Vauxhall Monaro V8
The Commodore Coupé show car first shown at the 1998 Sydney Motor Show was quickly renamed the Monaro, and Holden soon invested A$60 million in order to bring the car to market in just 22 months. Released in 2001, the V2 Monaro was available as a CV6 or CV8, with either a supercharged 3.8 L V6 engine or a 5.7 L Gen III V8 with the choice of a 6 speed manual or 4 speed automatic transmission. It became renowned as one of the fastest stock cars in the world. The VY series Commodore dashboard, a new wheel design, and additional colors were introduced when the Series 2 model debuted in 2003. The CV6 was dropped after disappointing sales and replaced it with the Series 3 model in 2004.
HSV also developed a Coupe version of the Monaro, released as the GTO and GTS with higher output 5.7 L engines. A four-wheel drive version dubbed "Coupe4" was also made available. Two special edition CV8-R Monaros were also released, one in grey and the other with more muted red.
Holden's ultimate Monaro, the HRT 427 (Holden Racing Team 427ci) was created by HSV with a 7 Litre C5R Chevrolet racing engine, 420 Kw of power, and could sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph) in under 4 seconds. Although this supercar would have competed favorably against the Ferrarri 360 Modena and Lamborghini Gallardo, due to the high production costs it never made it to the market. However, the GT racecar version of the HRT 427 went on to win the 2002 and 2003 Bathurst 24 hours, with driver and Holden touring car legend Peter Brock claiming his 10th endurance race win at Bathurst. Had it gone to production, the HRT 427 could have become a similarly iconic Aussie supercar, as the Falcon GT HO Phase III had previously been.
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