HOLDEN DEBUTS THREE SPECIAL HSV EDITIONS

Special-edition Holdens are like special-edition Ford Mustangs: all-too frequent but oh-so-very good.

Holden is an Australian subsidiary of General Motors. Down under, they enjoy a big rear-wheel drive car with a big engine about as much as is deemed possible. HSV is Holden Special Vehicles, the Holden equivalent of Mercedes-Benz AMG or BMW's M cars. 

With that being understood, you can look at this HSV Clubsport R8 Tourer and not be surprised by its horsepower total (425) or its torque figure (406 lb-ft). There'll be just 125 of these wagons. A manual transmission is standard equipment.

20" wheels are standard on the sedan in the rear of the photo below. Holden calls it the HSV Senator Signature SV08. It's close to $15,000 more than the previously-mentioned Clubsport R8 Tourer. Only 20 can be had with a manual transmission. Another 30 will be available for those who wish the car to shift for itself.

Finally, in the foreground, you have the HSV GTS 40 Years Edition. Anniversary models are all around us. There'll be 100 of these at a slightly lower cost than the Senator Signature.

How does this pertain to you? These cars, underneath all the extra badging and two-tone paint jobs, are Pontiac G8s.  

NAME THE PONTIAC G8 UTE

Will Australia's love for the ute, a phenomenon not seen in other parts of the globe, reignite an El Camino-like passion in North America? General Motors; more specifically Pontiac, certainly hopes so.  

Do recall the on-again/off-again life of previous GM car-based trucks on this continent. In fact, take the Subaru Baja as an example of terrible cartruck sales, as well. Subaru wanted to push around 24,000 Bajas (an Outback with no roof continuation, the Outback being a jacked up Legacy wagon) but only managed to shove 30,000 out dealer doors over four years.  

Read other Pontiac-related articles here

Holden, General Motors' Australian subsidiary, is donating their Commodore to Pontiac where you know it as the G8. Expect success, unlike Holden's last gift to Pontiac, the ill-fated and slow-selling GTO. Assuming rising gas prices but no less need for practical truck usages, the thinking is that General Motors will import the Holden Ute as a G8 cartruck. Sixty extra components help strengthen the longer G8 ute, which makes use of the 6.0L V8 from the G8 GT in the New York concept form.  

Other news involving this ute is that it may not be the G8 Ute, at least by name. Pontiac.com/namethiscar will host the public naming of what Pontiac calls a "sport truck utility vehicle". The site also mentions 3,500 pounds of towing capability and a 1,300 pound payload.

THE GENERAL'S NEWS

Conventional thinking and official General Motors releases would lead you to believe the upcoming Corvette ZR1 will be priced like an inexpensive supercar (or a very expensive Chevy sports car), but conventional thinking is wrong this time. The first ZR1 sold for 10x the MSRP. The Barrett-Jackson produces big numbers every time this year, and a Corvette ZR1 for a cool million bucks is one of those big numbers, indeed.

Overt, startling, and distracting to the point of appreciation - the Cadillac CTS coupe concept will become a production car in 2010. Expect Cadillac to build 15,000 at the Lansing Grand River facility every year.

The port at Benicia, California is about to accept four ships full of Pontiac G8's from Down Under, mate. By launch time, Pontiac hopes to have 7,000 G8's in America. This first batch is near equally split between V6 and V8 models.

Speaking of Oz, a blue police-liveried Hummer H3 is on active duty at community events in Australia. Police hope to 'foster relationships between police and local youths.' The Australian Conservation Foundation's Phil Freeman sounds disappointed in Victoria's police. "We would much prefer to see Victoria Police encouraging kids to ride bikes both for their environment and their health."

Forget the Volt - Saturn wants to sell you a full-on plug-in hybrid in SUV form in 2010. (December 31st of 2010 is 35 months away.) The Vue plug-in would recharge at your home's electrical outlet in less than five hours and would achieve twice the fuel economy of any SUV on the road today. Well, well, well; we shall see.

As described here on GoodCarBadCar, the previously mentioned Pontiac G8 sportwagon will not be sold in North America, but the genuine Australian article, Holden's Commodore wagon, will be offered in seven versions.