Police seize Commodore V6-powered fake supercars

Let’s be honest, we never thought that the Holden Commodore’s 3.6-litre Alloytec V6 was ever going to be the stuff of supercar fame, but a knavish father and son duo thought they could make it sing.

Brazil’s Santa Catarina state police allege the pair had been producing and selling faux Ferraris and Lamborghinis for a steal of a price in the South American country. A steal that is, if you think a replica Lamborghini with a Commodore V6 banging in the back-end was your idea of sixty grand well spent.

Not that the V6 isn’t somewhat capable - just last week the driver of a Commodore driver who tested positive for methamphetamines had fitted a leaf blower to the engine to act as some sort of ‘ghetto supercharger’.

2

Back with the boys from Brazil, eight supercar replicas were seized by the police when they raided a workshop earlier this month. The tip off came from a law firm which told Lamborghini of ads for the cheap ‘supercars’.

The fakes were apparently so elaborate that each was fitted with knock-off badges and accessories, and were selling from ‘as little’ as $60,000.

According to a report from the UK’s The Guardian, the officer in charge of the operation, detective Angelo Fragelli, said that "in one of the vehicles, they were installing the engine of an Omega."

That’s the Holden Commodore which was exported to Brazil as the Holden Calais VT, VX and VY, powered by a 3.8-litre V6 motor, and the Holden Commodore VZ and VE which got the perkier 3.6-litre six.

Fragelli added that, “the motors were much less powerful [than Lamborghini’s engines]” - no surprise there.

Though fake Lambo and Ferrari replicas fitted with a humble Chevy V6 were never going to frighten the real Italians, the cars have been seized and the pair have been issued with intellectual property charges. The father and son argue that the bodies are legal prototypes, and plan to continue selling them to customers.