Rumors have been spreading all over the internet regarding details about the upcoming HSV GTS-R. Thousands of customers have been anxiously awaiting the release, while in the mean time, even getting on the waiting list to secure a spot to fork over your hard earned cash hasn’t even officially been announced yet.
As rumors circled the globe, many were sure the new GTS-R would be powered by a C6 Corvette-ZR1 sourced LS9– including us. But, unfortunately, we have official confirmation that the LS9 will not be powering the swan song super sedan. Turns out, this will not be the fastest car Holden produces or Australia’s fastest production car– which turns out is actually good news. HSV claims that they still have something in the works. With a limited amount of just 140 LS9 engines, they will be saved for a more powerful “final edition” car that we’ve yet to see.
Fewer than 250 GTS-Rs will be produced this time around and they will only be available equipped with a manual transmission. Whichcar confirms they will house the same 6.2-liter supercharged LSA V8 as the standard GTS, but will be refined and upgraded in all aspects.
Understandable seeing as how the LS9 is much more expensive to produce than the LSA and produces almost 70 horsepower more. The current GTS boasts roughly 575 horsepower, so we are expecting very high 500s or low 600s from the 2017 GTS-R.
Hopefully this doesn’t kill any of your excitement, because with Holden production ending in 2017, these few “leftover” LS9s have to be used up relatively soon. While we’re sad they won’t find their way between the fenders of the new GTS-R, we can’t wait to see what they do with them.