There has been a lot of talk about Australia’s GM subsidiary Holden lately, with the anticipation and recent announcement of a Holden-based V8/rear-wheel drive car making its way over to this side of the pond in the form of the 2014 Chevy SS. While this car may tug at the heartstrings of muscle car fans, it doesn’t do much for rodders, however. But that doesn’t mean that Holden hasn’t tried their hand at creating a modern hot rod in the past. In fact, back in 2005, Holden came out with the EFIJY concept car- a modern day hot rod reminiscent of the second and third-generation Mercury Eight coupes. Call us partial, but we think GM should have actually chosen to produce this car for the U.S. streets as well.

The Holden EFIJY concept car was based off of the original Holden FJ series, a line of cars and utility vehicles produced by the Australian-based GM company between 1953 and 1957. This line of vehicles included the FJ Special sedan, the FJ Panel Van, and the FJ Utility truck.

While the Holden FJ series may have never made its way to U.S. shores, the vehicle line sold relatively well in Australia and New Zealand, with nearly 170,000 models produced in the series’ short life.

Although the EFIJY shares many of the same design cues as the original FJ series, like the protruding hood, wide stance and toothed grill, it moved leaps and bounds as far as modernity goes. Rather than the 65hp inline six, the Holden EFIJY made use of an aluminum LS2 V8 with a Roots-style supercharger churning out approximately 645hp at 6,500rpm.

This engine was paired with a dual custom stainless steel exhaust system and a GM four-speed automatic transmission.

Based on a Corvette chassis, the EFIJY also made use of a limited-slip differential, an adjustable airbag suspension system, and modern grooved and ventilated brakes.

To give the car its unique look, Holden constructed the two door, pillarless coupe body out of fiberglass and finished it off with LED headlights and billet aluminum wheels.

The interior features such creature comforts and luxuries as electric tombstone-style bucket seats, a billet aluminum and leather-wrapped steering wheel, maple timber veneer flooring, a leather trimmed headliner, and a hard drive video and audio system complete with a drop-down LCD touch screen.

Unfortunately, after debuting at the Australian International Motor Show in 2005 and being named the United States Concept Car of the Year in 2007, the Holden EFIJY never made a production run. In all actuality, the car was never intended to be a production concept, but rather a car that showcased the talent of Holden vehicle designers and the latest technology in the market at that time.

“EFIJY is all about fun, emotion and imagination. It shows what a bunch of clever and talented design people can do when they are let loose to create something really wild,” Mr. Denny Mooney, GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director said in a 2005 press release.

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The Holden EFIJY is gorgeous no matter what angle you look at it from.

It’s unfortunate that the Holden EFIJY will never actually be produced. We could definitely use some modern production cars with hot rod design cues on the market that add to hot rod culture rather than barely resemble it. We now know that Holden can design such a car, so here’s hoping that they take their hot rod creativity and put it to good use for a retro production hot rod in the future.