On track HSV W427

So well in fact that some customers are buying two of HSV's most-powerful weapons, the W427, one to drive and one to keep as a collectors' item and investment.

HSV spokesman, Simon Frost, says the Clayton-based performance car builder is on target to deliver 90 W427s this year and has 30 forward orders already for the first quarter of next year.

"Our experience is that it's not marginal customers who are buying the 427, it's really passionate car enthusiasts who love our brand," he says.

In a sense the W427 is HSV's crisis proof car.

Frost says the plan is to build “up to" 427, a number that refers to the 7.0-litre V8's old-fashioned cubic-inch capacity.

However, he says that the car does not have a "never-ending" lifespan.

"These will be built to order," he says.

"At some point or other there will have to be a decision about the final build but it won't be any more than 427."

That means there's a good chance the 427 be HSV's hero car for future generations despite the unveiling of the 7.4-litre Pontiac GXP Street Concept at the recent SEMA trade show in Las Vegas.

Frost says HSV has no plans to slide the massive 7.4-litre V8 _ codenamed LSX454 _ under the bonnet of a local HSV for an even brawnier performance car.

The show car is a made for America car only, he says.

"We have no plans to look at that car from an HSV perspective," he says.

"Our hero car is the 427 and the two-year research and development program to bring that to market was expensive and it's produced a car that we're excited about and has a good reception in the market despite all the doom and gloom around."

The W427 shares its V8 with the Chevrolet Corvette and is hand-made on a separate production line at GM in Detroit, the same line that built the 7.4-litre Street Concept engine.

The W427 develops 375kW at 6500 revs and 640Nm at 5000 revs.

The LSX454 cranks out 476kW and a whopping 813Nm, 101kW and 193Nm more than even the hottest HSV.

Frost says HSV is conscious of growing green concerns about fuel-guzzling V8s.

HSV is looking at different technologies as well as their conventional V8s as part of the wider approach to deliver greener cars.

"It's not about producing bigger and more powerful engines," he says.

"And we still want to have that core HSV DNA in any vehicle.

"But other options that use less petrol or different forms of combustion are under consideration."