Holden's US Commodore: Chevy SS revealed

General Motors has revealed the 2014 Chevrolet SS – the North American export version of Holden’s upcoming VF Commodore - in a low-key media event at Daytona International Speedway.

The Chevy SS was presented to a small group of key US and Australian media in the lead-up to next weekend’s famed Daytona 500 - the opening race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, in which SS-styled race cars will represent Chevrolet - a day after the Commodore SS V upon which it’s based was revealed in Melbourne.

But while Holden’s heavily upgraded VF Commodore goes in sale in May, the Chevy SS is more than six months away from arriving in US Chevrolet dealers, in the final quarter of this year.

As such, no pricing has been revealed and only two hand-built examples of the Chevy SS exist - a blue NASCAR pace car and a show car painted silver at the request of GM International design chief, Australian Mike Simcoe.

However, GM executives have already stated it will be priced and specified significantly upstream of the last Commodore exported to the US, the Pontiac G8, which cost $US29,995 for the equivalent V8-powered GT variant.

They’ve also said they expect annual sales of at least 5000, which is substantially less than the 41,000-plus G8s sold in the US between November 2007 and February 2009 – nearly as many as the number of Commodores sold annually in Australia at the time – before Holden’s lucrative US export program and the Pontiac brand were killed off as part of GM’s post-GFC restructuring plan.

Just as the Pontiac G8 was a rebadged version of the VE Commodore SS (but available with V6 and V8 engines), the V8-only Chevy SS is a rebadged version of the upcoming VF Commodore SS.

Holden is yet to reveal engine details of the VF Commodore, but the SS is expected to continue with its 6.0-litre V8, while the Chevy SS runs a version of the 6.2-litre LS3 V8 seen in the Chevrolet Camaro SS, outgoing Chevrolet Corvette, discontinued G8 GXP flagship and HSV’s current model range – not the new 6.2-litre LT1 V8 that powers the new Corvette.

Effectively, the Chevy SS is essentially a 6.2-litre HSV-spec version of the SS Commodore that will hit Holden showrooms in three months, albeit with less power and more torque.

Chevrolet says its LS3 V8 produces 309kW of power at 5900rpm and 563Nm of torque at 4600rpm, which compares with 270kW/530Nm for the outgoing Commodore SS and 317kW/550Nm for all HSVs except the top-shelf 325kW GTS.

Fitted with an “aggressive” 3.27 final-drive ratio, Chevrolet says the SS accelerates from zero to 60mph in about five seconds, making it “one of the quickest sedans on the market”.

In the Chevy SS, the all-aluminium two-valve pushrod V8 is matched exclusively with a six-speed Hydra-Matic 6L80 automatic transmission with ‘TapShift’ manual mode via the gearshifter or paddles on the new flat-bottom steering wheel, and features a single exhaust outlet on either side - unlike the quad-exhaust HSVs and Commodore SS.

Hence, the Chevy SS wears a different lower rear diffuser, but apart from Chevrolet badges is otherwise cosmetically identical to the Commodore SS - unlike the G8, which wore a unique Pontiac front bumper - which like all VFs wears all-new sheetmetal (including a 30 per cent lighter aluminium boot and bonnet) apart from the roof and doors.

Apart from US-specific suspension tune, the rest of its mechanical makeup is as per the VF Commodore, meaning it brings (in this case as standard) a range of new technologies including Forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, a reversing camera, colour head-up display, push-button starting and electric power steering, making it the first Chevrolet to offer the same Automatic Parking Assist self-parking function that will be standard in all VF Commodores.

Other standard features that will not be fitted to entry-level Commodores include high-intensity gas discharge (HID) headlights, light-emitting diode (LED) daytime running lights, leather seat trim, eight-way power-adjustable front bucket seats, ice blue ambient lighting and an SS emblem stitched into the top of a soft-touch Alcantara-trimmed dashboard that also features satin gloss and bright chrome highlights.

Although official images of its interior are yet to be revealed, the Chevy SS – like the VF Commodore – also comes with a twin-tube instrument binnacle, new front and rear seats and a new integrated centre stack comprising infotainment and climate controls via a larger new in-dash colour touch-screen that also supports new navigation and MyLink telematics systems, plus a nine-speaker 220-Watt Bose premium sound system.

Stopping the Chevy SS are the same four-piston Brembo front brake callipers and 355mm rotors as seen on the outgoing Commodore SS Redline, while its 19-inch polished forged aluminium wheels are sized midway between the current SS's 18s and the SS V's 20s and wear 245/40 front and 275/35 rear rubber.

Its exterior dimensions are the same too, at 4968mm long, 1899mm wide and 1490mm high, riding on a 2916mm wheelbase, and Chevrolet makes much of the spacious 1074mm front and 1008mm rear legroom of its first rear-wheel drive V8 performance sedan since 1996.

“The Chevrolet brand was largely built on the strength of rear-drive performance sedans, yet it's been 17 years since we've offered one,” said General Motors North America President and former GM Holden chief, Mark Reuss.

“The all-new Chevrolet SS fills that void and fills it better than any other vehicle in the brand’s rich history. The comfort, convenience, spaciousness and V8 power make the SS a total performance package unlike any other on the road today.”

Holden is yet to reveal its upgraded long-wheelbase 2013 WN Caprice but, like the WM it replaces, it’s expected to form the basis of a 2014 Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle to replace the Adelaide-made Caprice PPV currently being sold to US law enforcement agencies.

The 2014 SS – one of 13 “all-new or significantly redesigned” models to be launched by Chevrolet in North America this year - will replace the Impala as the basis of Chevrolet’s 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series contender, joining the 2013 Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the 2014 Silverado in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

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