ImportedRoomate

This is all just a clever ploy to get everyone in arms and talking about the car - then they sneak in the manual there later.

http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam...S_HeroCard.pdf
So I was looking at the spec sheet and noticed they're offering a "Mystic Green" - I've always wanted a nice darker green car. Did some searching to discover this awful excuse for green:

IZ28

There was a time when Chevrolet made distinct and beautiful cars for each model. Now they're almost all cookie cutter cars that look alot like each other. With Pontiac gone they need to pick up the excitement thing some. This car should have been the new Impala with different trim levels and the SS should have been the performance model. Instead, now we have a FWD "Impala" and a "real" Impala being sold together under different banners. I can imagine the sales people now. "If you want an Impala it's that new FWD car over there." Um, but isn't this RWD car here the new Impala SS? "No, this car is just an SS, it has no name." So.....this is the car like the 96 Impala SS right? "Yes, but it's not an Impala." So it's just, an SS.....and not an Impala is what you're saying? "Correct, you've got it!" Oh, um, oooook.

Idiotic! The fact that they also try mentioning the Chevelle in the same sentence with this car shows just how out of touch they really are.

Z28Wilson

Oh I agree with much of what you're saying. But as far as the whole naming thing goes, I think it would have been much cooler to call the 'SS' a Chevelle (if you aren't going to make it the new Impala anyway). The only people that would have been upset with this car being called Chevelle would be those who don't remember Chevelle being much more than just a 454 LS6-powered coupe. The vast majority of Chevelles weren't wild looking cars. Chrysler stuck the Charger name on a sedan and made it work for crying out loud, at least you could buy the original Chevelle with 4 doors. I honestly think the whole GTO uproar made GM gunshy.

CaminoLS6

Infinitely better.

96_Camaro_B4C

Name and the lack of manual (that actually shocked me) are stupid. Styling is very nice, and I think it is easily better looking than the G8 where they differ. I actually think it looks better than the SRT8 Charger. BUT, a Charger R/T might have the edge (I don't like the SRT's front clip or wheel design). I also think the interior looks pretty sharp.

This thing is sort of a 'tweener car between an R/T and an SRT8, and as such I hope it is not priced as a direct SRT8 competitor. When the Hemi cars get the 8 speed auto, I'm guessing an R/T will have no trouble keeping up with the SS (which I'm hoping hasn't gained much weight over the G8 GXP, which was about 300 lbs lighter than a current Charger SRT8).

I'm not in the market for a $40k car, but I'd love to drive a car like this. If it came with a manual, that option alone would probably tip the scales for me. But since it is auto-only, I'm not sure why I would opt for this car over one of the Charger variants that are also auto-only.

ImportedRoomate

More forbidden fruit:

IZ28

Well, let's be honest here. Not only did the GTO probably make them think twice, but it is true that people only remember big engined Chevelle coupes. On top of that, the SS would need many design changes to be called a Chevelle even as a 4 door, and it's completely obvious that all GM was interested in here was badge engineering. It looks closer to an Impala so it's just a nameless "SS" now. Ideally, this car would have been the new Impala as a 300 competitor and a Chevelle/Nova/Monte Carlo could have been a Charger competitor, but that didn't happen. I don't see people cross shopping the SS and the Charger much. They're similar in mission somewhat but yet far too different. It's refined muscle sedan vs. sporty muscle sedan.

Z28Wilson

Agreed, but I don't think it's a problem that GM couldn't get past with proper marketing. Again, Chrysler stuck the Charger name first on a limp-wristed FWD coupe in the 80s and then on the current sedan. Perhaps Dodge boys just aren't as whiny/demanding when it comes to nameplates from the 60s.

Hmm, why? Are there some specific legendary/heritage Chevelle styling cues that absolutely had to be carried forward to a 21st century Chevelle sedan? I can't really think of any.

Of course the 'SS' is badge-engineered, they are bringing them in straight off the boat and any major investment into its styling further cuts into what will probably be a razor thin profit margin as it is. We have to understand that this car is not meant to go head-to-head with Chrysler's 300 and Charger in terms of sales numbers. That won't happen unless/until it is built here and gets its own styling character. For now this is simply Chevy's G8.

IZ28

This is something else that has merit. GM musclecars are far more popular and well-known in general than the Chrysler products and we seem to be a tougher crowd to please.

There is nothing on the SS that could be "Chevelle" and you know with that name on a car, the first thing everyone is gonna want to see is some lines off of the 70. Even Dodge made sure there were certain things on the Charger that reminded you of the most popular ones. Moreso on the current model than the last. But they still understood this.

True about the sales. Kind of a shame though when Pontiac went out of their way some to make the car look like a Pontiac and somewhat aggressive while Chevy just throws on an emblem, isn't it?

Z28Wilson

The only thing I can figure is that the Commodore front clip is more passable as a Chevy, just adding the bowtie, than the Monaro's was as a Pontiac (Pontiac had the more distinctive twin bean grill).

SSCamaro99_3

Only for a bunch of geezers stuck in the past. It fills all of the basic tenets that a "proper" Chevelle does. The coupe vs sedan arguement is moot. The market has born out that coupes are only viable in the sports car/pony car market. My only real gripe with the car is the lack of a manual transmission.

SharpShooter_SS

It was asked earlier about the car coming to Canada. I thought it wouldn't be an issue, but as it turns out, it is not.

Chevrolet SS Sedan Not Coming to Canada

Too bad, it has nothing to do with the platform and bumper regs this time around like the GTO, it's apparently due to pricing with a 6% duty and overall sales of the G8 here (info from another board).

To be fair though the G8 didn't arrive here at the same as it did in the US, it was really only here for a model year and at that not a quite full year before import ceased and Pontiac imploded. The GXP wasn't even out long enough to make it to Canada. I don't recall if the GXP was going to be sold here or not anyway, although I have seen a couple pop up for sale as used cars here. I thought it sold pretty well considering its availability, brief window of existence and uncertainty over GM's future. Their sales have still not recovered here in Canada where they have been running behind Ford and Chrysler - before the bankruptcy they perennially were number 1.

ImportedRoomate

Man, it just doesn't end with this car...

Silverhawk

Wow....I had a sneaking suspicion that the SS wasn't going to come to Canada based on GM Canada's lack of publicity around the announcement.......

Truly unfortunate. I'll have to look at competitors for the replacement of my G8.

Silverhawk

and a couple of other thoughts while I'm mad about this.........

1). Ironic that its the Canadians that seem to like the car (at least judging by the responses on this board) and we are the ones NOT getting it......

2). I wonder if the decision to not bring it up here has to do with the fact that the current platform will be refreshed in 2016. May not make sense to certify the car for Canada if it is only going to have a 2yr run before it gets refreshed.