General Motors recently announced that it has killed its High Performance Vehicle Operations, but that doesn’t necessarily spell the end of performance-minded GM vehicles. In fact, a number of GM performance vehicles could completely sidestep the ax.
GM spokesman Vince Muniga revealed to Edmunds that a number of GM vehicles won’t be affected by the death of HPVO. Cars like the Chevrolet Camaro SS, Corvette ZR1 and Z06 were actually engineered as standard vehicles, with no affiliation whatsoever to GM’s HPVO.
“Camaro SS, Corvette ZR1 and Corvette Z06 are all regularly engineered cars,” Muniga told Edmunds. “They did not go through HPVO. Most people did not realize that. They are safe.”
However, Cadillac ’s V-Series cars and other high-performance models – such as the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and HHR SS and Pontiac G8 GXP – were developed through HPOV. Those vehicles will continue as planned for the time being, but likely won’t be replaced after their current lifecycle is up.
But all hope might not be lost as Muniga compared GM’s HPOV to Ford ’s SVT. Ford’s Special Vehicle Team stopped production in 2004, but has reformed to create the Ford Raptor. “This is an indefinite hiatus,” he added.
