Holden Special Vehicles W427 launched

[Darren]

Holden Special Vehicles have officially unveiled Australia's true world-beater, the HSV W427.

The W427, which had the covers taken off earlier this year at the Melbourne Motorshow in 'showcar’ format, is now in production. Sales of the seven litre 375kW 'Supercar’ have begun in Australia.

HSV’s Managing Director Scott Grant said the car demonstrated engineering and design ingenuity was alive and well in the Australian car industry.

“The story around the development of this car is quite remarkable,” Scott Grant said.

“We are proud to have produced a vehicle of these proportions and are confident the public response to the W427 proves there is a strong future for luxury and performance vehicles in this country.”

The W427 nameplate is a tribute to the first Holden Special Vehicle – the Group A SS VL Commodore, produced just over 20 years ago. This car became known as the 'Walkinshaw’ in deference to the owner of the HSV business, Tom Walkinshaw, while '427’ is the cubic inch capacity of the engine.

Hand built by the General Motors Performance Build Centre in North America, the Chevrolet seven litre engine graces only two production vehicles anywhere in the world – the Corvette Z06 and now Australia’s own HSV W427.

The W427 produces 375kW of power (500 horsepower on the old scale) and 640Nm of torque, which required an extensive engineering program for the car, including all new clutch, gearbox, differential and exhaust, which will be fitted at HSV’s Clayton production facility.

“We have spent two years developing and testing this car and are really proud of the end result,” said HSV’s Engineering Manager, Joel Stoddart.

“It’s the car HSV has always wanted to build and the VE platform gave us the confidence to push the boundaries.

“The W427 has a new six piston front braking system, six airbags, ABS and Electronic Stability Control.

Like all HSV’s the W427 will carry a full three year,100,000km warranty.

HSV’s design team, led by Julian Quincey, have also left a distinctive mark on the final product.

“The design brief for the W427 was to create a unique face for HSV, one that would signal the cars immense capability, authority and power,” Quincey said.

“The W427 is the flagship for the whole HSV range and we wanted to emphasise the hand built qualities of this car.

“We believe we have achieved this with a range of design features including the imposing front face – which emphasises the need for cooling air for the seven litre engine, to the effective and functional three piece design rear lip spoiler, made of carbon fibre to keep weight to a minimum,” he said.

The W427 wheels and graphic are the work of Adam Dean Smith, a former Wheels Young Designer of the Year.

The feature a 'castellated’ design graphic, also picked up on the exhaust tips.

HSV have confirmed that no more than 427 W427s will ever be built, with 90 vehicles to be built in 2008.

The price, inclusive of the new Luxury Car Tax regime, will be $155,500.

Darren Bowler, HSV’s General Manager of Sales and Marketing said that each purchase of a HSV W427 will be accompanied by a special customer program designed to offer an insight into the craftsmanship that goes into the building of each and every vehicle.

“Every customer will have the opportunity to book into an exclusive VIP tour of Holden Special Vehicles Clayton based production facility, to observe the W427 build process,” he said.

“We’ve established and themed a dedicated viewing station for the W427 build bays on the factory floor.”

Transfers to Clayton will be at the owner’s expense and are only available to purchasers of a W427.

Customers will also receive a personally signed letter from Tom Walkinshaw along with a unique vehicle build certificate. A Customer Access Portal, containing build information, servicing details and other information on the history of their car will also form part of the ownership experience.

HSV W427 owners will receive extra protection on their purchase with the inclusion of a new upgraded version of the world famous DataDots DNA anti-theft technology.

Known as DataDots DNA 'Platinum’, incorporating the latest encrypting 'nano’ technology to authenticate genuine HSV components as well as the core vehicle.

Holden Special Vehicles W427 will be Australia’s first car company to offer this upgraded security feature.

All 90 cars being built in 2008 have been pre-sold.

Source - HSV Media.

[88GreenVN]

All 90 2008 production sold already - Bugga me that was quick.

[klaw81]

Another collector's item that no doubt will become very valuable in 20 years time...maybe some of them will even get driven every now and then.

In the meantime, we can all gaze in wonder at how they managed to make it so damn ugly, and why 500hp is all they can get out of a 7-litre engine. Pretty weak effort, and a typical yobbo (redneck?) approach to power gains - just make the engine bigger and bigger.

We got the 5.7L in 1998, and now in 2008 we have the 7.0L, does this mean by 2018 we will have an 8.3L motor? They might manage to get 600hp out of that one.

[88GreenVN]

Originally Posted by klaw81

Another collector's item that no doubt will become very valuable in 20 years time...maybe some of them will even get driven every now and then.

In the meantime, we can all gaze in wonder at how they managed to make it so damn ugly, and why 500hp is all they can get out of a 7-litre engine. Pretty weak effort, and a typical yobbo (redneck?) approach to power gains - just make the engine bigger and bigger.

We got the 5.7L in 1998, and now in 2008 we have the 7.0L, does this mean by 2018 we will have an 8.3L motor? They might manage to get 600hp out of that one.

They are just leaving a bit of power for the next model in a few years time. They never give all that it has on the first release.

Example the 5.0 L VN at 165KW standard and the HSV got 180 KW. Identical engine but for the tune.

[VT-565]

Originally Posted by klaw81

We got the 5.7L in 1998, and now in 2008 we have the 7.0L, does this mean by 2018 we will have an 8.3L motor? They might manage to get 600hp out of that one.

I got 1000hp out of 9.2 litres, am I a redneck?

[88GreenVN]

Originally Posted by EcotecManiac

I got 1000hp out of 9.2 litres, am I a redneck?

Does it have 18 wheels

[UNKNOWN]

**** poor effort from GMH....

Why didnt they just use this....

Corvette Z06 features include:

LS7 7.0-litre (427 cubic-inch) Gen IV V8 engine
373kW (505hp) @ 6300rpm
657 Nm of torque (470 lb.-ft.) @ 4800rpm
6-speed manual transmission
7000rpm redline

[azkwazere]

Originally Posted by UNKNOWN

**** poor effort from GMH....

**** poor effort from HSV!

aZk.

[UNKNOWN]

Originally Posted by azkwazere

**** poor effort from HSV!

aZk.

Ahh, yes. Thanks for the correction. HSV! That makes it worse!!!

[klaw81]

Originally Posted by EcotecManiac

I got 1000hp out of 9.2 litres, am I a redneck?

For a naturally aspirated performance car, 100hp per litre is good and 100kW per litre is excellent. So no, you're not a redneck, you're just crazy if you drive that on the road

@ 88GreenVN : They can keep some power in reserve if they want, but 500hp from 7.0L is ****-poor. They should be able to get another 100-150hp from that motor at least - not that GMH did any engine design, they just bought the motor from the Seppos. Maybe they could afford the big motor but not the cost of a 700hp capable driveline to go with it, at least not with a 3-year warranty.

And I don't care how fast it is, it's still fugly. Unless you're a collector, you'd have to be nuts to buy a $160k Holden. Spend the same on a Nissan GTR and you've got a genuine supercar killer, on or off track - Porsches beware!

[88GreenVN]

Originally Posted by klaw81

For a naturally aspirated performance car, 100hp per litre is good and 100kW per litre is excellent. So no, you're not a redneck, you're just crazy if you drive that on the road

@ 88GreenVN : They can keep some power in reserve if they want, but 500hp from 7.0L is ****-poor. They should be able to get another 100-150hp from that motor at least - not that GMH did any engine design, they just bought the motor from the Seppos. Maybe they could afford the big motor but not the cost of a 700hp capable driveline to go with it, at least not with a 3-year warranty.

And I don't care how fast it is, it's still fugly. Unless you're a collector, you'd have to be nuts to buy a $160k Holden. Spend the same on a Nissan GTR and you've got a genuine supercar killer, on or off track - Porsches beware!

Yourve nailed it there with the 3 year warranty/drive line. And do you really need more power to make people buy it - well for the first 90 cars - No because they have sold them already.

If sales slip a bit then Ver 2 may have 10 or 20 kws more.

[Reaper]

Some of the knockers on here make me shake my head at times. HSV have built the fastest sedan Australia has ever seen and the best some can say is it's a **** poor effort???

Reaper