Hot Or Not: Chevrolet Redline Series Vehicles
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The 2017 Chicago Auto Show played host to a quite a few special edition vehicles from various brands, but Chevrolet stormed the windy city with nine separate special edition vehicles.
The Redline special edition series of vehicles was revealed for the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro, Trax, Malibu, Cruze, Silverado, Colorado, 2018 Equinox and Traverse. If you’re wondering how our math works out, the number nine comes from both the 2017 Cruze hatchback and sedan receiving the same special edition package. Though, the package is also available for LT and SS trimmed Camaros, too.
So, we’re here to ask if Redline series of vehicles are hot or not after having a couple days to pour over the details.
Foremost, the package is nearly identical no matter which one of the nine is chosen. That means black wheels featuring distinct red hash marks, black nameplates with a red outline, blacked-out grilles and black Chevrolet bowtie logos are present on all nine vehicles. The Camaro Redline features additional hash marks above the wheel, while the Silverado and Colorado both gain red tow hooks, too.
We took a look at each Redline vehicle in the flesh during out time at the Chicago Auto Show, and they do look properly sporty. However, the 2018 Chevrolet Traverse wears the duds very well, especially with its redesigned taillights.
So, how are they looking? Let us know in our poll down below.
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Redline should come with a performance based engine. Doesn’t have to be too crazy but give it some extra HP and torque
Agree, even 10 hp above stock would be good
I guess it is ok as an appearance package, but that is all it is. I would much prefer a performance package that doesn’t change appearance rather than an appearance package that doesn’t change performance. The lack of any performance model below a Camaro SS is a mistake and the redline editions do not address it.
I could not agree more. No gut no glory.
Don’t like them they look like 9 out of 10 other vehicles on the road. Black, White & Shades of Gray. Wow with a splash of red!
Any road any place vehicles are Black, White and shades of gray. I prefer a little color on my vehicles. Now days the nice colors are an option. The other thing I hate is the new black wheel thing butt ugly.
Dennis I couldn’t agree more. The typical new vehicle color choices now-a-days are 2 blacks, 2 whites and 50 shades of gray, drives me nuts. Sales guy tells me “that what people want” … NO … that all you offer for crying out loud. It’s not just GM either, stop in at a MB or BMW shop, gray, gray and more gray.
Go to an old car show, it’s a sea of color, folks love it.
I think GM should put us in charge of paint, the people currently employed are terrified of color it seems. Increase sales by 30% easily. Oh, and no more black wheels, zip, zero, enough.
SS or Redline = more horsepower.
This is spot-on regarding colors.
The Chevy Sonic should have been included. It’s one of Chevy’s more customizable and modified vehicles in aftermarket upgrading. The fact that the miserably selling Chevrolet Trax got the update, and not the Sonic (considering they share the same base, and engine) is very upsetting.
I’m reposting my comment that I left yesterday and one of the Chevrolet 2017 redline articles:
If there are no real performance tweaks, no GM vehicle deserves the “SS” or “Redline” designation. All this serves is to disappoint prospective buyers looking and hoping for a little more steam from their DD family truckster.
Why not just call it the “Sport Appearance Package” and be done with it? A lot of fluff and nothing else. Geezes!
Put some more power under the hood and a handling suspension to go with it and call it a day.
Doesn’t everyone remember when a GM car with a Redline badge always had a more powerful turbo engine with performance to back up the looks? Seems the general forgot what Saturn did right. There are appearance packages all over with RS and redline now and with any other manufacturers this would mean better performance. Chevy doesn’t even have a focus st competitor and now Ford has a focus RS….Unlike the Chevy RS appearance package the Ford has 350 HP and AWD. When did GM decide to be so boring! That’s what Toyota and Honda are for.
Travis, your comment about Toyota and Honda being boring are spot on
In all fairness, while Honda and Toyota may be boring in design and sport performance, what they do extremely well is offer excellent reliability and fuel economy. GM’s major shortcoming is their attempt at offering a combination of both in a single package which falls consistently short.
The majority of GM’s non-hybrid, non–EV vehicles offer moderate fuel economy at best while mechanical reliability had I’m proved significantly over the last 10 years. The sales numbers of Hondas and Toyotas, in particular, highlight the general buying public’s desire for mechanically reliable vehicles which also offer excellent fuel economy.
If GM can improve their fuel economy numbers to be competitive with and even surpass the likes of Toyota RAV4’s and Honda CRV’s, they can recapture the segment which is reported to be the hottest selling segment in the automotive industry. The potentially best way to do that is to offer trims which either focus on excellent fuel economy or offer perhaps a larger / higher HP engine which will offer better sport performance without completely sacrificing fuel economy. The three new engine lines which will be offered in the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox and 2018 GMC Terrain well hopefully offer the choice of excellent fuel economy without being completely anemic and improved sport performance such as with the 2 L 252 hp turbo engine and, for extreme fuel economy, hopefully the 1.6 L diesel.
Honda has the Civic SI. GM can’t compete. Toyota has the GT86. GM can’t compete. Who’s the really boring one now?
Both are sold globally and the Toyota has not really been selling in very good numbers.
The GT86 has really struggled under all three names it was sold under.
The redline series is hot; but the SS series would be VERY HOT! Just drop the CTSV 3.6 LITER TWIN TURBO CHARGER in a Traverse SS!!!!!!!
Give us SS versions with upgraded engines and brakes….. skip the silly red color.
Well I will be the first to admit I too feel any real performance package should hold some upgrade in performance. I here have railed often about the sticker and decal package Camaro’s.
But with that said the true nature of the market and economics need to be understood. You do not have to like it but you have to learn to accept the truth of what is going on. I have made my peace with it to a point. I no longer get upset about these cars because I understand the big picture here that I was taught.
Here is the deal Years ago you could just slap a big engine in a standard car and let it go as a SS or GTO. There was no real high cost or regulations that came into play. Also back in those days you could sell 50,000 units doing so. It was a win win all around for the consumer and MFG.
Today things do not work that way anymore. The cost of getting an engine past EPA for CAFE and Emissions for each car you put it in is astronomical. The fact is many of these performance models sell in 5,000 unit ranges in many cases.
Then price comes in most real performance upgrades generally drive prices over $40,000/ Just look around about any real decent modern up today model worth having is $36-40K.
The big picture makes it difficult to build a performance car right and to make money with it. Image is not like it used to be as most people think of cars as appliances.
The truth is being a car enthusiast in today’s market is like being a Trump Supporter at Berkeley. We need to understand we are not in the majority in this market anymore.
Yes we have cars like the GTI, Golf RS, ST, RS, ETC. but if you look at all these models they are sold globally. They are sold here but also Europe, China, Japan. Australia, Middle East. and south America. They literally sell the same car in modest numbers in all these markets and with that they reach a volume that makes money. Now look at Chevy. The models they sell are not in all markets and they are not all the same even in the markets Chevy is in.
I own a SS HHR that was one of the last FWD performance cars Chevy made. It sold less than 9K units in 3 years. The Chevy Cobalt SS also sold in very low numbers and was a damn good performance car that would drive circles around a GTI. They even offered a sedan in the last year struggled to sell 474 units.
Today you can not just put an engine in and send it out the door. It needs to go through the testing for the EPA again. Then if you change the nose for say an Inter cooler that is larger you need to re-crash test it. Same if you change the fuel system or add AWD. These are things you need volume to cover and just in North America that is no longer possible.
Now GM does have a way to offer this type of a car and leverage it globally and that is the Buick, Opel, Holden, Vauxhall connection. With this they could leverage the sales globally and better justify a $40K price on a properly made performance car. The OPC should work globally with the change of a grill.
As for making money the amount they would spend on the Cruze SS would be expensive and the volume they would sell would make money but not as much as if they took that money and put in into a boring CUV that may sell over 200,000 units. The return on the product would be much higher.
We must remember the GM Performance Division that built the HHR SS and Cobalt did many fine cars at the same time GM went bankrupt. Performance is no longer a large source of income. While boring companies like Toyota and Honda have been some of the most profitable.
Also you need to realize that many of these so called performance cars like the GTI and ST really are not that much or if at all more powerful than many of the standard GM engines. The Golf only gets interesting with the Type R and the Ford with the RS but around $40K.
Also once you get over 300 HP you need AWD and a quality system can add much to the price. Then more crash testing and EPA work.
As for the performance FWD based CUV that market has been sluggish. A few are offered but only the high end ones make money due to the high price. A Traverse SS is a question that no one has asked that would pay the price for it. Once you do it right it gets expensive and then you have a Chevy that cost more than some even better models.
The place to test the CUV performance models is at Cadillac as they can get the price to handle the low volume.
There is even more to this than just this.
Now I am not saying you are all wrong to think as you do as I too think this way but we all need to understand the realities of the market and development cost of today. This is no longer the 60’s and companies just do things as they once did.
Also we need to place a large blame on the market as for the most many are just not automotive enthusiast as they once were. Each gen since the Boomers the enthusiast count drops. Much of it is because they grew up in Honda back seats. Some is due to the high cost of anything with real performance. The high cost of insurance. The high cost of repair as some of these cars get older they are more costly to repair than replace. It is not like you find an Old Chevelle and fix it up. Even the old rusted out Chevelle will cost you $12,000 today.
Technology and change in social habits have moved kids away from cars. I could add even more to this.
As an owner of a FWD SS with 300 HP I love and hate it. The car is a blast to drive but with FWD you just do not get any real traction. I can run 13’s if and I say if I can get the tires to hook up. The weight transfer is totally opposite of what you need for traction. Launch control just slows you down. With 23 PSI of boost i can spin the tires at will rolling down the road and that sucks for being fast. So before you ask for more power consider how you need to get it to the ground.
Sorry I am not trying to mash any toes here and I make my living in the performance racing market. I see what is happening and understand the economics of this. Times have changed and we are going to have to learn to adapt to them.
I just this week got excited for a new vehicle in a long time with the ZR2. I will sell the SS and get into the Z in the coming year. It is a great package and they did a lot of things right. But I had expected maybe the Camaro V6 but we only got the Colorado V6. It is still 308 HP which is fine and I understand that they did work to keep the price down as even at $40K this truck is a lot of value. Chevy also wants to move a lot of them and at $40K they will sell twice as many as they would at $50K. My purchase will be one due to the better price.
The long and short of it is the lame sticker paint package will make more profits than the real thing. The one thing I do hope is they can use those profits to figure out how to fix the regular Cruze to sell like the last one. This one is not a bad car but it is sure under performing in sales and even 300 HP is not going to fix that problem.
Like Jimmy Buffet has sung about ” There is just to Drink About”
If you want to make your new chevy unique/special, much of what is done here can be done at home with a few cans of Dupli-color. You’ll probably have enough $ leftover to get a CAI and or exhaust as well? That way you have your own look and a few extra ponies as well. 0P
I sell CAI for a living. 10 HP is not worth the effort. Real performance is 50 HP.
If you have a Turbo take it to a tuner and boost it up a little. A flash can add easily and safely in most cars 50 HP.
I used the GM tune on my SS and it was two maps and a computer flash. I live easily on pump gas {Premium now] and have more power and MPG.
Note GM programs their cars for Premium and Regular. If it says Premium recommended you have room to play. If the cap says Premium Required you are pretty much maxed out.
Usually you can bump the engine up but keep it below the limit of the trans axle. The tranny is the weak spot normally.
Most turbo engine have more room to work and a good tuner can extract it. I am shocked GM has not done more tune packages for these cars. That would be a prime thing for the Redline as people that want it could have it dealer tuned before they pick it up.
Now that is a missed opportunity. Ford is now offering a tune for the Turbo Mustang.
FYI just to see how the profits work just look no farther than the Denali. It is nothing but a bunch of added chrome and added wood bits and some stitching yet it is one of the most profitable things GM can do to a vehicle.
The original Denali in the full size gave you a 6.0 V8 in a half ton and a full time AWD package. Today they did add the magnetic shocks but you just get some cheap trim for a big price yet people buy it and GM makes a lot of money.
If they can people to buy they will keep doing it. We skipped the Denali and got just as good of a Vehicle with the SLT2.
If you aren’t going to give a redline any more power, maybe at least increase the redline (max rpm) 500 or so…..so at least it has some mechanical meaning. At least a few dentists will be happy about the performance change.
To be honest I am just glad they did not use the SS name on a paint and sticker package like they did not all that long ago with the 3.1 Malibu SS.
If this increases profits fine if not it can go away in a year with no damage to the SS brand.
I am not someone who thinks they should make an SS of everything, nor am I one who thinks all SS models need to be rear drive and V8. What I want to see from GM is one or two more entry level performance cars… they don’ t need SS badging but they do need the availability of a manual transmission and be fun to drive. I had a Cobalt SS and it is still faster than any FWD Chevrolet offered today… from a 10 year old car! All the hardware already exists, they know how to build it and have even offered things like the 2.0T with a manual in a Buick, so it isn’t that it can’t be done.
I love my Camaro but it isn’t a feasible daily driver in the winter and lacks space for the whole family on longer trips. What I would like is something that is fun to drive, manual transmission and seats four comfortably for under 30k. It doesn’t seem like this should be impossible, even in the current market. Our last two daily drivers have been a 6 speed Cruze ECO and a Volt and I am so sick of the lack of the fun to drive factor in both and getting frustrated that Chevrolet doesn’t have anything to offer. I have always owned bowties so I it is hard to think about abandoning ship, but it might be the only way. I won’t be buying a Redline anything anyway.
One note: They never built a 3.1 Malibu SS. They were all 3.9s, though not the strongest performers, still had upgraded power, handling and appearance over the standard Malibu for a reasonable cost.
The Bu SS was a real mistake. It really was lame. Yes there were some small changes but they did a cheap hack job compatrd to the Cobalt SS Turbo.
How many list for future collectible cars has the Bu SS been in and how many has has the Cobalt SS been on or Trailblazer SS?
It was no more an SS than my 08 Bu LT.
If this is a concept it needs alot of work, if its the finished product its failed, All the colors are Bland at best. If i purchased one i would have to have my wheels repainted or buy aftermarket ones. Consumers are wanting cars that are affordable and you keep adding to the price. Just last month i went Car shopping, Drove the 2017 camaro with the ecotech 2 turbo. after about 5 min drive i decided to talk numbers with the sales rep. and when his fat ass belched 31G for a 4cyl camaro thats retarded!! No wonder mustang out sells Camaro, well i did buy a car that weekend, new 2017 Buick Regal Turbo Premium II for Thousands less than 31G. Could of bought a mustang but not a ford guy.
The only thing that upsets me about this is there is NOT ONE FOR THE IMPALA…WHY?
I agree 100%. Imagine, the Cadillac CTS-V 3.6 TT engine option with the same suspension, and call it an SS!!
Their ONLY available on the low end models. The Silverado LT. I don’t think that model even has leather.