joemoia

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2009...NEWS/902189973

wallyman424

Looks to me that it just affects the SS stuff. That's fine with me...

BrianCunningham

Didn't they do the ZR1?

What about the T1 packages?

gkmccready

This is too bad. A Cobalt SS was on the short list for a daily driver in my household... if Chevy isn't making zooty cars we'll have to shop elsewhere...

EvilBoffin

Glen-

If you're in the market, DEFINITELY go drive an Cobalt SS Turbocharged while they're still available. It is amazingly capable small car. Assuming you can get past the cheap dash materials and 'rental car' stigma, you won't believe how well it drives. GM Performance did a remarkable job on this thing!!

I bought one back in November. Traded a John Cooper Works MINI Cooper S, so it's not like I didn't have a supremely competent little car to start with. But the SS is much faster, handles equally as well (probably better at high speeds, though I haven't tried that yet), it's quieter and gets better mileage.

I only wish my C6 had the 4-pot Brembo brakes and terrific seats of the SS... GM even has a 315HP Stage 1 upgrade kit (fully warranted) with CARB certification completed and ready to sell. Just hope they still bring it out in March as planned, assuming they don't fold up the tents in the meantime...

gkmccready

We test drove an SS/SC before my wife went with a 2.0T GTI... hatchback had appeal for the dogs. With my C6 spending time in the shop or on jack stands I've been tempted to upgrade from the '90 Miata beater, er, driver... I should go check out the SS/TC...

EvilBoffin

Yeah, I certainly understand why you would pass on the SS/SC for the GTi, beyond the fact that the SS isn't a hatchback. I'm a hatch fan myself - one of the reasons I bought the Vette, actually...

But the Turbo SS has been substantially improved in almost EVERY area over the previous Supercharged model - Brembo brakes, suspension, body control, seats, tranny, steering, wheels (wider, and they're now forged), no lift shift, launch control, Quaife Limited-slip diff, and - of course - the 260HP engine. There's really no fair comparison.

Here's the video of Heinricy setting the class record in an SS/TC at the Nurburgring on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/v/urwJVnWHjiI&hl=en&fs=1

Give it a drive. It'll be worth your time

acrace

The Cobalt SS turbo is a phenomenol car.

I'm sad to see HPVO go. The products they've been delivering have truly been excellent vehicles, and being an auto enthusiast in general, not having future V-Series or SS offerings is not good.

Also, I wonder what's going to happen to the race support function within HPVO. That group did work on the SCCA club racing and Grand Am stuff (like the new GS Camaro race car). From the club race/autocross side, HPVO did the support stuff at Runoffs, etc.

Truly a bummer.

billla

I guess the rationale behind the timing of Heinricy's departure from GM is a bit clearer now.

greendot

I too am a hatchback fan. That's why I bought Chevy's hatchback version of the Cobalt SS

HHR SS

According to a GM engineer friend who works on the engine calibration of both of these, the HHR SS actually make a few more HP because the air intake is more open.

jhester

The disband of Performance Division is a serious blow to Corvette as well, as it is not a far leap between the engineers working in performance and the engineers on Corvette.

I had the opportunity to meet several members of performance division, and this is truely a sad day.

What boggles my mind, is with cutting R&D like performance division, and going hat-in-hand to Congress to ask for MORE tax payer money; how in their right mind is GM running an ALMS GT1 race program for half a season to race against no-one? Sure, you can argue they are aiming for another 24hr win at Le Mans, but haven't they won enough times and spent enough of (now) tax payer dollars to prove they can engineer a race-winning platform?

I cannot believe that this (seemingly) lack of moral hazard is being observed by an organization spending your and my money for a somewhat limited objective. I would much rather see the money spent on the GT1 and (future) GT2 programs go to divisions like Performance Division rather than the race program.

Yes, you can argue that the race program operates as a R&D platform for the showroom models, but I think we can all agree that the money could be spent more efficently on a pure R&D program (such as performance division) versus a race program.

/soapbox; sorry for the rant

96CollectorSport

I have a Trailblazer SS and love it.
I guess this is just a sign of the times, we will be looking back at the cars made nowadays same as we look back at the muscle cars of the late 60's and ear;ly 70's. We are just going to have to live through it and appriciate good examples of the older cars since there won't be much to look forward in the future.
Too bad, I guess GM will just have to stick to making rental cars.

wallyman424

Guh, I was hoping it was just the SS brand.

Well GM's going through some tough times, if they can make it through I'm sure GM HiPo will come back.

rfn026

Give Fehan credit where credit is due. He's a master at office politics. If he can keep the Corvette racing program in place he deserves an award from Corvette owners. The average taxpayer may not be quite as happy - but we sure will.

The sharks are circulating now and you can be sure many of them want to attack the ALMS program. Doug is beating them back. I just hope he has enough stamina.

Richard

billla

Consider that GM makes money on the Corvette on a per-unit basis from everything I've read. Even as the (relatively) low-volume flagship it's been forced to balance the books.

Someone with more inside knowledge may be able to refute this, but that was my understanding.

I worry about the impact on GMPP as well, which has been shipping some amazing stuff over the last couple of years and at bargain-basement prices - but I understand they're a cash cow as well.

BrianCunningham

Official GM media:

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayS...=2&docid=52168

2K3Z06

I wasn't old enough for the muscle car wars of the sixtys. But I'm glad I was a participant of the horsepower wars of the 21st century.

Its damn near over, but fun while it lasted.

Mabye in 20 or 30 years my Z06 will skyrocket in value.

I just hope GM doesn't gut the vette the way they did back in the early 70's. But if they do, I'm sure my Z06 will increase in value.

Tintin

If they were smart they would kill off everything but the performance division. Everything else is just tedious and boring or a tow vehicle.

John Shiels

Well if they did kill off everything else you would be paying Ferrari prices. Many parts for a Corvette are used in millions of other vehicles so the price is dirt cheap.

Personally I think they make a ton of good vehicles now.

I have a 1984 GMC 7000 flat bed since it was new. Still going strong

Tintin

That's why you have a 24 year old truck, because the new stuff is so good!

Just kidding with you, a lot of the rental cars GM makes are ok as appliances.

I have a 2007 Suburban and it is the last American car for me in this life other than a Corvette or a Shelby however...