HSV Avalanche for sale in Japan

Last time HSV got its hands on a dual-cab ute, it wasn’t anything like the Colorado SportsCat. But, like the SportsCat, it wasn’t particularly fast, or sporty.

It was the HSV Avalanche, an AWD dual-cab with a 5.7litre LS1 V8 up front, pumping 270kW and 475Nm via an auto gearbox.

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This all sounds great, but as MOTOR’s Dave Morley once put it: “it was fat.”

“At 2026kg it definitely weighed too much – and that hurt everything from pace to fuel economy.”

So why, we wonder, has an unloved Aussie ute from the early 2000s ended up in a completely unlikely part of the world – Japan?

It turns out a company called Ace Auto Japan imports a little bit of everything into the small island nation, from premium Germans to outright raucous Aussies.

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A photo posted on the company’s Facebook page revealed the Avalanche nestled amongst the likes of a Merc G-Wagon, a Dodge Challenger SRT, and a Porsche Boxster.

We checked the website listings and there it was, ‘2005 Holden HSV Avalanche 4WD’.

It’s got 64,000 kays on the clock and is priced at ￥2.5 million, which translates to about $30,300 Aussie dollarydoos.

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Back when the Avalanche was revealed, HSV’s press release made some less-than-riveting claims about its performance.

“With an estimated 0-100km/h acceleration time of just 6.5 seconds and a standing 400-metre time of 14.6 seconds, the XUV is the undisputed number one in the crewcab performance stakes.”

We’d probably rather one of the other cars pictured in that line up, thanks.