Holden NZ’s Colorado Rox is the most exclusive ute in the world

It’s big, really big. No, seriously big. And it’s also big news as we say good-bye to Holden

When Holden New Zealand decided to create a concept ute, the scenario probably went something like this: go to a spare parts warehouse and channel inner Mad Max heading to Thunder Dome. The result: The Colorado Rox.

The Holden Colorado Rox is a concept vehicle. Photos: Elian Adams

Though this is beyond Thunder Dome, it’s a ute more suitable for Mars! The Rox was built for last year’s Fieldays at Holden’s site at Mystery Creek and until recently spent its weekends at Holden dealerships, activations – and on occasion the driveway of this motoring writer.

But since the news broke of Holden NZ closing down, then this makes the Rox the most expensive ute in the world - as it will be Holden NZ’s one and only concept pick-up truck.

During my test drive of it, the Rox was so big that it didn’t fit in either of my car park spaces – so it sat on my brother’s front lawn, dwarfing his Mitsubishi Pajero, and even making his house look small! So why create the behemoth Rox?

Even the cattle at Parihoa farm were impressed with the Rox.

Holden NZ’s marketing department teamed with together with Auckland-based Retro Vehicle Enhancement (RVE) to create a show stopper for Fieldays. (Though I also suspect that the car brand is preparing for a zombie apocalypse.)

“Our driving desire was to take our most capable vehicle, the Colorado, and beef it up to become the greatest awe-inspiring, eye-catching piece of machinery ever devised by Holden New Zealand,” said Holden NZ managing director, Marc Ebolo.

“We know many of our customers have grand visions of what they’d like to do to personalise their own vehicles after driving them out of the dealership, so we wanted to showcase just how far you could take a Colorado.

“Once the ball was rolling our Marketing team, together with partners Retro Vehicle Enhancement, spent considerable time and effort bringing this concept to life – and I think they’ve smashed the project out of the park.”

The Rox heads up to the main house at Parihoa.

The super-truck features massive 35in Blackbear mud terrain tyres, with custom made monster flares to house the huge wheels. A six-inch suspension and body lift raise the Colorado Rox towards the heavens, while ‘Rock Sliders’ with removable drop steps make ingress and egress almost as easy as getting in and out of a standard Colorado.

The Colorado Rox has carbon fibre high-rise bonnet, complemented with a hand-crafted bespoke front steel bumper, replicated at the back of the vehicle.

Further enhancements to the exterior include a rear deck cargo system and 500mm tray extender, together with an extended wrapping roof bar incorporating retractable lights and roof basket that holds the spare wheel.

The spare tyre is on the roof, for all you giants out there.

Now, unless you have one of the giants of Game of Thrones at your disposal, getting that spare wheel down would take a team of people and ladders. Hey, I even needed a ladder to get into the Rox!

Actually the Rox has a step up to the runner board – so entering it was as easy as hoisting myself up but exiting meant gingerly have my foot search for the step before making a leap of faith.

The interior of the vehicle has been up-spec’d with the addition of front and rear RVE sports seats, complete with hand-built leather upholstery.

So what will Holden NZ do with the Rox? Sell it? Get it in a museum? Stay tuned.