statement “Watch out BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, it’s back and it’s supercharged”.
The thunder from Down Under has even found favour among Britain’s harshest car critics, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, who has praised previous HSV models for their brutish performance, albeit in a comparatively basic package described as “meat and pie engineering”.
Clarkson has previously described HSV cars as being “balls out Continent crushers” with enough power “to mess up someone’s village pretty good”.
This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling
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