HOLDEN UTE

The 'Holden Ute' ('ute' is a colloquial term commonly used in Australia for 'utility vehicle') is a car-based pickup truck built by Holden, a subsidiary of General Motors in Australia. Holden's performance division, an independent company called HSV (in much the same way as Chrysler Jeep has its SRT division) builds a high-performance version called the Maloo.
The ute has been built in Australia since January 1950 when the 50-2106 series Holden Coupe Utility was introduced, based on the then current 48/215 series Holden Sedan. Immediately successful, it has, aside from a break from 1984 to 1990, been in production ever since. In South Africa, it is sold as the Chevrolet Lumina Ute. Engines were initially only a straight six, but were supplemented by a V8 from 1969. The locally-built 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine produces around 240 hp. This engine was introduced in 2005 to replace a 3.8-litre V6 unit of Buick design that had been used in Holden Utes since the VG Series of 1990.
Depending on the period, V8 engines have over the years been a mixture of domestic Holden units and others imported from General Motors in the United States. Currently the same 6-litre Gen. III engine used in the Chevrolet Corvette powers the V8 Holden ute with over 400 hp on tap, making these vehicles officially the quickest production trucks in the world.
For those whose purposes involve carting tools and hardware during the week and family over the weekend, Holden builds a stretched, crew-cab version of the Ute with four doors and seating for five, called the Crewman.
The Ute is the closest equivalent to a modern Chevrolet El Camino, and some models even have the legendary Super Sport badging. However, although many of their products are built in both left- and right-hand drive, General Motors has not listed any plans to import the Ute to the United States as of January 2007.
Holden introduced its VE ute in late August 2007. The new generation embraces a growing consumer trend towards utes as lifestyle vehicles. This moves away from the traditional workman market.

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External links

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External links

★ Holden - New Cars - Large: Ute

★ An Aussie Icon Turns 50 - The Holden Ute: 1951 - 2001

★ History of the Holden Ute