GM Drops SS Versions of the Chevy Impala and Cobalt Sedan

Hello...my life is over.

260 hp?!? Jeebus ... Was going to be a zippy little thing, wasn't it?

does that mean they are going to keep the coupe?
i actually like the coupe alot. i would be interested in one as a daily beater if it wasnt for the fact i would be the laughing stock of the office car guys.

Let see....your sedan and coupe have been winning or doing very well in comparison tests....so let's cancel them anyway...no wonder you're freaking billions dollars in the hole.....where do these people get their business degrees from?

@ Topper:

(All other matters aside) I think it's more or less a matter of demographics and target audience: Can you really convince the family-oriented guy who wants a four-door that the SS sedan is refined enough to qualify as a "family car"??? And at the same time, do you really think that the middle-class single college grad from down the street would want to pick up an SS sedan over the coupe? Bleh...at least GM is trimming the excess fat. Good car, by the way...the Cobalt SS coupe.

The Cobalt SS was cheap speed and pretty decent given it's price but in comparison to the cost to make that specific model vs. the sales of those models vs. the cost to make the other models of the cobalt vs. their sales, the Cobalt SS obviously came up on the loosing end. It's probably the same equation with the Impala SS. Enough weren't being sold to justify the added cost of making 1 model different than the others.

I think it's a good decision business-wise but I both vehicles will be missed by the people that liked them. At the least it was nice seeing and American compact coupe with some power for once as well as old guys car with a beast under the hood.

Not a sound business decision if you ask me. Every car company needs a halo car in their lineup. I say that if you don't have one, your sales on the rest of your lineup start slipping. Everyone feels good knowing that their specific vehicle make or marque has a bad-ass vehicle even if their own respective car is the base/low-end/crap model. Look at Honda and Toyota, both of them have no exciting vehicles now and their sales are slipping. Mitsubishi has ONE car in their lineup that is good and that's the Evolution. Look how they're doing now. They used to bleed money; I remember reading an article on how they were bleeding record million dollars in February of whatever year that was. I know that GM has a halo car in the Corvette but what about their low end vehicles? That SS was a cool car. That no-lift shift feature was great. It will be missed.

Another question to ask is:

Are they going to drop the turbo four from their engine line up? I don't know of anything else it appeared in other than the Cobalt SS, Sky, and Solstice....

Why keep it if you don't have a car to put it into to? Which is a shame, that was a pretty good engine...

I believe there is an error in the main text. The cobalt ss sedan only came with the ss non supercharge model, there for 170hp. the coupe ss had either the 2.4l ss 170hp or the ss s 2.0 supercharge 205hp or the new turbo version with 260hp. If Im not mistaken that is. But still the ss sedan was a well equiped and sporty sedan that could go up against many nice sedans such as the mazda 3 , lancer , specv and so on.

GM still hasn't learned...you can't save your way to prosperity. Giving up one of the few interesting products in the Chevy lineup will only reduce badly needed revenue.

They dropped the 170 hp cobalt only base and SS, SS was turbo both sedan and coupe

Wow, while just an opinion, I'm suprised at how many people think this is a bad decision. Maybe it's just that lumping the cobalt and impala in the same article is misleading, but who really cares about the impala ss. If the were GM's "halo" car then that is the problem, it sucks. It's arguable that the cobalt ss is cheap speed, but the car itself is subpar...GM should eliminate the SS, and all other trims, if it wants to be competitive.

Z28 camaro going mia is a diasappointment as it would have been a "halo" car much like the evo or sti, but what is the impala SS trying to compete against, does anyone really think of sporty or performance when they look at or get into the new impala?

@thetruth

"does anyone really think of sporty or performance when they look at or get into the new impala?"

A better question is, does anyone buy an Impala? Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen an Impala made after 2002 that wasn't just sitting on a lot.

WHO CARES!! just get these dam american crap cars off the road once and for all!! Jezz.. If GM and FORD would not be called GM or FORD... these companies would have been dead A LONG TIME ago.. stupid gvnt keeps bailing them out because they are OH SOO american.. please.. when are these morons gonna get it through their heads...you can't compete against the advanced japs and german cars.. man.. expecially with the way americans think with all their gas guzzlers.. big engines are history people! Get over it!
Its only sad to see that GM was starting to take the good green route.. but all too late...

Good. 2 less craps on the street. Too bad for the "Grease Lightning" people. Maybe its about time for GM to realize that you can't just sell a crap car just by throwing in a big cheap engine. You can build a V10 SS Cobalt and I still guarantee you that more people will buy the little 4 banger Civic.

Maybe there are no more baby boomers left to buy these "Grease Lightning" cars.

To GM: just file for chapter 11 please.

Phil - when your old enough to drive maybe then you'll have an intelligent opinion :P

GM certainly doesn't need a Cobalt SS as an "halo" car, it has the Corvette for that.

It's simple math folks - GM has less than a month to cut operating costs and prove to the Govt. that they are doing everything they can to become profitable. That means scrapping the cars that are not turning a profit. The SS isn' t a bad little car for the money and if they were making money on it, it would still be in the lineup. It really is that simple.

String :
LoL, I had many cars in my life... and yes... I never drove a american car... why? I don't know.. I've found alot better quality in my german models.. and now I'm driving my first jap.. a subaru and I'm very please with the car.

The problem with the american cars are their engines and built quality... YES they are cheap to buy and cheap to repair.. because all their models are built with the same parts.. on the other hand.. I would rather have a car the breaks less often and pay more for the repair than to have a ca break more often and less for the repair.. I would not go driving i na desert with an american.. with a nice toyota cruiser... anytime

I should probably commit suicide. I have nothing of value to say.

North American crap is based on what. I have 500,000 on my escort and my son has 350,000 on his Montana while the mazda protege and Nissan went in the scrap yard at just over 200,000. My cousins Volkswagen went to the scrap yard at 200,000 because they couldn't fix the dash of all things. German ingenuity no thanks.

How about making the G8 GXP the Impala SS, its a much better car.

u are rite Ken and Phil... LoL, im only 17 and think my Dasher is teh bomb. My grandmother gave it 2 me for my 16th birthday cuz my grandfather cant drive anymore... my subaru Brat rocks to. i make my girl ride in teh seat in the back of the pickup part, lololol !1!!

im sorry for now knowing anything about americans cars and spouting useless crap and pionting out obvious stuff liek wanting cars that break less often... i just need to feel like a man on the internet so i just say dumb stuff like driving in the desert.

GM should keep these cars......for rental purpose (Hertz, Avis, Enterprise..etc.) There's still life for them there.

ford's getting a bailout? since when? the reason the government is bailing out gm and chrysler is because how important to our economy they have become. you think japan would let toyota or honda just die out without help? how about the fact the germany owns part of vw so that no one person can have complete control over the company or if they ever need help then their government will step in and make things right. if any car compnay fails, their suppliers will have trouble staying in business, the dealers will go under. thats a lots of unemployed people. lets not forget about how many local businesses that would be effected from the revenue they get from the workers of those companies. time to pull your heads out of your asses and look at the big picture and not just what you like about a certain car make.

@Dark

So we should just continually give out billions of dollars every few months because 70 years ago GM and Chrysler made something people want to buy? It would cost less to give each GM and Chrysler employee $2 million and let the companies die. I was in a Chevy showroom yesterday looking at the new Camaro. Looks great on the outside, but the inside is horrible. A $15,000 Mazda has an infinitely better interior than a $35,000 Chevy -- that's a big reason why GM and Chrysler are going under -- they half-ass everything they do. Even the Corvette had a similarly crappy interior (still does standard), but starting about a year or two ago they started offering a $5,000 option to upgrade the interior to leather instead of Fisher Price plastic.

When buying ANYTHING, you should shop for the best you can afford -- NOT with racist motives.

@ Dark

Bailing out Toyota or Honda is different; these companies got hit by the economy. GM and Chrysler stories are different; they've been falling for decades even with a good economy. The fact that even with a bailout, they will eventually going on the the downside because more and more people are buying imports for better quality (i.e. interior,realibility,compact).

Bailing out is just slowing down the process of bankcruptcy. The longer they keep the life support for these companies the more money will be spent and more tax $$ from the people.

You guys are missing the primary point of dark's post.

Do you think GM, Ford, or Chrysler manufactures most of their own components for their vehicles? They don't. Mostly they assemble vehicles these days. The bigger picture is all of those vendors that supply parts and components to "automakers".

So in reality, more of that bailout cash is going right back out GM and Chrysler's hands than would appear. It's bailing out a lot more workers than you think besides the cost of restructuring.
Hate GM and Chrysler all you want, i don't blame you. They porked themselves, and deserve to be out of business for lazy business practices. But be pissed at the bailout for the right reasons.

Greedy UAW workers are getting 9 weeks of FULL PAY this summer while GM shuts down assembly plants due to slow sales. Why should the workers get full pay? If my company shuts down for an extended period due to a slump, i have to do what the rest of the working world in the US does. File for temporary unemployment benefits until recalled. The UAW is part of the problem, and they simply do not deserve to be paid full wages and benefits.

Also blame all that unnecessary spending by GM and Chrysler. Motorsports for example. A company bleeding red from every orifice should not be sponsoring countless racing teams, schedules, races, pace cars, etc, on taxpayer money. We cracked down on financial institutions for handing out "bonus" packages after their bailout, why should Detroit be any different.

@Phil: "why? I don't know.."

Exactly kid. You don't know. When you get back to school tomorrow, tell your friends you learned something this weekend. Ford isn't getting bailed out. They secured about 30 billion in private loans, and started restructuring about 4 years ago. And chances are whatever "German models" you were refering to weren't actually made in Germany.
Big engines aren't history either. Next time you see a utility vehicle, or installer van, notice what badge is on it. You cannot attach a bucket lift or utility box to a vehicle that doesn't have a frame and runs on 6 cylinders. Nor can you tow a 24' Skeeter fishing boat with a Honda CR-V.
Hello Phil, this is reality talking. Have we met? ;)

@Phil
"you can't compete against the advanced japs and german cars "

you realize that Ford is Europe's biggest automaker right?

and nothing of value was lost.

@ Trooper

Except that all those other companies that make things like dashboards and cupholders could still be just fine if GM and Chrysler disappeared. They'd have issues for a bit, sure, but after a year (or less) they'd probably be just the same as they are now.

Why? Well despite their constantly decreasing market shares, GM and Chrysler DO sell some vehicles. All those vehicles that they no longer sell would still have people wanting a new car. As a result, those people turn to the other car companies out there. Now, most of the companies out there probably don't really have the ability to ramp up production that much. Lets say Nissan, Mazda, and Toyota all get dashboards and cupholders from company A -- company A just doesn't have the ability to make all the parts now that Nissan, Mazda, and Toyota have much higher production due to GM and Chrysler going bust. As a result, those car companies will have company B (which formerly made dashboards and cupholders for GM and Chrysler cars) make the parts needed.

There would be a transition period, but after awhile (probably a year or so), things would be just fine if GM and Chrysler ceased to exist entirely.

If GM and Chrysler were Japanese companies they would have disappeared a long time ago and no one would be crying about them on this forum.

@Totenglocke

Exactly, I don't understand why people have so much trouble with this concept.

@muscleoverrice

VW is europe's largest automaker.

@Stallion

I think muscleoverrice was referring to the waist size of the CEO's, not the production of the companies.....

@gm0n3y & Totenglocke:

It's not because people can't understand this very, very simple concept, it's because they don't want to understand it.

Retards of the Torque Report unite....

to form Doltron, Asshat of the Internets!

I'll form the head!

@Phil

People with grammer like YOURS have no right to call other people retarded.

@Tote

So what you're saying is "I hate GM dashboards because they are cheap peases of crap, but I don't mined haveing them in my Hondas and toyotas" right?

@426Hemi

No, what I'm saying is that the typical $15,000 Japanese car has a much nicer interior than the Camaro (and just about every other GM car). Yes, the bottom of the line stripper "only built so that people making $7/hr can buy a car" models from all companies have crappy interiors. The problem is that GM and Chrysler tend to use the same crappy interior in ALL of their cars.

If you drove something other than American cars, you'd have realized that just about every Japanese car has a much nicer interior than American cars.

I suspect this move is more to do with Obama's tampering more than $$.

Totenglocke:
You have no idea what you are talking about. Example there is no way that the current Malibu is inferior to the Camry. That inside, outside and under the hood. Cobalt SS, what car Jap car can compete with it at the track for under $30k?

Also what is racist about buying American? You must be one of the fringe that post on slashdot...

PS: my RX-7 has a pretty cheap interior.

@RX-7

I never said all GM cars suck performance-wise, I said just about all of them have crappy interiors. The Cobalt SS drives great -- but Fisher Price makes a better interior. The Malibu is the only GM car I can think of off the top of my head that DOES have a decent interior.

As for what's racist about buying American? Nothing if you'll actually look for the car you like best and it happens to be American. However, most people buying American cars today when they can afford something better are only doing it because they're racist hicks and "only buy American" (which is amusing because so many of their "American" cars are made in Mexico or Canada).

PS: my '96 Protege has better materials for the interior than the new Camaro -- sad but true. I was actually hoping the new Camaro would have a great interior since I'm planning on getting a new car in the next 6 months and the outside looks great and by all reports it drives great too.

you honestly think it would only effect the economy for maybe a year? if the corporations went out, then all the factories would be gone, and every car dealer.thats a lot of unemployment we would have and a lot of people trying to find a job. meanwhile all that unemployment is going to effect the economybecause all the unemployed people that are trying to make it by, arent going to be spending a lot of money (as we have seen through the past year). (and again as we have all seen) that means other companies will be struggling to stay afloat and end up laying off or firing people. think its not possible? it happened through most of 2008.

you honestly think it would only effect the economy for maybe a year? if the corporations went out, then all the factories would be gone, and every car dealer.thats a lot of unemployment we would have and a lot of people trying to find a job. meanwhile all that unemployment is going to effect the economybecause all the unemployed people that are trying to make it by, arent going to be spending a lot of money (as we have seen through the past year). (and again as we have all seen) that means other companies will be struggling to stay afloat and end up laying off or firing people. think its not possible? it happened through most of 2008.

@dark

I said it would maybe only take a year for all of the companies that make parts for GM / Chrysler to switch over to making parts for all of the other car companies.

Also, it's less drain on the economy to toss the UAW to the curb now than it is to keep them on extreme welfare (which is all we're doing with the handouts, sorry, "loans") for the next hundred years.