The Monaro is an automobile which was produced by Holden, the Australian branch of General Motors from 1968 to 1977 and then re-introduced onto the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2001. It was discontinued in late 2005. Since 1968, three generations of the Monaro have been produced. The Vauxhall Monaro was also sold in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Monaro where it won Top Gear's best muscle car award.
To the delight of British motorists, Vauxhall offered the Monaro buyer a special treat prior to the discontinuation of the model: the VXR 500. A Harrop supercharger was installed onto the standard GM 6.0 LS2 engine by Vauxhall dealer Greens of Rainham in conjunction with tuning firm Wortec, bumping up power to 500 bhp (373 kW) and bumping up torque as well to 500 lbf·ft (677 N·m). In addition to this, a shorter gear linkage was added to enable quicker shifts. The resultant acceleration times were impressive at 4.8 seconds from rest to 62 mph (100 km/h). With the end of production, Vauxhall opted to replace the Monaro in 2007 with a version of the HSV Clubsport R8 4-door sedan. The new model sports sedan is simply referred to as the Vauxhall VXR8.
