We're in the midst of Aussie V8 fever. With production on the Falcon ceased, and production on the Commodore going the same way shortly, the hype around the final wave of HSV models is through the roof.
Somewhat inevitably, it was revealed a few weeks ago that the first 'publicly available' GTSR W1 — the quickest HSV ever made, and suitably the most highly anticipated model in the range — would be auctioned off by Manheim in Melbourne.
In every measure, the black W1 in question is a new car. It still comes with protective plastic all over the interior, and it only has 14km on the clock. For the record, HSV are only making 300 W1s, and just eight are coming to New Zealand; all of which are accounted for.
Well, the auction took place last night, with bidding peaking at AU$257,500 (NZ$278,400). That's NZ$94,700 more than Australian recommended retail pricing ... and yet the car failed to meet the vendor's reserve price, and thus it didn't sell.
Of course, while the auctioneer didn't get to slam their gavel on the rostrum on the night, it's likely that the exchange between vendor and bidders would've continued behind closed doors.
While the W1 and its GTSR HSV stablemates will be the last Commodore V8s ever made, they may not signal the end of the HSV brand. It's been suggested that the tuning house could be renamed 'Walkinshaw' — a nod to their historic and existing ties to the Walkinshaw family — and it could continue to produce hotted-up variants of other cars outside of the 'Commodore' family.
Speaking to Driven back in February, HSV's New Zealand Regional Manager Andrew Lamb expected the HSV legacy to press on beyond the Commodore.
“The company, even in two year’s time, I think will be in a very different space to where it is now. We’ve got some cool things happening, we just can’t talk about them yet as frustrating as that is,” he said at the time.
“In a lot of ways, the closure of manufacturing in Australia takes some of the shackles away and opens things up a lot more for us. So it’s actually an opportunity, more than an end — if you like.
“If you think about it from a ‘we’re sad about it, it’s the end of the world’ kind of thing, don’t. Think about it as an opportunity to expand the company.”
