BREAKING: GM disbands High Performance Vehicle Operations
by Damon Lavrinc on Feb 18th 2009 at 5:35PM 
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Chevrolet Cobalt SS
Coinciding with the release of General Motors' Viability Plan, the automaker has disbanded its High Performance Vehicle Operations team, the crew responsible for the line V-series Cadillacs, the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, HHR SS and the V8 version of the Colorado. According to Vince Muniga, a spokesman for the General, "All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold. The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs." Muniga went on to say that there are no plans for high-performance versions of upcoming plans, but once (if?) GM is in a better financial position, the team could be reinstated.
Gallery: 2008 Chevy Cobalt SS
[Source: Autoweek]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
jlee 5:39PM (2/18/2009)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Say it ain't so!
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Berto 6:00PM (2/18/2009)
I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home...
CarbonBlack 6:36PM (2/18/2009)
And GM just got good!!!
AMcA 7:56PM (2/18/2009)
This is the kind of garbage that happens when you have to please the politicians. Rich Wagon-master doesn't want to have to go before Congress at some future time and have to be berated by some insane California politician because his company builds irresponsibly powerful cars.
Disgusting.
The General has been de-knackered by his own choice. Voluntary castration. Shudder.
homunculus 8:05PM (2/18/2009)
this is what happens when your company is bankrupt.
zamafir 8:40PM (2/18/2009)
"This is the kind of garbage that happens when you have to please the politicians. "
So what you're telling me is that HPVO had no idea what they were doing?
Common sense would be to move people from highly successful portions of the business to those areas that are forcing you to beg the government for billions, you know, cuz they know what they're doing and might be able to augment all the weak areas?
Lutz, your comments, I’m not sure how much clearer the writing on the wall could be, enthusiasts are fine, but let them run a car company and it’s doomed.
BoneHeadOtto 9:28PM (2/18/2009)
GM needs to just rename the division to something that sounds green. Kind of like Ford renaming TwinForce to EcoBoost. The govt will never know the difference.
stevefazek 9:57PM (2/19/2009)
late night come home work sucks i know she left me roses by the stairs surprises let me know she cares
Beat-it-nerd 9:09AM (2/19/2009)
No no no....this is a GOOD thing. As a GM dealer, I can tell you that these Pontiac "GXP's", Buick "Super's", Chevy "SS's" are cool but don't sell well. With maybe the exception of the CTS V, none of them have been a good idea. They cost GM an arm and a leg and the ROI is most definitely negative.
Car configurations are so complex as they are and it has always been difficult to manage your inventory. What kind of Acadia do you stock when there are thousands of configurations. Each model needs to be simplified and this is one step towards that.
GOT 10:58AM (2/19/2009)
More like each model needs to be weaker. Political Correctness celebrates the weak and wrong. GM is getting the PC makeover in the most complete way.
Jrejre 5:39PM (2/18/2009)
GM goes into Toyota Mode.
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Chris 6:57PM (2/18/2009)
Bingo! You get a cookie. That's exactly what they're doing.
catgirlshyla 3:54AM (2/19/2009)
So, Toyota Corve...erm, Supra then??
tekd 4:13AM (2/20/2009)
Pretty sad as an enthusiast, but I guess this really does explain why Toyota stopped making costly to develop niche vehicles-they wanted to use the money to work on other stuff.
With GM they just had too many "high performance" stinkers that couldn't sell (see Pontiac).
I still think they should keep working at least 1-2 high performance sedans though for use as halo cars. After all AMG has been having record sales, and I think the Caddillac V-series is probably the most promising of all these vehicles (for one thing it's a LOT harder to sell a $50,000 Pontiac than a Caddillac).
JD 5:40PM (2/18/2009)
That bad eh?
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XGM 8:55PM (2/18/2009)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... (btw anybody knows the comment size limit?)
Enigmatic 5:41PM (2/18/2009)
I'll be sad to see no further iterations of the CTS-V, but the other ones never really interested me much. Though I know people who were a fan of some of the SS vehicles.
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Ming 5:44PM (2/18/2009)
Alright, now i'm really surprised. I'm not a fan of GM but never thought they would go this far, especially the Cobalt SS/TC.
And to think that just a few days ago I found out there was the option for the $700 turbo upgrade for it...
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SilverAero 5:45PM (2/18/2009)
Damn, no CTS-V Coupe or Wagon I guess.
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Alexander Barry 5:46PM (2/18/2009)
Any word on Holden's HSV, or is this just affecting American divisions?
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