If Not Us, Who? If Not Now, When?

"Clay Smith's Revenge" (claysmithsrevenge) 03/11/2015 at 00:49 • Filed to: Chevrolet, SS, Ute, El Camino, Oppositelock, GM, Sa;es

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I read some very disturbing* news this morning and need to pass it along.

Ladies and gentlemen of Oppo, the Chevrolet SS sold a grand total of 115 units in January. Across the entire United States. 115 SS's were delivered to customers over the 31 days of January. I know we had bad weather in some areas but GM had its best January overall since 2008 delivering a total of 202,786 cars and light trucks, up 18%, with 142,882 of those vehicles being sold by Chevrolet, itself up 20%. They sold 18,693 Chevy Cruzes, for God's sake. The sold 4,991 Camaros in January and 10,151 Traverses. They even sold 3,521 Sonics and 3,170 Sparks! That's a compact with an 138 hp, 1.8l engine and a subcompact "city car" with an 84 hp, 1.3L engine. Both with CVT's. Together that's 58 times as many SS's. The only model they sold less of was a lousy 10 Captiva Sports, a car I've never heard of. Not good.

The reason I passed this along is that the SS is the kind of car enthusiasts like Oppo members/Jalop readers always say we will buy "if somebody ever made one". I know it doesn't have a manual, but it does have a manual mode using shift paddles. Most importantly it's got the 6.2 L V8 putting out 420 hp and 415 asphalt melting lb=ft of torque, and it sends it all to the rear wheels. Manumatic notwithstanding we can't have any general complaints. The point is that if the SS doesn't start selling a better GM will kill it off, meaning there's even less of a chance GM will ever bring one of those kick ass Utes over here. And everyone knows that the on;y thing more Jalop than a wagon is a modern El Camino (even one that says "G'day").

Keep (El Camino) hope alive!

* Mildly, anyway

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 00:55

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*it has a manual now.

and it'll be killed off anyway. Holden factory is closing down.

TopSirloin > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 00:55

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Suffice to say most Oppo's/Jalops don't do much shopping in that price range. I don't know what your stereotypical 40-something through 60-something car blog(s) is, but I think they bear the burden of purchasing said 400+HP RWD Sports Sedan.

Then we buy them once they eat half the depreciation.

ly2v8-Brian > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 00:56

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I'd probably get one, if I had money and if it had half the doors.

Funktheduck > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 00:59

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Make it not look like an impala and actually advertise it. Probably need to drop the price.

The only reason this exists is because it has to comply with a contract with Australian GM. They don't care to sell this car.

SlickMcRick > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 01:03

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Price, price is the issue.

Scary__goongala! > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 01:06

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Chevy doesn't market the thing and I assume the reason for which is because they don't know how. Many car enthusiast probably still don't that it exist. Then factor in the general public has no clue about it. Basically if your local Chevy dealer doesn't have one sitting on the showroom floor, nobody will ever see/notice one. Out on the road it looks nearly the same as a Malibu. I like the looks for the sleeper effect and so do many other enthusiast I think. But a normal person trying to buy a fast car that also may or may not want to be seen driving a fast car is never going to buy one....again assuming they even know what it is. The newer models being available with a manual and magnetic suspension may help a little, but the folks at GM need to figure out how to sell it.

Shoop > ly2v8-Brian 03/11/2015 at 01:16

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so... a corvette?

Soloburrito > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 01:33

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I'd rather have a Charger SRT 392 or R/T Scat Pack than the SS.

TheHondaBro > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 01:34

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If people aren't buying the SS, then why should GM bring over the Maloo Ute? Frankly, most of the people who'd want one can't even afford it.

citizennick > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 01:38

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trust me, I would if I could, love these cars.

JDMatt > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 02:29

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To be fair, Enterprise probably bought a good chunk of Sonics, Cruzes and Sparks.

TopSirloin > Funktheduck 03/11/2015 at 02:53

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THANK YOU

TopSirloin > Soloburrito 03/11/2015 at 02:55

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Considering history has little footing on people purchasing Chargers these days, one would think re-utilizing "Scat Pack" would have seriously negative marketing implications.

DoYouEvenShift > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 07:12

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It does have a manual. And Magnetic Ride!

But I agree with everything you said though. People complain that X carmaker should make car Y if they want to be successful, and they would totally buy one.

But here we are. Tahoes and Escalades for everybody!!

BloodlessWeevil > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 08:09

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The two biggest problems with the SS are Dodge and Cadillac.

yamahog > TopSirloin 03/11/2015 at 08:17

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Fwiw, I just dropped about 40k on a car that is not the Chevy SS. I know a lot of oppo trends young and/or broke, but there are some of us in the market for new cars. In my case, I wanted something with less doors and more conspicuous styling.

450X_FTW > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 08:45

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That's because there's a lot of base V6 Camaro's on the road. I'd be curious to see how many they sold that were in a similar price range to the SS.

The reason GM will never sell the SS like they did the G8 is because of the variants they offer. G8 had a 3.6L, 6.0L, 6.2L and 3 trim levels G8, G8 GT, G8 GXP, the last being the closest to the SS offered in the US. The GXP only sold 1,829 units in the life of the car. So GM selling 115 in January isn't that far off from where they were before

BKosher84 > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 08:57

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Captiva Sports

Captiva Sports are literally a rebadged Saturn Vue (Swear to God.. It's a literal Vue with Chevy Logos and nothing has changed on them from 2012 when they killed off Saturn) specifically made for rentals.. But somehow dealers are getting a hold of them and people are buying these shitty things and driving around in them....

Steve Zissou > TopSirloin 03/11/2015 at 09:13

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Autoblog

Steve Zissou > Clay Smith's Revenge 03/11/2015 at 09:14

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Camaro - $23,705

Traverse - $30,995

Sonic - $14,245

Spark - $12,270

Camaro with same 6.2L V8 and power sent to the same place - $34,500

SS - $45,745

You can't expect this car to be a high volume seller, and I really don't think their looking at the sales of a boring looking high power sedan to help decide if they're going to bring over a much much more quirky vehicle like a ute.

Sweet Trav > BKosher84 03/11/2015 at 10:01

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Why are they "shitty" They are an Equinox underneath, (actually the equinox is a Vue underneath, which was originally the Opel Antara) but cheaper. Why Cheaper? They are built in Mexico.

BKosher84 > Sweet Trav 03/11/2015 at 10:08

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Chevy Captiva:

Saturn Vue:

*Saturn Vue Picture is from the Wiki Page for the car. Chevy Captiva picture is from the Official GM Fleet Website.*

Not trying to start an "Internet Fight" or anything.. Just showing sources for my claim.. Also, I have test driven a Captiva from a dealer.. They were a crappy car.

Sweet Trav > BKosher84 03/11/2015 at 11:11

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The point that I am making is Equinox = Vue = Captiva.

You make it sound like the fact that it is Rebadged Saturn is the reason it is shitty.

This is an Opel Antara

Same Car.

BKosher84 > Sweet Trav 03/11/2015 at 11:32

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I get that, I guess my point on why it's not a good car is that they literally rebadged the car without changing anything (Side note: When I test drove it, I believe it was the first year they came out with the Captiva)