HSV W427 Officially Launched
July 23, 2008 by George Skentzos
After months of speculation and controversy, HSV has officially unveiled its 375kW W427 ’supercar’.
Its unveiling also marks the first day of sales in both Australia and New Zealand carrying a price tag of $155,500 – with all 90 cars being built in 2008 already accounted for.
The W427 namesake is a tribute to the first HSV ever produced – the Group A SS VL Commodore which has been affectionately named the ‘Walkinshaw’ in reference to HSV founder Tom Walkinshaw.
The hand-built 7.0-litre LS7 V8 powerplant is found in only two cars around the world, the Corvette Z06 and now the HSV W427.
“We are proud to have produced a vehicle of these proportions and are confident the public response to the W427 proves there is a strong future for luxury and performance vehicles in this country.” HSV’s Managing Director Scott Grant.
The W427 has been fitted with an all new clutch, gearbox, differential and exhaust to cope with the incredible 375kW (or 500hp in the old money) and 650Nm on tap.
“We have spent two years developing and testing this car and are really proud of the end result,” said HSV’s Engineering Manager, Joel Stoddart. “It’s the car HSV has always wanted to build and the VE platform gave us the confidence to push the boundaries.”
The car also sports a new six piston front braking system as well as ABS and Electronic Stability Control and carries HSV’s standard three year, 100,000km warranty.
The design brief for the W427 was to create a unique face for the HSV range and embody a new halo car for the brand which would signal immense capability, authority and power.
“We believe we have achieved this with a range of design features including the imposing front face – which emphasises the need for cooling air for the seven litre engine, to the effective and functional three piece design rear lip spoiler, made of carbon fibre to keep weight to a minimum,” Julian Quincey HSV design team.
The unique wheels and W427 logo are the work of Adam Dean Smith, a former Wheels Young Designer of the Year.
HSV has also confirmed earlier reports that no more than 427 examples of the W427 will ever be built – possibly less if there is an unlikely lack of demand.
W427 buyers will also be treated to a special customer program designed to offer an insight into the craftsmanship that goes into the building of each and every vehicle.
This comprises a VIP tour of Holden Special Vehicles Clayton based production facility, to observe the W427 build process from a dedicated viewing station.
Customers will also receive a personally signed letter from Tom Walkinshaw along with a unique vehicle build certificate while a Customer Access Portal, containing build information, servicing details and other information on the history of their car will also form part of the ownership experience.
As one of Australia’s most expensive production cars, the W427 also receives the extra protection of an advanced version of the world famous DataDots DNA anti-theft technology which incorporates the latest encrypting ‘nano’ technology to authenticate genuine HSV components as well as the core vehicle.
In case the price tag is just slightly out of your range, we have left some of the more appropriate images in the gallery at full size (2.0Mb) to use as wallpaper (next page).
Full W427 specifications can be found here.
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Either way Wheelnut they would be a bogan,unless of course they drive a Toyota ,Merc or Skoda .
Wheelnut, as I have said before; dictionary.com defines a car as any wheeled vehicle.And this is my understanding. It does not specify any load, passenger, axle capacity.
Sure this site focuses on passenger car side of things, but it also mentions utes, vans, and 4wds.
But the above brands you brought on here, you have taken them from my introduction on the forum. So now that you mentioned them, i gave you a more detailed description, of what i was actually referring to.
Anyway this is a W427 blog so just leave it at that!!
Quote [BM]: Either way Wheelnut they would be a bogan,unless of course they drive a Toyota ,Merc or Skoda.
Even more so if they didn’t drive a Green 2008 Toyota Prado D4D Auto
It’s unbelieveable…. A Toyota fan who is trying to stay or at least get back on topic!
What next South Sydney win the NRL; Fremantle the AFL Premiership or Australia the Soccer World Cup?
I just don’t believe it!
Nah, sounds like the Bogans are still going off topic, and dribl!ng shit!! Everything is in order here!!
This car is shitttttttttttttt, my 4 cyl 2ltr turbo will eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner, and it costed me 90% less then what this costs and it looks 150 times better haha holdens are shit man aussies will never make anything good, stick to your 4 and 20 pies and leave the car building to people with knowledge and taste..
P.s dont even compare this over priced box with a GTR
there only making 400 and something of them because there gay and they know it
Its a ideal way to mark an anniversary by putting a range of features etc that aren’t on any other HSV into a car like this inorder tomake it truely unique and very collectable.
Having said that for $150K I would opt for either a Brand New BMW M3 or AWD Audi S5
Wonderful addition to the topic there “I Eat V8’s”. Truly insightful stuff.
*sarcasm*
Quote: [I Eat V8s]: Holdens are shit man aussies will never make anything good, stick to your 4 and 20 pies and leave the car building to people with knowledge and taste..
there only making 400 and something of them because there gay and they know it
What – like the Japanese who have given us cars like the Nissan Micra; Nissan Tiida; Mazda 121; and Daihatsu Copen.. now there’s a couple of “gay” looking cars if ever there was one.
what a sweet ride! a little expensive but still better than Ford!!
Wheel, I think ‘I eat’ is just stirring the pot, a rubbish post nethertheless.
these will be about as collectable as a datsun bluebird! made in numbers to profit a going down the toilet company $150,000 today in 12 months $70,000 if its next to 0 kms!! buy a lexus isf or gtr instead!
Just looking at the mega-long wheelbase dispels any myths of this car ever being a “sports” car. Nice family car though, nothing else. Typical product of the local car industry, masquearading a big, lumpy, overpowered monster as a family mans sports car. Someone said collectable hahaha, Commodores are like stray cats, on every bloody corner, cashed up-bogans spending huge money on some race commodore with rego does not make all commodores collectable. Each to their own, I steer clear of these monsters, wouldn’t spend more than a $1 on a commodore or a falcon, or a camry. GMH should take this dynosaur down to the Ring to show us what 150K gets you from Holden showroom, but it can make all the buyers walk right into the RS-4/M3 showroom.
Collectable. Hmmmm, I keep looking at this Commodore with a big engine and I cannot notice any differences to a plain-dog clubby. Man, you really have to be thick to buy anything HSV/FPV. No wonder all these illiterate builders and tradies buy these junk-mobiles.
Anyone who belives that the 427 is not worth the money has absoutley no f*#kin idea what they are talking about. No I dont own one but if I had the money I would have to make a serious choice between the gtr and the 427.
Also with a half decent driver these keep up with the gtr on the ring for all you know it alls out there so go buy a GTR but I dont think they will hold value as well as the 427 thats why they are worth spending a bit more on yes??
Well given that the GTR still has a waiting list to buy one, and Holden had to more than halve their production of the W427 because no-one was buying one, would indicate that the majority of people failed to see the ‘value’ (!?) of the W427 compared to any of its competitors. And given that Holden had to cut production by over half to meet demand, I’d say they won’t hold value particularly well. The GTHO phase 3 was a legend, thats why people pay so much for them, the W427 is a small run overpriced track car that has no race history, no successes.