We were as excited as any other fan of rear-wheel drive performance vehicles when we broke the story of Chevy trademarking the SS nameplate, which we think indicates the imminent arrival of the Holden Commodore to North American shores. Then we learned that GM may also be considering bringing the Wagon and Ute variants alongside the sedan — a move that sparked quite the debate among the GM Authority army.
So we ask you in this week’s poll: are you interested in the Ute making its way to the New World? Sound off in the poll below.
Comments
I don’t think it makes much sense to have it in the first place
The Poll needs to be clarified, what is it really asking?
1. Do you personally want a ute
Yes
2.. Do you think the ute should come to the U.S
No, theres not a big enough market here for this car to justify the cost.
@Babersher – youre such a grinch!
It’s the former, Babersher. As in personally, are you interested in the ute?
That’s a thumbs up! LOL 🙂
Would have low volume intentions, just like the CTS-V wagon and even just the SS sedan itself. Something unique that no one else offers in NA. they might as well do it before Ford decides to bring the Falcon Ute to our shores.
Personal No but my neighbor that used to own a el camino would love it lol 🙂
Look at that the web site was updated Very nice!!!!!! guys I like it 🙂
Do I want a big fat corvette powered sedan ute?
Nope.
Do I want a big fat Corvette powered Silverado?
Hell Yeah!
That would be GREAT!!! if i had a 6 figure salary lol
I think it looks nice and might go over with the younger crowd. Myself I don’t see me driving this unless it has great headroom and leg room
Yes and there is a Market for it.
Nope. There is a reason the el camino was discontinued.
and the HHR.
I meant SSR.
I have no interest in anything that doesn’t get 35 MPG highway without hybrid technology. Then I’ll take the hybrid technology on top of that performance. My line could dip as low as 33 MPG with extreme utility — folding seats (including front) and roof rack. I don’t see the “Ute” as having utility.
Yes I would buy a ute was talking to my pontiac dealer about a G8 st before G.M. canned it along with Pontaic
SSR, El Camino – they don’t or won’t sell in any volume levels to make any sense whatsoever. The reasons why are obvious. It’s a two seater yet not a sports car in any way. Even if a guy bought one and only cared about straight line performance, look it’s a pickup truck in back – there’s no weight over the drive wheels. The whole concept never made any sense and I wonder why the Ranchero and El Camino ever existed. They’re not good cars, they’re not good trucks and they’re not a sports car….
This whole SS thing is driving me nuts. Volt rekindled my interest in GM after – say….28 years of disinterest. If a car company can dream up a Volt and supercede anything that’s been done – one has to take notice. To me, rediculous sales excercises like El Camino are embarassing sidenotes to a company that’s been successful at different times making cars people need and can use. Today, GM fans spend way too much time pining for some kind of SS excitement, IMO. The Aussie GMs came over a couple times and really stank in the sales volume department. Actually, to me, it was sad that we had to import a GTO with rear wheel drive to even have anything from GM that bespoke handling and driving dynamics. Still, today, since the Camaro was developed by Holden we look to the land down under for performance?!!! It was the USA that got Aussies all lathered up about V-8 performance cars in the first place! Now we look to THEM to rekindle it here?!!! That’s NUTS!
Super Sport means SUPER THIRSTY – bottom line. Bring out an SS line of anything, you’re talking a version of an existing model that’ll drink more gasoline. Why not concentrate on a Super Sport, Super NEW concept? SUPER NEW meaning something like Tesla has done that goes to 60 mph and thrills your pants off, yet goes 236 miles using NO PETROLEUM GOODS?!!! Hey now – THAT’S exciting boys!
So please folks, …. Stop the mid-life crisis, testosterone deficiency moaning re: “Bringing back SS”…. Until “Super Sport” means ‘SUPER NEW”….OK?
Just pointing out that the Tesla costs 100k, hardly a car for the masses.
And I think that Global Vehicle Development is good for GM, the Camaro was not solely developed in Australia, it was developed partly/mainly in Australia. I think the only new car GM makes now without global focus is probably the GMT trucks, everything else is global.
And thats a good question.
*Good Thing not question
* Or Super Good.
If guys just want a sporty look “SS” doesn’t mean stickers, stripes or plastic embellishments ala FWD Impala SS, and to me, it dishonors the SS Camaros and Malibus from days of yore.
Look around the world of auto racing and be inspired. Porsche and F1 are using electronic means to “boost” race cars performance when it’s A) needed , and B) When it counts. Say you’re tooling around getting groceries and suddenly some whack in a BMW practically runs you off the road ( Don’t all BMW drivers think they’re Micheal Schumacher, and drive like idiots? ) and your inner fighter pilot wants to show him your Chevy isn’t some toaster oven on wheels…. So your everyday docile and efficient ride suddenly becomes a Ferrari at the drop of your right foot! “Perfect!”, You say, right?
It’s what’s new and what is what nowdays. Use an electric boost ( KERS in F1, Flywheel energy storage in Porsche ) or a system like this to actually make cars that can sip fuel, but transform into racey when the customer wants. It makes heaps of sense since lithium battery technology is here and improving by leaps and bounds every year. The best way to make this tech affordable is the way it was done in electronics. The first plasma TVs cost a fortune, today one can waltz into Wal Mart and buy one for $400. More platforms and reasons to use lithium packs for boost in performance arenas and economy in daily use – this is what will drive the price of this technology to a place where it’s commonplace.
My message to GM ( and everyone ). Stop the nostalgia trip. Stop looking in the rearview mirror for inspiration and/or excitement. The past is gone – wish it well – kiss it goodbye. True excitement ( “SS excitement” ) isn’t in stripe jobs and plastic ground effects kits. It’s in new performance – new ways to achieve it. And new , smarter ways to give the Arabs the finger while doing it.
James, this isn’t the GMA Green site; but I do agree with some of what you say.
Contrary to what James thinks, I’d buy one in a heart beat! I’ve driven one in New Zealand & they’re an absolute blast to drive. I don’t need 4 seats or 4 doors or carry 10 bags of cement to a construction site or go off roading. Vehicles like this are about personal passion & not complete practicality, hell there’s all kinds of cars out there that aren’t practical but people still buy them! Either you love El Camino’s or you hate them and this modern version is certainly not your Dad’s (or Uncle Bob’s) stereo typical, stigma attached car/truck thing!
i’d buy one fo sure. as for jameses comment the ss is what it is an enthusiastic car for car enthusiasts. the el camino was a flop but thats cause it had all the bad of both the car and truck and none of the good. however the austrailians have perfected the ute so it might just be worth it. as for the wagon there is nothing holding them back.
Totally an enthusiasts’ choice. But perhaps the real question is whether you would buy the Ute over a Camaro and/or the Sedan SS…
I would buy one too, but only after I’ve purchased the Camaro. See what I mean?
OK – so you guys’d buy ’em if they existed. How/When would you drive them at $5.00 per gallon?
To the GMA commentor: What’s “green” about sending your hard-earned dollars to a sheik in the Middle East? I don’t think it’s a “green” issue. I think it’s more about being smart, and the future of the USA. How much can we spend protecting our access to a non-sustainable foreign crude oil addiction?
Peak Oil. Experts argue whether or not we’ve reached what’s known as “Peak Oil”. Of course, this means the point to which we’re extracting more from oil reserves that have peaked and no longer are producting as much – less is available, more is not being made. Mexico has been our 2nd or 3rd highest provider of oil depending upon year. Mexico finally had to announce that it’s wells had reached peak production in 2009 and were now on the decline. Totals show this decline is increasing year by year which means we’ll have to look elsewhere ( Middle East – Chavez’s Venezuela, tumultous N. Africa ) for crude. Iran threatens to shut of the Straits of Hormuz, and CNN reports gas prices go up $.50 per gallon in one day. How long are you willing to sacrifice lives and huge amounts of your taxpaying dolllar, then go to the pump and take it in the rear …AGAIN?!
This is what I’m speaking about. This is why an SS anything from ANYWHERE is nonsense unless it’s new technology that begins our path away from dependecy upon other countrys. Just in case you don’t know – 64 – 70% of our oil is IMPORTED from elsewhere. When we entered Iraq – Iraq was our 4th largest importer of oil. Will you continue and believe as an American it is your God – given right to waste this non-sustainable natural resource? We have other needs ( plastic , medical products, electronic components ) for oil. If the “Drill Baby, Energy Independence” crowd got their way yesterday, and suddenly oil refineries that do not exist or are not on the drawing board just popped into production…If suddenly, miraculously…oil exploratory rigs and drilling platforms emerged in your line of sight one mile from our shores nationwide, and if Alaska’s pristine lands were covered from end-to-end with oilfields — TODAY….They would not provide a 15% improvement upon TODAY’s USA needs….We know these needs are increasing exponentially, so 10 years from now if every crevice of USA territory were oilfields we still would not be making a dent in today’s debacle of foreign dependence and deflated economy.
Get it through your oil-addicted heads…. More drilling is NOT the answer to anything. There’s NOTHING GREEN about my passion to see humans move on technologically and become free.
Learn the facts. Learn about high performance tech like I mention above. It’s there. It’s here today. People fantasizing about SS cars of the past and that car you lusted after in High School is not smart. It just isn’t. It’s up to you and me to convince GM, Ford and Chrysler that a strong America depends upon movin ahead and not looking behind.
Just like I drive my V8 17mpg lexus at $4.50 in L.A, $5 is onlly 50 cents more. And this ute would be more efficient than my current Lexus which will make up the 50 cent increase. And I drive 10k a year.
Chrysler is Italian, not American
Otherwise I agree with you, more drilling is not the answer, its not even going to increase supply that much, and even if it does itll only be short term, oils eventually going to run out, the question is not of if, but of when. We have to be prepared for the future.
I think the “Green” comment meant that this site is not dedicated to looking everything through the lens of mpg and alternative power sources, as you seem to do with everything.
well if you guy’s over there in america get all over your president you can buy your oil from your friendly canadian neighbors and not som shiek in the middle east. this might be considered spam and in some way’s it is but everywhere on the net i hear americans complaining about thier oil coming from the middle east while fighting a pipeline from good ol’ alberta. to me this doesn’t make sense, the oil sands have enough oil in them to sustain canada and the U.S. for another hundred years at the current rate (approximately). but by then all cars will be electric and the only thing we will need oil for is plastics. cause heating can come from geothermal technology and electricity will make leaps and bounds in sustainable resorces.
Canadian oil is about 50% more expensive to produce than middle east oil. Even with the added expensive of shipping and defending, its still much cheaper.
with all wheel drive so I can get to work in the winter, and a bench seat so I can seat three, I am personally interested. Long overdue!
@ Alex: “Enthusiast”. Is enthusiast just another name given a person who believes 1000 hp is “cool” and “loud” and “awesome” and worth dishing out one’s 401K over?
I think automobile enthusiasts were born the day horseless carraiges were first introduced, and folks of all ages saw that humans could travel over land without hay burning horses or pedaling a device as far and fast and exposed to the elements would allow. The first autos were mostly electric. Electric cars’ development stopped the day the electric starter ( thanks to Chevrolet ) made infernal combustion a cheaper, more efficient way to cover ground. We have a long history and several generations of gas-burning behind us. To swoon, or be enthusiastic over them is indeed understandable – because there are fond memories and experiences in this history of land travel – human competition and the like.
Today is our world. Today is our time. Today is much different than yesterday. Todays “enthusiast” very well may be the man or woman who sees a mode of personal human transport that can get 100% torque with no gearbox at 0 rpm as”Wow!” WOW is that kind of seemless acceleration. Your father or grandfather never experienced such velocity from a standstill, without downshifting and gearchanges. Can you imagine performance and race cars with that kind of quickness using AMERICAN-MADE electrons for power?! “Wow!” Hybrid tech makes sense today for several reasons – a blending of yesterday and today. Cost is one major reason – and our stage of battery tech another.
Babersher adeptly pointed out a Tesla Roadser did cost over $100,000. His point was made before I discussed the economy of scale. You ask for them, you buy them en masse and suddenly the price of this “Wow!” decreases a whole lot. We’re a free market economy and manufacturers survive and succeed by meeting the wants and needs of their customers. Keep believing you’re an enthusiast by fueling old technology and I’d have a bone to pick.
No problem with folks owning future museum piece V-8s, V-10s and V-12s and driving them to car shows and events. Knock yourself out and drive it on sunny Sundays. This is not what is killing our economy and our freedoms. It’s the cars and trucks we use daily to do what we have to do, and go where we have to go each and every day. We must seperate what a NASCAR is from reality. This year NASCAR began using biofuel and electronic fuel injection and they feel this is “high tech”! You and I have had access to biofuels and used EFI in our daily drivers for thirty years!!! NASCAR is a dinosaur! Let’s not be.
There’s no doubt a Tesla owner who blows the doors off a Camaro at the stoplight is also an enthusiast. And there is no doubt we can be enthusiastic about our trucks and cars we drive on a daily basis.
There is also no doubt old habits die hard. What we are accustomed to is far more attractive than the scarey great beyond of the future. Vehicles don’t have to be loud to be exciting. While a lumpy camshaft and a burbly exhaust – a howling V-8 at full boil stepping through the gears may bring joy to one’s heart…It probably will happen while an electric car is showing you it’s hind end as it disappears silently from your view into a tiny speck the horizon.
James, as of just recently to get a fuel efficient econobox you were basically buying a piece of garbage from the big 3; thank Hod they have wished up. You are right on with what you are saying; however GM can still connect with specific segments and advance there brand loyalty; but they do need to be carefull doing that otherwise you end up with hummer syndrome. A brand and product that become irrelevant over night… Good points….
@ Barbersher:
Right. Technically Chrysler is recently majority owned by Fiat. Tell that to the UAW workers pumping out 300s…Or Clint Eastwood and Eminem blasting America with “Imported From Detroit” messages…phew!
Re: 17 mpg Lexus. I have a friend who owns an SRT-8 300C and claims 19mpg average and while I don’t think he’s COMPLETELY stretching the truth, I do feel he burns rubber far too much to see that as a realistic true average. He also claims “19 mpg isn’t that bad”. I disagree. It’s bad. Very bad.
Re: “I think the “Green” comment meant that this site is not dedicated to looking everything through the lens of mpg and alternative power sources, as you seem to do with everything.”—————————————————————————————————————— Aren’t you glad I’m here though? Isn’t my perspective mainly/sometimes missing from this site? Don’t you feel that my lens adds and not detracts from GMAuthority?
And if you don’t – I don’t care. I’ll be here anyway. : )
Respectfully, James
A couple of points:
1. Its Babersher, not Barbersher
2. Your logic is extremely flawed, because Eastwood advertised for Chrysler means its American, but even though Will Ferrell advertised for Honda in the same Super Bowl, Hondas Not American? So even they are American workers are pumping out Camrys in Kentucky, Toyota not American? See what I mean? Flawed logic.
3. I dont get what youre trying to say. Im exaggerating that my Lexus does 17 and that it actually does better? Well keep in mind its 20 years old, has 250k miles, and I use regular instead of the recommended premium. That why I might be getting worse than you think I should be getting, cars get less efficient over time. Its bad, but I can live with it because the pros of having being able to own one of the best cars ever built is worth a lousy $85 a month over a fuel efficient corolla.
4.
“Aren’t you glad I’m here though? Isn’t my perspective mainly/sometimes missing from this site? Don’t you feel that my lens adds and not detracts from GMAuthority?”
Yes I appreciate your comments and sometime your right and multiple perspectives is always a good thing so you do add to GMA
I was just trying to explain the “Green” comment.
I would buy a El Camino made in the land of Oz.
Wait if they make the ute and call it the El Camino then make the wagon would they call that the Nomad?
Or will they just call them the ss sport-ute and ss sport-wagon?
I tink there is a huge gap in the market that has been building for over 10 years now. Why buy a midized pickup truck, when it only does a 1 or 2 mpg better than a full size.
I would not buy a UTE like the one in this picture.. but I would buy something with important pickup truck features.. LIKE:
– A bench front seat
– A flip down tailgate
– A hard plastic cargo area
– A rear cargo area that opens to the sky and you can drive around open and haul objects that stick up and out.
How is this possible? Google “Open Cargo Couple” or “Mila Coupic” to see these concepts.
Today, you will find some nice 300 hp v6 muscle cars that can average 23mpg real world like the Camaro, Mustang and Challenger. And, these cars are rediculous rear seats that only a baby could use. Make a model with bench front seat and turn the rear seating into dry storage. Raise the rear window line and have it retract into the roof line. Give it a fold down tailgate. I could also see a model in a 40mpg Honda CRZ. Seating and lots of closed or open cargo . Note a pickup truck for a boat or trailer, but nice to haul stuff when you need to.