Glistening in silver and sitting squat on pumped tracks, the HSV Coupe4 was the sensation of the October 2003 Australian International Motor Show Its debut triggered shockwaves approaching those that rumbled through Darling Harbour in 1998 when the covers were pulled off the Commodore Coupe concept (right), the car that would become the reborn Monaro.
In turn, Monaro spawned the HSV Coupe in 2001, and then the all-wheel drive Coupe4 previewed in October 2003 and on-sale from mid-2004. Yep, 20 years ago. Time flies…
This was the first low-riding AWD passenger vehicle developed and sold by Holden, albeit via its high performance partner Holden Special Vehicles.
The Coupe4 made it into production priced at $89,950, and in the end about 130 were built across the V2 and Z-Series HSV model iterations.
While big all-paw ambitions for Holden and HSV were forecast at the time, it was not to be. Neither HSV or Holden ever built another all-wheel drive passenger car.
The high-riding Holden Adventra/HSV Avalanche SUV wagons and Holden Cross8/ HSV XUV dual cabs also had short lives, as all-wheel drive was shelved with the arrival of the VE Commodore.
The VE’s Zeta platform was package protected for AWD and there were plans for all-wheel drive models, but they never made it into production.
Nevertheless, despite its truncated lifespan, the Coupe4 is venerated by those in the know.
“That’s the car I would love to have in my garage because it was really under-rated,” says Joel Stoddart.
“That car was the right car at the wrong time.”
Stoddart should know. Now the managing director of the Walkinshaw Automotive Group, he was engineering program manager of HSV’s AWD program, including Coupe4.
For him, it’s
