HSV had officially stamped its new range flagship, the HSV GTS, as the fastest production car ever produced in Australia.
With either the six-speed manual or no-cost optional automatic, and employing standard launch control and 275mm-wide rear tyres to aid getting grunt to the ground, the HSV GTS gets to 100km/h in a claimed 4.4 seconds, crossing the quarter mile line in 12.3 seconds.
That puts the GTS around two-tenths quicker than times achievable by the limited edition 7.0-litre HSV W427 which was the fastest Australian production car until last year when it was challenged by the FPV GT which, like the new GTS, employs a supercharged V8 engine.
But where the FPV makes 335kW and 570Nm from its 5.0-litre supercharged V8, the ‘LSA’ 6.2-litre all-aluminium supercharged V8 engine in the HSV GTS produces 340kW of power at 6000rpm and 740Nm of torque at 4200rpm.
Those figures compare favourably with the 412kW/700Nm Audi RS6 Avant, 412kW/680Nm BMW M5, 404kW/680Nm Jaguar XFR-S and 430kW/800Nm Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG – all of which cost more than $200,000.
Compared with the regular HSV Gen-F range, and every other VF Commodore, the HSV GTS gets its own rear suspension module and subframe, larger diameter half shafts, all-alloy hubs, a ‘Track’ mode for the magnetic adjustable dampers, and a torque vectoring system that brakes a spinning rear inside wheel to reduce understeer.
Brakes move from 367mm discs all-round to 390mm fronts/372mm rears with two-piece cross-drilled rotors mimicking the design used in V8 Supercars racers.
Priced from $92,900, the HSV is on sale now.