2008 Chevrolet HHR SS

General Motors is reviving Chevrolet's SS designation and giving it some genuine substance."We're taking it away from the marketing people," says Bob Lutz's GM vice chairman and head of product development. "Its going to be a technical designation from now.”

In the future, any vehicle carrying the SS designation will offer more performance than the standard models of the same vehicles from Chevrolet. The SS models will have more horsepower, different brakes and different tires as well as different styling cues, Lutz said.

The Corvette Z06, however, won't be incorporated into the new SS family, he said, but with Chevrolet building its global presence, he would like to see the designation spread from the U.S. to overseas markets.

Culturally, however, it could be difficult because the term "SS" has a much more sinister connotation in Europe where it was the designation for special troops deployed by the Nazis during World War II, making it difficult to use commercially, Lutz noted.

However, GM is charging ahead with remake of the SS line, he said. Chevrolet showed off the latest version of SS family, the 2008 HHR SS, during the Woodward Dream Cruise last summer in Detroit. Lutz said the specifications of the HHR SS illustrate where Chevrolet intends to move with the SS badging.

The ’08 HHR SS was engineered by GM Performance Division and is the first SS model developed since GMPD was charged with overseeing the “go, stop and turn” requirements demanded of any new Chevrolet wearing the SS badge, Lutz said.

“Beginning with HHR SS, all future SS models will have superior power, braking and handling capabilities for maximum credibility with our customers and enthusiasts alike,” said John Heinricy, GM Performance Division executive. “The SS badge represents high performance, and the HHR SS delivers with a fully-integrated, balanced driving experience.”

The next car to get the SS upgrade is the Cobalt, a member of Heinricy's engineering team said. The new Cobalt SS is due out in the spring of 2008.

The HHR SS is transformed by a turbocharged and intercooled engine that produces 260 horsepower and an specific interior, which was developed by engineers and designers from the GM Performance Division. The changes in the HHR interior include everything from sports seat with SS embroidered badge to moving the shift lever 6 millimeters, making it easier to manipulate the manual transmission.

Standard features include unique exterior appointments, with new front and rear fascias, new front grilles, a rear spoiler, 18-inch polished forged aluminum wheels wrapped with Michelin performance all-season tires and  a new gauge cluster with 140-mph speedometer, an A-pillar boost gauge and a new, smaller, 14-inch, driver-oriented steering wheel and shifter.

Lutz said the HHR SS was engineered to offer more than simply increased power. An all-new FE5 Sport suspension was developed and tuned at Germany’s famed Nurburgring racing circuit. It includes specific stabilizer bars, spring rates and damper tuning – all designed to complement the turbocharged powertrain. The HHR SS has maximum lateral grip of 0.86 g (with manual transmission) and standard anti-lock brakes.

--Joseph Szczesny

Bob Nardelli

Cerberus Capital Management LLC had to discard one of its principal operating principles Friday as it scrambled to repair the damage done by some loose talk by chief executive Robert Nardelli.The private equity fund, which acquired Chrysler from Daimler only last summer, had to issue a rare public statement, re-emphasizing its confidence in Chrysler LLC’s future after Robert Nardelli indicated he believed the automaker was "operationally" bankrupt.

"We remain extremely enthusiastic about our investment in Chrysler. Our underwriting assumed, and fully planned, that Chrysler would incur losses in the near term. Under the leadership of Bob Nardelli, Tom LaSorda and Jim Press, Chrysler is already on track to exceed its multi-year restructuring and recovery plan on virtually all key metrics,” Mark Neporent, Cerberus chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Generally Cerberus prefers to avoid being drawn into any kind of public discussion about its so-called portfolio. Reviving Chrysler, however, is the most complicated project on which Cerberus has embarked in its short history.

“We met with the management team this week and fully endorse their strategic direction and their plan to meet the challenges of the current environment. We are confident that Bob, Jim and Tom are taking the right steps to bring Chrysler to profitability. Our mutual resolve to restore Chrysler to its leadership position as an iconic brand is unwavering," Neporent statement's added.

Cerberus doesn't have to issue any kind of financial reports, making it difficult to gauge Chrysler’s financial position. Nevertheless, Chrysler is now expected to lose something like $1.6 billion in 2007 and will probably lose money again in 2008, according to information seeping out of the company.

The hasty show of support from Cerberus also suggests Chrysler is already missing the services of Jason Vines, the former vice president of communications who resigned in mid-December.

Nardelli,  in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, confirmed that he had told a group of employees recently, while Chrysler wasn’t “technically” bankrupt,” it was “operationally” bankrupt.

“Someone asked me, ‘Are we bankrupt?” Nardelli said in the transcript. “Technically, no. Operationally, yes. The only thing that keeps us from gong into bankruptcy is the $10 billion investors entrusted with us,” Nardelli said in the interview.

Talk of bankruptcy in a business as deeply interconnected as the automobile industry can have unfortunate consequences. Suppliers, dealers and consumers are wary of dealing with a bankrupt manufacturer. John Devine, General Motors’ former chief financial officer, told reporters more than two years ago there is no precedent for an automaker filing for bankruptcy and surviving.

Cerberus doesn’t have to disclose a lot of financial information publicly and after Vines’ departure the role of public relations was systematically de-emphasized inside the company. Public relations functions will now be supervised by the executive in charge of human relations and the emphasis will be on product promotion.

The question remains, however, whether product promotion can work effectively without a distinctive and stable public image that can reassure an increasingly finicky public.

GM more or less tried it the Cerberus way back in the 1990s under Ron Zarrella. The effort failed miserably because GM could never seem to tell a consistent story, while critical parts of the message simply got lost.

Meanwhile one analyst, who asked not to be identified, suggested that Cerberus underestimated how difficult it might be to turn Chrysler around.
The situation has been complicated by the slowdown in industry sales that began this fall. Sales are not expected to improve until the second half of 2008 at the earliest, according a new report from IRN Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., released Friday.

Nardelli announced a series of sweeping cuts back in November but rumors of more layoffs have increased in recent weeks. Chrysler officials said this week no specific cuts are planned at this point.

In addition, reports are suggesting Renault/Nissan is now interested in bringing Chrysler into its global alliance. Cerberus apparently is interested enough to have held talks with executives from Renault/Nissan, according to some reports.

--Joseph Szczesny

If you drive a Nissan Quest, a low-speed bumper bash on a slippery highway or a minor parking-building bump could really cost you or your insurance company.

 

That’s what the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an organization that represents the interests of the insurance industry, found in its latest round of bumper tests, conducted on six different 2008 minivan models at 3 and 6 mph.

 

This time around, the minivan models tested were the Chevrolet Uplander, Dodge Grand Caravan, Kia Sedona, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest, and Toyota Sienna.

 

Over the four tests, the Quest sustained a total of $8102 in damage, including extensive crumpled sheetmetal. “Quest owners can expect huge damage repair bills after all kinds of low-speed collisions,” said Joe Nolan, senior vice president of the Institute. “This isn’t a good vehicle choice for consumers looking for a minivan with reasonable repair costs.”

 

There may be more potential for bodily damage in the Quest as well. The organization rates the Quest ‘Poor’ for rear crash protection, representing a higher likelihood of neck injury. That rating is based largely on seat and headrest geometry, rather than a whole-vehicle test.

 

Most disappointing, Nolan said, was the Quest’s performance in the full-width rear test. It “miserably failed the rear full-width test, sustaining more than twice as much damage as the best performer, the Honda Odyssey,” he remarked in a release.

 

The Quest’s tailgate was so badly damaged that it needed to be replaced; meanwhile in the frontal test the Quest slid under the barrier and sustained damage to the hood and grille. It was also the only one with hood damage in the full-width frontal test

 

The Institute runs four different tests — front and rear full-width impacts at 6 mph, and front and rear corner impacts at 3 mph — all into a barrier that’s designed to mimic the design of a car bumper, with a flexible cover and plastic absorber like those on newer vehicles. The barrier is 18 inches off the ground on full-width tests and 16 inches for the corner impacts.

 

The Honda Odyssey was far from stellar, with $5258 of total damage in the tests, yet it was the best overall performer of the lot, while the Dodge Grand Caravan had the least costly damage in a single test, at $483 for its rear corner test.

 

Shoppers should be aware that repair costs can vary widely from model to model, the organization cautions. For instance, replacing the radiator supports cost $347 for the Grand Caravan but $674 for the Quest — a cost differential that will factor into insurance premiums, too. “The best was to avoid these costs is for automakers to equip their vehicles with bumper systems that resist damage in the first place,” said Nolan. “Until manufacturers do this, customers will have to study our crash test results and shop accordingly.”

 

Because minivan bumpers are slightly higher than typical car bumpers, the minivan bumpers, as a group, did “somewhat better” than a group of mid-size sedans tested earlier in the year, mostly, according to the IIHS. Overall, they’re less likely to under-ride, which leads to more costly cosmetic damage.

 

In general, the IIHS also says, minivan bumpers do better because their back bumpers are typically wider and they serve better to protect adjacent areas — the taillights, for instance — from expensive damage in low-speed corner impacts.

 

-- Bengt Halvorson