Vauxhall has just announced its most powerful car in the company’s long, 114-year history. It is called the Vauxhall VXR8 GTS-R, and it’s a ripper.

It’s a run-out special to mark the end of VXR8 production, and Vauxhall has decided – quite correctly – to send the ol’ girl out in a blaze of tyre-smoking glory. It’s based on the Holden Commodore, which itself will cease production in Australia this October.

The 6.2-litre supercharged V8 doing mighty service in the current VXR8 has been uprated from 568bhp to 587bhp, along with 740Nm of torque. The gain comes from a remap of the ECU, and a high-flow air filter. Interestingly, it’s still not as powerful as Holden’s last-of-the-line Commodore GTS-R W1, which gets a 635bhp ZR1 engine for good measure.

Drive is to the rear wheels, naturally, via a limited slip diff, and there’s also the GTS’s torque vectoring system on board too. Vauxhall has upgraded the brakes to a six-piston, monoblock caliper setup with whopping 410mm discs up front, hiding underneath 20in forged alloy rims measuring ten inches wide at the back, and nine inches wide up front. Trying to unstick those monsters we suspect, will be a lot of fun.

There’s more too. The GTS-R gets a new front fascia, front splliter, wings and carbon fibre vents. At the back, there’s a new diffuser, a new spoiler, new lower panel and quad tailpipes with diamond-shaped tips. Alcantara features on the inside alongside much leather, too.

Here’s the kicker – only 15 VXR8 GTS-Rs will come to the UK, and each will cost £74,500. That’s a considerable lump of money over the ‘standard’ VXR8 GTS (just over £56k for a manual version), and perilously close to Mercedes-AMG’s regular E63 AMG (£79k). That AMG gets four-wheel-drive and the ability to go from 0-100kph in just 3.5s, too.

It’ll make its debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Just look out for the clouds of tyre smoke…