Chevrolet Unable To Bring Holden’s Ute To America

By Logan Utsman on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

Earlier in the year, Chevrolet made the officially announcement that a rear wheel drive performance sedan would make a debut for 2014 and it would be named simply the “SS”. Like many times before, the upcoming car will be based on an Australian Holden – more specifically the Commodore. As exciting as the news is, what quickly became even more intriguing was the “what if” that followed. The down under special know as the Ute shares the same DNA and is essentially a modern-day SS454 El Camino. Unfortunate to some, GM recently determined that even though it was a serious consideration, the Ute is simply unable to make it to the United States.

According to an Autoblog article, the Ute falls under America’s light duty tariff rate of 35 percent. Compared to passenger vehicles and sedans, the Ute would cost about three times more to import over and thus, it wouldn’t stand up financially. Holden’s executive director, Richard Phillips, said that exports are only being pursued if seen as being profitable. As cool as a nearly 500 horsepower V8 rear wheel drive car/truck sounds, it would be extremely low volume in the U.S.

Gallery

Holden Ute Pictures