Before GM killed Pontiac, they had teased and tempted us with a Ute version of its highly-praised G8 sport wagon. The Australian-built Holden Ute, which was to be called simply the G8 ST, or “sport truck,” never materialized due to GM killing Pontiac. There is renewed hope that America might yet get a Holden Ute rebadged as a Chevy, but it seems like the Aussies have a hankering for our muscle cars too.
In what could only be called a case of reverse irony, a crafty Australian named Luke Bromridge has developed a custom Camaro front end for the Holden Commodore, according to Performance Street Car. He even grafted the first kit to the front end of his VE Commodore Ute SS. Now that’s sharp!
The Commodore is the car that underpinned the late Pontiac G8, and shares the Zeta platform with the current Camaro. It may also provide the platform for a as-yet unnamed Chevy sport sedan in the spirit of the G8. That is a whole lot of badge engineering, but the benefit is that our American parts pretty much bolt up to their Australian equivalents.
That means this Holden Commodore Ute can wear the face of a 2010 Camaro with a bit of custom frabrication, and we think it works damn well. The car looks like it came from the factory that way. More to the point, we can absolutely imagine a Camaro-based sport truck, and GM really lacks a decent “sport truck” right now.
Long live the El Camino!