I Wish the Holden Ute Had Come to the United States
Car News
I recently had the chance to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, which is home to a ridiculous amount of Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys and Lamborghinis. Normally, these cars would turn my head — but this time, I was behind the wheel of a far more unique vehicle: a Holden Ute.
Yes, that’s right: I drove a Holden Ute in America. And it had a V8. He he he he.
For those of you who don’t know what a Holden Ute is, here’s a little background. Recall back in the 1970s and 1980s, when car-based pickups were popular? The Ford Ranchero and the Chevy El Camino, for example? Albeit that fad died out in the United States, it remains popular in Australia to this day — and so Holden, Australia’s General Motors arm, sells a modern-day El Camino in Australia as the "Holden Ute." They sell normal versions for people interested in practicality, and they also sell high-performance versions for people who are crazy.
But they’re popular in Australia. Given America’s rigorous regulations on importing cars, how exactly did I drive one in the United States?
I borrowed this Ute from a viewer, who bought it from a company in Colorado called Left Palm Utes, which imports Holden Ute bods from Australia, and then mates them with an American-market vehicle for the engine, drivetrain and other parts as necessary. These conversions can be so thorough that the Colorado State Patrol assigns them fresh VIN numbers. And as for the Ute I drove, it was married to the powertrain of a Pontiac G8 GT — meaning it had a 360-horsepower V8, and, most importantly, a 6-speed manual transmission.
In other words: I drove around Malibu in an Australian market modern-day El Camino with three hundred sixty hp and a stick shift.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are few ways to be cooler.
Before I drove it, however, I poked around it for a while, since it was my very first time experiencing a Holden Ute up close — and I primarily discovered two things. Number one, the conversion was flawless. The Ute I drove borrowed most of its interior from a bruised Pontiac G8, but most drivers or passengers would never have any idea it was anything but a factory Ute. Everything was screwed together decently, nothing looked cheap or ill-fitting, and — aside from a few petite, little, lil’ details — you’d have no idea it didn’t come down the assembly line this way. The possessor of the Ute I drove even took the car’s originality a step further, sourcing original Holden business cards for the holder’s manual pouch, and providing the OnStar Bluetooth voice an Australian accent.
The other interesting thing about the Holden Ute is its bed. The bed can haul around 1,000 pounds, which is very awesome for a muscle car with a 6-speed manual transmission. And albeit I drove the Ute with a tonneau cover on the bed — providing it a "locking trunk mode" — the cover can be eliminated for extra storage room. The Ute’s possessor told me he uses it to transport his surfboards, thereby providing him an even cooler Malibu surf car than the one I posted yesterday.
So then you get it out on the road, and you detect that the Holden Ute driving practice is about as competent as the conversion. Given that this is essentially a marriage of two vehicles performed by some stud in Colorado, I figured the Ute would rattle and jiggle and generally you’d have to put up with a lot of discomfort just to look cool. Not so. Instead, the car feels totally factory: Everything is hooked up right, there aren’t any weird noises and this car feels as if it was built this way by a bunch of Australian factory workers.
More importantly, it’s awesome to drive. Zero-to-60 comes in five-something seconds, which sounds pretty good — and then you look in the back and recall you’re also driving a pickup truck. You have the same sensation with the treating: It drives a lot like the Australian-built Pontiac GTO, which was a rather arousing sports coupe — and then you look in the back and recall you’re also driving a pickup truck. The Ute is stable in corners, the rear end doesn’t feel too light or too mighty, and treating is acute — or, at least, acute for General Motors in the late 2000s. Admittedly, it’s no mid-engine exotic — but it doesn’t feel like you’re being penalized compared to, say, a GTO, considering you’re driving around with a pickup bed in back.
This Holden Ute also had that excellent V8 rumble you’d expect from a modern-day muscle car, like a Mustang or a Corvette. And despite a intense clutch pedal, the transmission lever felt sleek and well-designed for spectacle — something I wasn’t expecting, given my previous practice with a two thousand four Cadillac CTS-V. Simply put, I was stunned to detect that this Ute drove like a sports car (albeit a big General Motors sports car, not a Miata) — and you wouldn’t know anything different unless you happened to glance in the rearview mirror and notice that pickup bed.
So should the Holden Ute have reached the U.S. market, badged as a Pontiac or a Chevy? Rumor has it that GM was planning to bring the Ute here just before bankruptcy struck and rendered it unfeasible to import such a low-volume vehicle. That’s a shame — because while its appeal is undoubtedly narrow (limited solely to about fourteen human beings who want to carry large fountains and also drive a sports car at the same time), it would’ve been a nice treat to see the Holden Ute on American roads. Especially the twisty ones. With a lawnmower in back.
Doug DeMuro is an automotive journalist who has written for many online and magazine publications. He once wielded a Nissan Cube and a Ferrari three hundred sixty Modena. At the same time.