HSV stands for Holden Special Vehicles which is the performance vehicle operation of the Australian motor vehicle manufacturer Holden.

How it all started

 HSV started operation in 1988 to replace HDT (Holden Dealer Team) run by Peter Brock (as Holden had decided to severe its ties because of irreconcilable differences).

HSV is a joint venture between General Motors - Holden Australia (25%) and Tom Walkinshaw Racing Group (75%) of which there main aim was to produce vehicles for The Australian Touring Car Championship for the Holden Racing Team (HRT).

What HSV does

 Besides developing vehicles for The Australian Touring Car Championship, they also produce special vehicles based on the Holden models. This mostly consists of performance enhancing modifications, body kit extensions and re-apholstering of the interior.

The first car produced was the SV88 – which was little more than a body kitted Holden Commodore VL powered by a standard carburettored version of Holden's 5-Litre V8.

HSV's next car, the SS Group A (also based on the Commodore VL) was a revelation. It had a distinctive body kit with a large rear wing (earning it the nickname of "The Batmobile") and was powered by a modified version of the Holden 5-Litre V8, which had dual-body Electronic fuel injection and was rated at 180kw in road car form. It was built as a Touring car, and won the 1990 Bathurst 1000 race at the hands of Allan Grice and Win Percy for HSV's racing arm the Holden Racing Team.

Over the years HSV have built an wide range of modified vehicles, most of which have been based on the Commodore and powered by either a Holden or Chevrolet V8s. Notable HSV models include the SS Group A (both the VL and VN Commodore versions), the SV 5000, Clubsport, Senator, GTS, GTS-R, XU6 and the Grange. However, the HSV GTS 300 is the most powerful production vehicle in Australia, producing 300kw from its 5.7-Litre Chevrolet V8, and can produce 0-100km/h times under 6 seconds, and sub-14 second standing 0-400 meters.

Customer loyalty to the HSV is huge, with production of vehicles kept in the low numbers which keeps the resale price high.

The Logo.

 This is a combination of the Holden logo (the lion) and a racing drivers helmeted head (a reference to HRT).