HSV GTS Maloo is the world’s fastest ute

HSV has dropped its supercharged V8 into its only two-door to produce the most ballistic Aussie ute ever built: the HSV GTS Maloo. With a whopping 430kW and 740Nm of torque, the Maloo can crack a tinnie from miles away and storm from 0-100km/h faster than you can say “Bluey”.

The 430kW output puts daylight between it and the rest of the Maloo range, which kicks off with the 317kW entry-level model and, until the GTS steamrolled in, was crowned by the Maloo R8 SV with “only” 340kW. HSV’s GTS Maloo makes everything before it look half-hearted, offering a fire-and-brimstone experience to send the Aussie legend out with an atomic-sized bang.

Only 250 of the hardcore Maloos will be built (10 of these for our Kiwi brothers). In keeping with the spirit of the hero GTS sedan, the super-ute wears a similar front-end as well as a set of ‘Dark Stainless’ finished 20-inch alloys stretched out to 9.5 inches wide at the rear.

To pull ’er up, there’s a premium brake package that includes 390mm discs up front wrapped in six-piston calipers (372mm down the rear wrapped in two-pot calipers), while out back is the twin-hump hard tonneau cover and a set of shadow-chrome quad exhausts.

This is also believed to be the world’s first ute with torque vectoring, which adjusts via HSV’s “preference dial” that also alters the snarling Maloo’s stability, traction and launch control systems, as well as the electric power steering and bark from the bi-modal exhaust. The ute doesn’t have the sedan’s Track setting, nor its Magnetic Ride Control, but that’s about all it misses out on.

Importantly, the rear suspension is taken from the sedan, which in turn was developed for the Camaro ZL1, and surrounds a 9.75-inch limited-slip diff.

There’s also head-up display, forward collision alert and lane departure warning as part of the safety kit, as well as HSV’s Electronic Driver Interface that delivers all sorts of stats and data to the driver. Oh, and there’s curtain airbags as there is in every Gen-F Maloo.

But this beast ain’t about airbags: HSV won’t offer up a 0-100km/h claim, but Wheels’ best test result for the manual 430kW GTS sedan is 4.7sec, so expect the monster Maloo to sweep to the tonne in less than five seconds in manual form, and even faster with the six-speed auto.

The stonk comes at a price, though: the GTS Maloo is expected to cost around $85-90k when it arrives in showrooms in November, and coincides with two new colours that need volume switches of their own, including the Jungle Green hue seen here. B&S balls just got a whole lot more exciting…