The GTS name has a long and proud history in Australia. For decades, the three letters have stood for the pinnacle of Holden-based performance cars that have whetted the appetite of home-grown, and even overseas, muscle car enthusiasts.

That is all about to end, though, because the Commodore large car and ute on which the current crop of performance heroes are fettled by go-fast subsidiary Holden Special Vehicles looks likely to hit the end of the road in 2016, and instead of a homegrown model, our next crop of family fare will be shared with the rest of the world and only tuned for local tastes.

Worse still, there is the potential that the Commodore's replacement will be an all-paw version of a front-wheel-drive model, eschewing the traditional front-engined, rear-drive formula that has suited Australia so well.

HSV is not going out with a whimper, though. Somehow it has convinced Holden's parent company, General Motors, to give it most of the supercharged drivetrain from a Chevrolet Camaro ZR1 which, with a bit of Aussie ingenuity, it has squeezed under the Commodore's steel and aluminium skin.

In short, it's a fitting tribute to a still-proud Australian car-making industry.

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