With the death of the Chevy SS/Holdon Commodore SS-V, one can only wonder what GM has in store for the future. Chevy still produces the Camaro, but there seems to be a gap missing. It seems quite useless to be producing the Impala and Malibu, cars with a muscle heritage unfortunately turned into FWD gas sippers. This begs the question, will one of these return to its RWD V8 roots? I think the Impala is a good candidate, and it is pretty good looking. Perhaps they can develop this car with more intense lines, the ability to be easily modified, and market it to the public. This was unfortunately the demise of the SS in America. As for the Malibu, they can keep it in its current form for people wanting an economy sedan.
I know this thread is very speculative, but I just want to hear other people’s opinions because I’m a huge GM performance fan and it’s a shame seeing it winding down to just a few cars. However, I am aware the oil prices means less gas guzzlers.
Been over this, and lost count of how often I have to inform people. But the GM Zeta thread has many of my posts there on the matter, which gives a deeper analysis on the subject.
However, for this post, I'll just echo it. For one, the Impala and Malibu were not cars of muscle heritage, they had variants of it but were never full blown muscle cars. The Nova, Chevelle, Monte Carlo (somewhat) and Camaro were considered the Muscle variants of the brand. Sure there were factory specials, but every manufacture in America dabbled with that. The Z-11 Impala for example was an early 60s drag special you could buy from the Factory, however this hardly makes the entire line up of the Impala then and through the decades "muscle" in nature.
Both these cars also did the same thing then they do now, large or mid size sedans for transportation and also used engines that fit that, not always V8s and the V8s they did use were in the higher end luxury optioned versions.
As
@dice1998 put it, and I've said myself with it, this car was always in a niche market, that didn't ever need to be filled again. The last time it was tried was with the mid to late 90s Impala SS. After that was gone, the market didn't have a car too much like it for years, there was the ability to get the Mercury Marauder for a time (very short) with the same 4v 4.6 as the Mach 1 Mustang. Outside of that though and ignoring the Ford attempt, GM hasn't had a mid entry V8 RWD sedan and there hasn't been a need for one.
Simple reasons, one no competition, thus if you don't have a market to compete in or against only those limited buyers interested are going to purchase it. Two the market has shifted long long ago, to full size sedans that have good economy, while those of more performance and power are left to more higher end manufactures (cadi, merc, bmw, audi...). These two reasons alone show why it wasn't an unfortunate demise, but more so an easily predictable one.
Like you I'm a massive fan of GM hence my name and avatar, however, it has been winding down the number of cars in its arsenal, and the amount of categories it fills for some time. Unlike the old days, the entire global market dictates what car types are necessary and what aren't, and from that, the SS was never viable, which is why the Falcon and Commadore in V8 RWD form are also no longer viable.
EDIT: I have to fix something, since I forgot, due to the brand being dead. But this market was somewhat on life support before the death blow, the SS brought it. The GTO and G8 were the same market of car as the SS, and came prior, yet also sold bad. Though they did do better than the SS, which probably is why GM/Chevy thought they could make it work with the SS.