Curse the United States for adhering to left-hand drive. That’s all we can think about when we see our friends in the UK and Australia being graced with some craziest creations the automotive world has ever seen.
That includes the HSV Gen-F2 lineup, which houses the much-adored Maloo. And now, the ute is available on the opposite side of the Atlantic ocean. The 2016 Vauxhall Maloo LSA joins the Vauxhall VXR8 GTS as the second HSV offering for the United Kingdom.
While it may not be in the running for any fuel economy awards in the UK, the 2016 Maloo LSA does enjoy power from its surname: a 6.2-liter supercharged LSA V8 engine. And, it’s kind of practical, too. The ute is rated to tow one half ton by UK standards. To help with the bumped up power (a near 100 hp improvement) the spring and damper rates have been stiffened to reduce body-roll and further improve turn-in, while the unique rear suspension module delivers improved rear stiffness and rear braking efficiency.
The Maloo LSA benefits from the additions the VXR8 saw earlier this year, which include a familiar-refreshed Gen-F2 face, Slipstream Blue Metallic (or Vibrant Blue in the UK) and, of course, the LSA engine, which provides quite the power jump from the previous standard LS3 engine.
The 2016 Vauxhall Maloo LSA will start at £54,500 and Vauxhall says business users may even claim the VAT back. It can kind of be a work horse, right? A very, very quick and powerful work horse.
Comments
Another poke in the eye to the US. Don’t think right/left drive has anything to do with it. The SS is made to left hand drive, so if GM wanted to, they could do the same with the Ute. I’d trade my 2014 Silverado, which I like, tomorrow for a UTE!
There is a company based in Las Vegas that will import and convert a Commodore ute for you, using Holden’s off the shelf bits so the conversion is the same as if you bought one direct from the factory. Not sure about them doing Zeta-gen stuff, but that shouldn’t be too difficult for them as there are plenty of Holden LHD kits available direct, making changeover a much simpler exercise. They have done a fair few VY and VZ SS and Maloos already, with them doing them fairly consistently. And if you get a manual model, they might be able to install a GM Motorsport RipShift (you’d be looking at about US$2000 extra, although you can also order the kit direct from gmmotorsport.com, just like you can for a Zeta Camaro) for you if you want the shift to be a lot more like a hot hatchback, which is a pretty popular option for a lot of Holdens sold in the UK.
I too would have loved to have one but no one ever claimed it was left or right had anything to do with it.
Pontiac had prototypes here with left hand drive and we all saw them.
The problem was Pontiac was at the end of the road. GM was out of money and the exchange rates limited profits on a vehicle that would have been imported in small numbers.
The fact that the mid size truck was coming killed any chance at Chevy getting this one as the Holden would have cost as much. It was not going to be cheap as it would have been $30K to almost $38K. Most buyers would have opted for the truck in the long run.
Also GM knew the Holden Zeta was at the end too. It is an old car and with the changes at Holden there was little chance to revive it here,
Our best hope is they may look at an Alpha that is lighter and cheaper to build here but I would not hold my breath.
Trucks killed this car before and they continue to prevent them from coming back.
I miss mine and would love to have another but I just don’t see it happening. There are too few El Camaino lovers to support this today.
Like the SS so many cried for it but yet it is here and they are sitting on dealer lots.
The reason Pontiac had LHD versions ready to go was simply because Holden engineered Zeta for both LHD and RHD applications, so could’ve been done as a Chevy SS ute, much the same as the sedan and Caprice PPV and versions that were sold in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where Statesman/Caprice at one stage sold more there than they did in Australia. All Pontiac ad to do was submit a couple for US legislative testing, which theoretically it would have passed. Therefore, it could’ve easily been done and would’ve cost Detroit very little on top of the billion Australian dollar spent on VE and Zeta development. This could’ve also been a catalyst for a Camaro-wheelbase version of the Commodore as a coupe, which you could think of it being a fourth generation Monaro if you like.
The leftover noses and bonnets they had left ended up going onto a limited edition Commodore SS-V (possibly the ugliest special edition Commodore ever made, excluding of course the VL Walkinshaw).