The Chevy SS is one of the more hotly anticipated cars in the last year, at least among fans of American muscle. And now there is even more reason for excitement, as GM is hoping to add more options, and more power, to this sinister old school muscle car.
When it hits showrooms in 2014, the SS will have precisely two options: a sunroof and a full-sized spare. That kind of tight-assed focus might have worked for Henry Ford a century ago when he told customers they could have a Model T “in any color they wanted, so long as it was black”, but not today.
According to Automotive.com, Chevy Performance Cars Marketing Manager and NASCAR driver name haver, John Fitzpatrick, Chevrolet has been getting an earful. Customers are excited about the SS but they are asking why they can’t buy the SS with a manual transmission and why there’s only get one engine choice.
These questions are justified, too, because in Australia, where the car is sold as the Holden Commodore, customers can choose any number of options, including a 580-horsepower supercharged version.
Fortunately, Mr. Fitzpatrick is listening, and assuming that the SS sticks around, Chevrolet is hoping to introduce at least a few power upgrades.
Whether or not the SS will stick around is anyone’s guess. GM has tried to sell a full-sized muscle car a couple of times in recent years and it hasn’t gone spectacularly. The Pontiac G8 didn’t sell well, and then GM blew up Pontiac. The Cadillac CTS-V hasn’t exactly been a world-beater either, selling less than 3,000 units in nearly every year of its production run.
I, though, am hopeful about the SS. Its sales target is a modest 2,000-3,000 units per year, and it has something that the other attempts have lacked.
The SS is what you want in a modern muscle car. It looks and feels like you are getting what every gearhead with more nostalgia than sense – me included – wants: A brand new 1964 Chevy Impala SS.
