HSV Brings Back ClubSport and Maloo, Updates the Rest of the Range

Holden Special Vehicles, or HSV for short, is the high-performance arm of the GM-owned Holden brand in Australia. This week, HSV released details on its updated MY12.5 range that coincides with the company's year-long 25th anniversary celebrations.

The big story for the new model year is the re-introduction of the most affordable Commodore based V8 models, the ClubSport saloon and the Maloo ute, which is Aussie talk for a car-based utility vehicle (think Chevrolet El Camino).

Both models sit below their respective R8 level variants in terms of equipment missing out on HSV’s Enhanced Driver Interface (EDI) and in the case of the Maloo, the remote locking hard tonneau and performance sailplane as well, but do keep other goods such as the 20-inch wheels, performance seats, satellite navigation and Rear Park Assist with reversing camera.

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Chevrolet Caprice Police and Detective Patrol Cars Appear on eBay

While General Motors never intended to offer the Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV) to the public, used examples of the Holden-based and built large sedan can be found on eBay.

As a matter of fact, there are three Chevrolet Caprice currently up for grabs on the popular online marketplace including two PPVs, one in white and the other painted in the traditional black and white colors (without any emblems, of course), and a stealthier model with the Detective Package.

All three Caprice models are powered by GM's 6.0-liter V8 engine with 355 horsepower and 384 lb-ft torque, hooked up to a six-speed automatic driving the rear wheels.

The Chevrolet Caprice is based on the Australian market Holden Caprice, without all the bells and whistles. The Caprice itself is a long-wheelbase version of the Commodore and Pontiac G8 models.

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First Drive: Holden Caprice V Series II with 6.0-liter V8

The car that most Americans know as the Chevy Caprice PPV (Police Patrol Vehicle) owes as much to the Australian designed and built Holden Caprice luxury sedan reviewed here as the latter owes to business decisions Ford Australia made a couple of decades ago.

In the early 1970s, Holden – GM’s Australian subsidiary – introduced two new models to compete with local rival Ford. The first was the Statesman, a vehicle with no Holden badging whatsoever, designed as a direct competitor to Ford’s Australian-built Fairlane and as a replacement for the unloved Brougham sedan.

A few years later came the Statesman Caprice, an even more luxurious model, introduced to compete with Ford’s freshly minted LTD.

Thus the Caprice name was born. Over the years the Caprice has grown in interior room, price and standard equipment but retains the same basic idea of what Aussie luxury should be. We took the V8 engined V Series II model out for a week long road test and review.

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