Walkinshaw Colorado Wildfire in the works

​

The top secret project – known as Wildfire, a name recently registered by the Walkinshaw Group – involves shoehorning the LF3 3.6-litre twin-turbo V6 used in the Cadillac CTS V-Sport under the bonnet of the Colorado dual-cab 4x4. It arrives as brands as diverse as Ford, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz look to expand the reach – and performance – of their top-end utes.

For the Walkinshaw Group – which also produces HSVs for Holden – the Wildfire is the first step towards a new breed of high performance road cars. However, the company is tight-lipped for now.

"We make a point of not discussing future models or business strategy," Walkinshaw Performance general manager, Gary Beer, said. "There are many projects we are exploring, but until we have a specific vehicle solution in place we won't be adding to the speculation."

It's that dual personality that is shaping the new breed of hot utes. HSV is also working on a version of the Colorado; although, that car will use a diesel engine. Toyota, too, is looking to capitalise on interest in its TRD Hilux with a fully fledged model rather than the dealer pack that was a toe in the water.

Engineers are currently working on a more serious iteration of the TRD. However, don't expect any changes to the modest 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel, with 130kW set to be the limit for the medium term. Instead the efforts will be on styling and off-road capability; think big wheels and suspension, along with additional underbody protection.​