HSV sold out for six months

Despite a supercharged re-entry from FPV, HSV's order bank is full

The new, supercharged Ford Falcon GT may have arrived with a bang, but it is yet to put a dent on sales of its arch rival, Holden Special Vehicles. In fact, such a long build-up to the all-new engine may have backfired on Ford.

Sales figures show that Ford Performance Vehicles is poised to have one of its weakest years on record -- heading for a tally of less than 1000 vehicles for 2010. HSV meanwhile is expected to post its third-strongest year on record -- and it claims its order book is full until April and May next year.

Speaking at the launch of the HSV range in Singapore overnight, HSV boss Phil Harding (pictured) told the Carsales Network: "We are flat out. If you want a GTS in Hazard yellow, it's sold out until April. Others are sold out until May production."

HSV says it has sold 2948 cars to the end of October, while FPV has tallied just 847 sales so far this year. FPV says this dip was caused by the much anticipated changeover to the new model.

HSV's best year on record was in 2007 -- the first full year of VE sales -- when it posted 5222 vehicle deliveries. This year HSV is on track to sell about 3400 vehicles, ahead of last year's tally of 3091.

Harding refused to comment on what impact the supercharged FPV has had on HSV.

"We know what's right for our customers and we're getting on with it. We're focussing on technology and the whole package, not just one element of a performance car.

"I know the media don't like to acknowledge it, but we see our rivals as European performance cars. That's what our feedback tells us, that's what we see from the trade-ins at the dealers," Harding stated.