Holley has been a big brand in the go-fast car parts business since the days of carburetors. Callaway is well-known for modifying GM vehicles and creating unique reimaginings of Corvettes like the AeroWagen and C12. Those outfits are now teaming up to “develop and launch a line of performance packages for GM trucks and SUVs.”
Sounds like Callaway will be tasked with engineering and developing the parts, while Holley handles logistics and marketing. Ultimately, it looks like the goal is for consumers to be able to get Callaway-engineered upgrade packages right at Chevy dealers. That might be particularly attractive if you can wrap the cost right into your car payment. I dropped Chevy’s people a note about that and will update this post if they share any specifics on that process, timeline, or pricing.
In an announcement to investors made this week, Holley stated:
“By combining Callaway’s nearly five decades of renowned engineering, design and craftsmanship with Holley’s robust operational capabilities and extensive market expertise, the company will be able to reach even more enthusiasts with turnkey, dealer-approved solutions across multiple consumer verticals, providing the performance, reliability and warranty support consumers expect.”
Callaway insists on being described as a “Specialist Constructor,” not a tuner, having once emailed us a picture of a tuna fish with a slash through it and a statement asserting that it “works in concert with OEMs.” (But actually.) Semantics aside, the brand has a deep history of making GM vehicles go faster and currently offers a catalog of supercharger systems for the Chevrolet Corvette, Camaro, Silverado, Suburban, and Tahoe. The GMC Sierra, Yukon, and Yukon XL, as well as the Cadillac Escalade, are, naturally, also supported.
I think it’s fair to figure that, in the short term, the Holley and Callaway collab will be working to get those supercharger packages for the 5.3 and 6.2 V8 trucks into Chevy dealers’ offerings like OE options packages. But this week’s announcement also promised some longer-term innovation.
“Holley and Callaway will establish a new Callaway Performance Center alongside its existing operations in Bowling Green. This new center will focus on the Corvette, as well as GM truck and SUV offerings. These changes will increase production capacity and enable broader availability of dealer-backed solutions for customers,” Holley’s release says.
“The performance packages will primarily target vehicles in the GM portfolio, such as Silverado, Sierra, Suburban, Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade, as well as the iconic Corvette. Packages will vary in price, up to premium-level ‘Pinnacle’ versions. Holley will lead the digital and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales channels, with Callaway continuing their GM dealership outreach.”
I really like the idea of the aftermarket industry working its way into the dealership space more. Funky performance-focused models like the Ford Raptors and Chevy ZR2s of the world are great, but letting companies like Callaway and Holley in makes room for wilder, weirder, even more specialized sub-models and products that OEMs might not be willing to spend the time on but can still be cool (a 600-hp supercharged Suburban, for example).
Holley’s announcement also specifically called out the “off-road” space as something it was looking at—some kind of extreme version of a Tahoe for driving off-piste would be really fun to see. Here’s hoping the collab yields some cool creations.
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