Z284ever

It'll be interesting to see how well Silverado SS ends up doing in the market place.

The Silverado SS is the very epitomy of Chevy's new "SS strategy". This will be the near term plan that will market high content vehicles...at high profit.

I think the Silverado SS will be an early test for this SS strategy.

We'll see how it goes. It won't go toe to toe with current and upcoming "performance trucks"and I really think it's abit pricey.....but it is usable and formula79's g/f likes it.


We'll see.........

95Zvert

I'm a die hard chevy guy (z28, Tahoe, caprice, tried an 02 impala turd for 5 mo's before trading for the tahoe), but it seems a complete no-brainer to me: A guy wants a performance truck, hmmmmm........ The lightning is by FAR the fastest and outperforms the SS in EVERY performance category......and is ~ $8K CHEAPER!!! Frankly I'd buy the L, or I'm an idiot. If I'm concerned with towing or hauling capabilities I get a nice turbo diesel dually quad/crew cab for about the same as the SS. It has more utility, more room and more ammenities than the SS. So, where is the SS supposed to fall? I'd guess the ricer crowd with the dubs and the bling bling applique, only problem is the ricer crowd isnt gonna spend $40+K on a TRUCK that is SLOW!!! It has no market. It has no niche. It is an embarrassment of the SS badge. It makes GM look like bumbling buffoons in the performance market: "look, we have a performance truck too, yes it costs a ton more than the competition (be it performance OR utility) and gets its @ss easily handed to itself. buy one.....please"

Only people buying are the dopes that wanted to have one before anyone else, before realizing their money could be better spent elsewhere. I've seen local commercials running for discounted SSs, have yet to see ONE on the street, yet see a lot of Ls running around. I have seen a few sitting on lots, unsold, and gathering dust. On the other hand, a local SVT dealer seems to move Ls within a week of me seeing them on the lot.

If the SS was meant to be the gentlemans truck, it should have been badged something else, come with a lot more ammenities, and been priced a hell of a lot more inexpensive than I can get an escalade for. Oh, and possibly even, EEK, been a little more unique than the other identical offerings by GM.

The L brings ford mucho credibility: it sells other vehicles, draws future vehicle buyers into the fold, and produces an image, a GOOD image. Just like dodge investing big money in the viper (many people scoffed at this after being bailed out by the fed), it gave dodge an image, something they were lacking. And, it drew people to their lots. The SS will do none of these, and taints the SS badge in the process. Just like ritter said, it USED to mean brut power.

Snorman

I suppose this is wishful thinking. Where did you get the info that GM is going to produce a "higher performance" SS? Wasn't the regular cab Silverado SS GM's shot at producing just such a vehicle...for probably less $$$ than they'll spend to get this AWD pig to perform as well? One thing I don't think you've yet learned is GM shows lots of neat stuff...twin turbo Trailblazers, 400hp regular cab Silverado SS, supercharged Cavaliers, etc.. When it comes time to putting it into production, they blink. Heck, I'm surprised they followed through on the CTS-V. Not only did they finish it, but they put the LS6 in it. They'll only build a few thousand, and they'll probably end up getting gouged by dealers and selling for $60k, but it's a good step.
Get rid of the AWD, those stupid 20" wheels and drop the price about $5-7k and it might sell. Is there any indication that the Silverado SS will be around long enough to get the 400hp C6 engine? I think a big part of the reason Lightning sells so well is it fits a nice segment of the market. In today's market, a $32k vehicle is not that expensive. These L's are going out the door for under $30k in many instances. GM needs to be in that range to be competitive. IMO, DCM is going to have a problem selling the $50k SRT-10 pickup. Who is going to spend that kind of cash on a pickup? Talk about narrowing your market segment.
S.

Jackass

Wasn't this what the camaro was supposed to do?

smackkk

I saw ads in this past weekends paper for Silverado SS's for about $33k. This was including several rebates like GM loyalty, the standard rebate, and a military service rebate.

I havent seen any SS's at the track but I have seen more of them on public roads than I have Lightnings.

Chuck!

No. In order for this to happen GM and dealerships would have had to have this philosophy and we all know how that went. Ford backs SVT like God himself is designing those cars.

I would say the Corvette does this though.

formula79

Thats another point people are missing on the price....there are no rebates on the Lightning, but you can normally get 5-7K off an SS. All GM's cars have inflated MSRP's because of the huge rebates. Lightnings on the other hand seem to be marked up some times.


As for the goon above questioning how I know stuff and that I need to learn GM doesn't make all the show cars they show...you need to do a little research into who I am. And it wasn't a twin turbo Trailblazer they made, it had a 6.0L V8....and that one also has a shot at being made.

Z28x

No way,, you got to keep those 20's, they look hot, they need to offer them in chrome.

I agree about the AWD, it should be optional.


How many People would have like the Silverado SS better if it had a 4' bed like the Red Concept

Z28x

they did make a twin turbo trailblazer concept
http://www.trucktrend.com/roadtests/...in/index2.html
http://www.motortrend.com/future/con...2_0203_blazer/

SNEAKY NEIL

So what does it mean when GM sells more Silverado SS's than Lightnings? You can say that the Lightning is limited to 7500 units, but unless there is documentaion stating that the demand is much higher than the supply, I think the SS shows that it is a overall more desireable vehicle and is a success. I think it also says that the market for the ulta-high performance, low utility pick-up truck is not that big. I have to agree with formula79 on this one, I think the market for that type of vehicle is small and I also think this will be shown when the Ram srt-10 makes it on to the scene to less than stellar sales numbers.

Chuck!

Thus far we dont have any numbers saying that the SS is selling more than the L. I just wanna see a damn number to satisfy my curiousity!

Z284ever

Me too.

Eric Bryant

OK, here's my thoughts on the current situation:

1) Nice to see GM selling these things for a reasonable amount of money (if that $33K figure is actually real). This just goes to show the harm of inadequate retail pricing, IMO - maybe the whole high-MSRP-big-rebate thing works well on customers who walk in off the street, but it would seem to hurt GM on a speciality vehicle like the Silv SS where the high MSRP scares folks off right away.

2) I like the idea of 20" wheels on this model, but the design of the wheel itself is terrible. I've seen very few Silv SSs around here that still have the stock wheels; maybe half or more on dealer lots are already carrying much better-looking aftermarket wheels. Had GM looked to the aftermarket (like they did with the '94 Impala SS wheels) before putting pen to paper, I think they would have done something much nicer.

3) The death of the standard-cab SS shows that performance is simply not king at GM. Talk profit margins or sales volume all you want. And as long as we're talking sales numbers, how come Ford can put out a low-volume performance truck for a very reasonable amount of money, but yet GM can't? Something to chew on. I don't have the answer.

4) I know that formula79 is big on talking about GM's "strategy" of slowly rolling-out the performance as a model ages, but this is going to hurt them badly. It took four years to throw a supercharger on the Wimpala, and the same amount of time to roll-out an SS version of the Silverado. If they do decide to do a real high-perf Silv SS, the platform will probably be 6-7 years old. On the other hand, the Ford Lightning came out about 2 years after the new F-150 came out, and the Dodge Ram SRT-10 appears to be on the same timeline. I do know that if I picked up a new Silv SS and then GM decided to bump up the HP a couple years later, I sure would think twice before jumping on a new model in the future.

5) When it all comes down to it, I just don't see a reason to spend anywhere near sticker price on a mildly-performing half-ton "sport truck" when not much more cash will put me into a Duramax/Allison 2500HD that offers the same level of "luxury", similar straight-line performance (with a heck of a lot more mod potential), and dramatically increased hauling capabilities.

smackkk

Here is a link to an ad in the Dallas Morning News. $9000 off MSRP and thats not including the $1000 loyalty rebate. The second link is an upclose shot with details of the SS offer.


http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com...840207T1.shtml


http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com...40207T1_09.jpg

Z28Wilson

So let's see if I have this right. The SS is the much more appealing truck for most people and it will kick the L's butt in sales....yet it's being marked down up to $10k and the L is the truck that actually has the wiggle room to be marked up and still sell out the run.