Chevrolet News:Chevrolet SS To Be Made When Ordered

[William Maley]

By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

May 5, 2013

General Motors and Holden are instating a new plan for the new Chevrolet to help to protect Holden’s South Australian workforce and making sure the critical export program has a “bullet proof” long-term future.

The plan outlined by GM's North American President Mark Reuss to Drive.com.au has Holden's factory in Adelaide building an SS once an order is placed and then shipped off to the U.S. This process means a ninety-day wait for the vehicle to arrive, but it also means there will not be a fire sale due to the abundance of vehicles sitting on dealer lots (see Pontiac GTO and G8).

“It’s all about building a consistent order bank for Adelaide so that we don’t put people on and then take them off again,” Reuss said. “I went through all of that before, and it was awful. And that’s because it just wasn’t the right business.

Source: Drive.com.au

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[PurdueGuy]

This is mostly a good thing, and something GM should do more of. They do need to have a SMALL buffer of vehicles in place since folks are used to being able to get vehicles quickly, but this may be handled by the dealer network ordering some stock. That's much better than GM building them & incentivising or pushing them to dealers. One huge positive of this is that it puts pressure on GM to be more efficient and nimble, which should help with quality and profits.

[riviera74]

Mostly good for Australia. The Chevy SS should be manufactured in NA so that the 90-day wait can be cut down to 30 days or even fewer. Otherwise, good idea all around.

[GMTruckGuy74]

I just don't get it? If the only choices are colors and sunroof, why not just build them and ship them over? It's not like it's the '60s or '70s and you have an extensive order sheet of options to choose from. 90 days for color & sunroof (or no sunroof)? That kind of wait would be an instant turn-off for me. Plus you're paying a premium price for this car and have to waut 3 months? I'd bet that the 90 days will come and go and that car will still be stuck at the port or on a ship coming overseas. More like 120 days given GM's track record!

[Robert Hall]

Has GM announced an order date or on-sale date yet? No mention of the SS on the US Chevy site under cars..

[William Maley]

Has GM announced an order date or on-sale date yet? No mention of the SS on the US Chevy site under cars..

No. All GM is saying at the moment is sometime at the end of the year.

[hyperv6]

This is going to hurt more than help.

People today want things now not 3 months from now. I see many lost sales due to this plan. This is a instant gratification society anymore. Hell I have people who will not wait 30 days for a performance exhaust or wheels do you really think they will wait 90 days?

With limited options they need to do a general import of colors and sunroofs. Offer these to customers and if the colors do not suit then they can wait if they have to. If no cars are on lots this thing will be lucky to move 5000 units a year. Let face it at this price point there are many other ready on the lot options.

The fire sale of G8 models had more to do with a lot of V6 models and the fact Pontiac was DOA. Not many people wanting to pay almost $40K at that time when GM may not have gotten a bail out.

Lets just pray in 2-3 years the SS moved to the Alpha and is built in MI.

Edited May 5, 2013 by hyperv6

[Robert Hall]

It sounds like it's part of their plan to limit volume as much as possible.

[BigPontiac]

Even less justification for the omission of a manual transmission option.

[Camino LS6]

Someone high up in GM must really hate Holden.

I'd be fine waiting 90 days for a factory ordered car - but I'd want a significant option list to go with that wait.

Yes BP, that manual would be at the top of my list.

Whenever GM decides to bring a Holden here, some last-minute drama casts doubt on the idea - not a great way to do things.

[regfootball]

hyper is right. I saw it repeatedly selling. People want it that day.

GM is probably shooting for about 5,000 cars to sell this way. 10k if they are lucky.

[Camino LS6]

hyper is right. I saw it repeatedly selling. People want it that day.

GM is probably shooting for about 5,000 cars to sell this way. 10k if they are lucky.

I'm sure you're right, but I'll never understand that mentality.

I'd much rather wait and get precisely what I want.

This sure seems like an intentional limiting of production.

[Drew Dowdell]

There was ever a fire sale of the GTO?

[GMTruckGuy74]

2004 model year, before the 2005's hit the dealer lots. At first there was the massive mark-ups, then at the end there were the massive discounts.

[Drew Dowdell]

well that's the dumb dealers fault... not the fault of the production line

[hyperv6]

Also it depended on what part of the country you were in. Here in the Midwest the GTO's were plenty in number as they expected sales to be strong here. Well they sold but not like they expected. On the other hand prices were up in Calif as the car was more popular than expected.

I would not call it a fire sale on the GTO but toward the end it was not hard to get a good buy. Prices like the G8 went up after they stopped production.

I could have bought a G8 GT here for $23K new and later on the same car used was $27K.

[hyperv6]

We do need to keep an thought to the future. This car is just getting Chevy back into the segment. If it were not for NASCAR I wonder if they would even be doing this one now.

Just call it a hunch I suspect in 2-3 years the replacement will be on a Alpha platform and will be built in MI on the Camaro, CTS and ATS line. I think they are just buying time here.

Still they should just bring in 8K cars in various colors in most normal options and just sell them.

[smk4565]

This car isn't worth waiting 90 days for. I guess some buyers that need a car if they want it can put the order in and wait, but then what if they change their mind and don't want it? If a big deposit is required people may be hesitant to order it. Then you also have to buy a car you've never driven, when you can go test drive a 300C, Charger, Genesis or other big sedan and take it home the same day.

[riviera74]

This car isn't worth waiting 90 days for. I guess some buyers that need a car if they want it can put the order in and wait, but then what if they change their mind and don't want it? If a big deposit is required people may be hesitant to order it. Then you also have to buy a car you've never driven, when you can go test drive a 300C, Charger, Genesis or other big sedan and take it home the same day.

^QFT. Why wait?

[regfootball]

There was ever a fire sale of the GTO?

OMG< lol yes. 7-8 grand off MSRP or 199 leases.

[regfootball]

hyper is right. I saw it repeatedly selling. People want it that day.

GM is probably shooting for about 5,000 cars to sell this way. 10k if they are lucky.

I'm sure you're right, but I'll never understand that mentality.

I'd much rather wait and get precisely what I want.

This sure seems like an intentional limiting of production.

it is true. when people come shopping, they are most times buying very quickly. if not that day, usually within like a week.

'scratch the itch'

[Robert Hall]

hyper is right. I saw it repeatedly selling. People want it that day.

GM is probably shooting for about 5,000 cars to sell this way. 10k if they are lucky.

I'm sure you're right, but I'll never understand that mentality.

I'd much rather wait and get precisely what I want.

This sure seems like an intentional limiting of production.

it is true. when people come shopping, they are most times buying very quickly. if not that day, usually within like a week.

'scratch the itch'

Yes. I couldn't imagine waiting 90 days for a new car. I could see figuring out the configuration I wanted online and then having the dealer find me one and that taking a week or so.

Though at some point in my life, I'd really like to do one of those order the car, go to Germany and pick it up, drive it around Europe, then ship it home deals...have a few friends that have done that.

[Drew Dowdell]

I have to say, I sat in a pre-production SS and the interior is very impressive for a Chevy. Very lux sport.

[hyperv6]

The fact is even in a high demand car the wait for 90 days is way too much. Buying a car today is a very emotional and impulsive thing. To be honest it always has been and that is why salesmen always like to play on it. Once many fall in love with a car they often want to leave with it that night and often are willing pay way too much for the privilege.

I wonder how many of the larger dealers will order the cars to bring in and sit on the lot. If they don't sell it they can make a dealer trade and still make money on the car. The dealers who can afford to do this will be the ones to move product.

I always get what I want and I have never had to wait 90 days or even order a car. Dealer trades have always netted what I wanted in just 1-2 days.

While the SS is a nice car they will lose many sales by not having any on any lots anywhere for a dealer to access.

[Robert Hall]

I suspect this is intentional to limit volume to avoid upsetting the CAFE results and to avoid stealing sales from other models.

[GMTruckGuy74]

I'm sure GM will do what they did for the Saturn SKY - they'll make the dealers order one as a "demo" unit for all customers to try out. Then they'll take the customer's "order" for teh car they want. I want to see how they stick to the 90 days from order and what they will offer to customers who's car takes over 90 days to come in.

[Z-06]

Someone high up in GM must really hate Holden.

I'd be fine waiting 90 days for a factory ordered car - but I'd want a significant option list to go with that wait.

Yes BP, that manual would be at the top of my list.

Whenever GM decides to bring a Holden here, some last-minute drama casts doubt on the idea - not a great way to do things.

As with most of the cars GM has gotten out recently - 95 to 98% there. Somehow the remaining lacks.