Holden and Tom Walkinshaw Racing – an operation owned by Scottish racing-car driver and entrepreneur Tom Walkinshaw – established Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) as a joint venture in 1987. HSV effectively replaced the Holden Dealer Team (HDT) special-vehicles operation run by Peter Brock, after Holden severed its ties with HDT in February 1987 following the Energy Polarizer and "HDT Director" controversies.
Since 1987 HSV has built an array of modified vehicles, most of which have been based on Holden models powered by either Holden or GM sourced V8 engines.
The first car developed by HSV was the Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV of 1988, which was badged and sold by Holden for Group A touring car racing homologation purposes. It went on to win the 1990 Bathurst 1000 race. The first car developed, badged and sold as an HSV was the SV88.
HSV began converting (re-manufacturing) the Chevrolet Camaro 2SS coupe and Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD pick-up truck from left-hand-drive to right-hand-drive to GM's factory standards in mid-2018. The vehicles were sold with a factory warranty via the existing HSV-Holden dealership network. To cope with the expansion, HSV moved into a new premises, also in Clayton, in early 2018. It boosted job numbers from 130 to 150 staff in order to cope with production ramping up.
