For years we have been hearing the pained screams of enthusiasts here in America that we needed more Aussie Utes in our lives and for the most part we agreed from a distance. The little hybrid car/truck deals are cool enough, especially with V8 power but we really didn’t see the big deal, or the big market for them here that they had carved for themselves over in Australia over the decades. The truth is, we were one financial collapse and GM bankruptcy from having a ute on our shores in the form of what was going to be called the Pontiac G8 ST. When GM went down in flames, taking the Pontiac brand with it so went the idea of having a Pontiac branded ute.
At the time, the loss of a ute didn’t bug us near as much as the loss of a historic American brand but the drumbeat from enthusiasts has been pretty constant to bring a ute to the states. Now that GM and Ford are literally winding down their production in Australia it seems even less likely that there will ever be a trucklet offered here. Ford won’t do it, no one else makes them, and GM doesn’t seem like they’d be in the mood to ship all the tooling and junk here to have a factory spun up to produce a vehicle no one knows that there is really a market for. The good news is that a guy in the Denver area is bringing them (legally) into the country and selling them so you can get one, apparently.
For whatever reason, this video of a ute blowing the tires off at every corner of an Aussie road course really got our crank spinning and we’re firmly planted on “team ute” now. With an LS engine making the power and a heavy right foot making the smoke, this looks like a riot and even though the video refers to this car/truck as being “ghetto” we think it looks pretty nice! Have our standards fallen that far? Watch the video and tell us what you think. Does GM need to sell these deals here?
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE A UTE SMOLDERING THE TIRES ALL THE WAY AROUND A ROAD COURSE –
YEEHAH – More REVS baby.
I don’t get it- it’s just a pickup drifting. Surely there’s no shortage of pickup sales in the US?
On another note- LS goodness…..mmmmmm!
Anyone fancy shipping me a junkyard LS over to the UK? They’re like $12,000 a piece here!