General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) has officially opened for business.
For now, it’s offering just one product, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 that was previously sold through HSV dealers.
Late next year, it’ll be joined by the Chevrolet Silverado 2500, another local right-hand drive conversion by Walkinshaw Automotive Group.
Another Chevrolet, the factory right-hand drive C8 Corvette, will also launch at that time.
“We have launched with over fifty GM Specialty Vehicles dealers and look forward to adding more. Our GMSV dealers are now open for business in Australia and New Zealand,” said GMSV director Joanne Stogiannis.
The Find a Dealer tool on the GMSV site is now active. Not every ex-Holden dealer will have a GMSV franchise but some of the larger ones throughout the nation have been given one.
GMSV has remained tight-lipped on which other US models it’ll sell here.
“We will continue to identify opportunities to add to vehicles where we see the chance to compete in niche segments in Australia and New Zealand,” said Ms Stogiannis.
The 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 will be offered in a single variant, the four-wheel drive LTZ Premium, powered by a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre petrol V8 engine.
It produces 313kW of power and 624Nm of torque and is mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission.
The Silverado, like its GMC Sierra platform-mate and Ford F150 and Ram 1500 rivals, offers a much larger range in its home market, including an even better-equipped High Country flagship.
There, it’s also available with turbocharged 2.7-litre four-cylinder and naturally-aspirated 4.3-litre V6 and 5.3-litre V8 engines, plus a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel inline six. It’s recently been overtaken by the Ram 1500 in sales, though both are still behind the perennial market-leader F150.
As Ford lacks a factory-supported presence here, the Ram 1500 – also converted by Walkinshaw – dominates the local large pickup truck market.
Year-to-date, Ram has sold 2811 examples of its 1500 range, more even than the Mercedes-Benz X-Class.
