HSV is already eyeing a number of vehicles for its 2018 showroom once production of the Holden Commodore ceases at the end of 2017.
HSV managing director Phil Harding this week vowed the Melbourne-based manufacturer would continue producing high-performance vehicles after the last locally made Holden rolled off the line at Elizabeth, despite HSVâs current line-up comprising only Australian-made Commodore-based products.
âOur business at Clayton has been providing excitement to the auto industry for the last 26 years and I donât plan to stop,â Harding said.
âOur product offering has been evolving constantly and will continue to do so. Change is not new for our business and we will continue to adapt, successfully, to a new operating environmentâ, added Harding.
HSV sales and marketing director Tim Jackson told CarAdvice the company already had a shortlist of vehicles it may work with beyond the current Gen-F range.
âYeah, weâve got our eye on a few things,â Jackson admitted.
âWe clearly wonât be indicating what they are⦠But weâve got some scenarios weâre pretty positive towards, and I guess one of the good things is weâve got some time to get there.â
Asked how important it was for HSVs to be based on Australian-made cars, Jackson responded honestly, âI donât knowâ.
âItâs a good question⦠I guess weâll find out, wonât we.
âFrom our perspective there will still be a fair amount of local content in it. I think the fundamental point of if youâre making [cars] in a country the perception is hopefully youâre building it for the conditions and the market that youâre operating within, and I think that will obviously still be a key part of what weâre doing.
âItâs the Australian market we will be designing and developing a car for, and weâll be doing all those nuances in terms of how they like it to handle and they like it to drive, the right styling flavour and all that sort of stuff.
âAt the end of the day our job is to put a high-performance car on the road. If thatâs built here or somewhere else thatâs not necessarily the driving factor, itâs, âcan we build a good car?â Thatâs the determining factor, and weâre pretty confident that we can get a pretty good car on the road in four yearsâ time, so thatâs what weâre working towards.â
Jackson said the principles of âbold design, high performance and technologyâ were defining principles of a âproper HSVâ and would remain fundamental to the brand going forward.
Jackson would not speculate on how the shift from Commodore-based cars to HSVs based on imports would affect the brandâs sales, but said the car maker was optimistic about its future.
âItâs going to come down to how good the car is, thatâs our view,â Jackson said.
âIf the carâs good enough, weâll sell more. If itâs not good enough, we wonât sell as many. Thatâs our challenge, to make a great car.
âWe thrive on doing things that other people think we canât, so thatâs an exciting challenge and absolutely we see opportunity in it.â
Jackson also said the company was ânot anticipating significant changesâ to its Clayton workforce, which currently numbers around 200, when Holden closes its factories in 2017.
HSVâs most recent import-based model was the VXR â" a turbocharged 177kW 2.0-litre hot-hatch based on the previous-generation Opel Astra OPC â" which it sold in small numbers between 2006 and 2009.
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