Camaro SS Confirmed As Holden's Halo Car In 2018

Khodrocar - With the shuttering of Holden factories in Australia, the GM-owned subsidiary is looking for a way to retain fans of the performance marque, if only temporarily. While the Mustang continues to outsell every other sports car in the region, Chevy and Holden – Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) specifically – have teamed to introduce the Camaro to Australia as early as 2018.

According to Wheels Mag, Chevy will begin selling the Camaro SS through Holden’s existing dealer network beginning late in 2018. The left-hand-drive models will be converted to right-hand drive by HSV engineers, and will feature the same 6.2-liter V8 under the hood good for 455 horsepower (339 kilowatts).

With an expected price tag of around $80,000 AUD (approximately $62,675 USD), the new Camaro won’t come cheap. For reference, the base 2.3-liter EcoBoost Mustang starts at $44,990 AUD ($57,425 USD), while the V8-powered Mustang GT can be had for $57,490 AUD ($73,380 USD) with an automatic gearbox. Given the $20,000-plus premium for the Camaro, the two cars aren’t expected to be direct rivals in the region, says GM.

Chevy and HSV hope to sell up to 1,000 converted Camaros per year in Australia, which is the same number, ironically, that Ford had originally estimated when it first shipped over the Mustang. Already in 2017, Ford has sold an impressive 6,700 examples in the region, a relative drop in the bucket to the more than 56,000 examples the Blue Oval has moved in the U.S. this year.

HSV has confirmed that the new Camaro will be the star of the lineup when it arrives in late 2018, replacing the Commodore range. The last HSV-tuned Commodores that will roll off the line will be either the GTSR or the W1, and are expected to make their debut in December.