Chevy Rules

Electric cars are for those who would rather drive slow, boring commuters that don't consume fossil fuels and therefore don't spew pollutants from their tailpipes. Gas-powered cars – and especially those wearing time-honored badges like SS, R/T or GT – are for those who prefer fire-breathing, tire-screeching performance and care much more about nitrous oxide than nitrogen oxide. Right? Not so fast, says Bob Lutz.

When asked whether or not Chevy could shock the performance crowd with an SS version of the upcoming Volt, Lutz said, "I would not discount that possibility." That's as close as you're going to get to an admission of intent this early in the game. Lutz goes on to suggest that the Voltec powertrain will allow for plenty of on-demand power. "[I]f we want to sacrifice a little bit of fuel efficiency in the interest of performance and still get over 200 miles per gallon, we can do that any time."

Following the same logical train of thought, we could certainly see a V-Series of the Cadillac Converj. If you're interested in hearing the news straight from the horse's Lutz's mouth, click past the break for a video....

Source: Autoblog

Chevrolet prices showing new signs of strength :

While the market share declines of the mainstream domestic brands during the
past decade have been well documented, the price declines of these brands
relative to their Asian competitors have received less attention.

As the domestics pushed product vehicles through their dealer networks, allowed
models to languish on the market longer than their Asian competitors, and
suffered from perceived — and frequently actual — inferior quality, they were
forced to ratchet up incentives to lower prices to turn inventory.

However, there is recent evidence that at least one full-line domestic marque –
Chevrolet - has been able to price closer to its Asian competition, a needed
improvement if GM is to fund new product programs and compete effectively over
the long run.

The average actual transaction price of Chevrolet products in four key segments
(segments in which Chevrolet, Ford, Honda and Toyota all have entries) have been
higher than that of three mainstream competitors, based on transaction data from
Edmunds.com for the period September 9 – October 7.

While Chevrolet’s average price was only about $240 above that of Honda, it was
more than $1,700 above that of Toyota, due to Chevrolet’s higher prices in three
of the four segments.

The Equinox is enjoying a $1,000-plus price premium over the Toyota RAV4, and
while one could argue this is because the Equinox has just been re-designed, one
could respond that during virtually any time period there will be re-designed
models on the market. If another time period had been used, a re-designed Toyota
product may have been hitting the marketplace.

Further, such a contention is countered by the fact that the Cobalt, long in the
tooth and about to be replaced by the Cruze, is selling at a higher price than
the Corolla.

One could also argue that Chevrolet’s prices are artificially high because of
the inventory shortages resulting from the success of the “Cash for Clunkers”
program, but in fact data from that program consistently indicate that the
Asians enjoyed more success than the domestics and therefore would have had even
lower inventories relative to pre-Clunkers levels.

more at link:http://www.freep.com/article/20091027/BUSINESS01/91027056/1002/NEWS01/Chevrolet-prices-showing-new-signs-of-strength-for-American-brand (http://www.freep.com/article/20091027/BUSI...-American-brand)

Lutz: High-performance Chevy Volt SS a "possibility"