Automotive history is full of tall tales about how mistranslated names led to marketing faux pas overseas – ever hear the one about how the Nova didn’t sell well in Spanish-speaking countries because “no va” means “it doesn’t go”? But in at least one case, adapting a car’s nomenclature to suit the local market is fact, not fiction.

In an article on Auto Motor und Sport, it is stated that the V8 powered Camaro will cost 38,990 Euro, or about $55,000. While that’s a lot of cash for a Camaro, the real story here is that in Europe, GM will drop the “SS” badge leaving the Camaro just… the Camaro.

Now to us Americans, SS means simply “Super Sport” and it is a badge that GM has been applying to performance cars for decades. But in Germany, “SS” has a different, far less positive connotation – that of Hitler’s elite “Schutzstaffel.” The SS troopers were the Fuher’s own personal bodyguard, as well as being at the forefront of many of Germany’s crimes against humanity during the second World War. The SS sowed such terror into the general populace that many companies, like GM, won’t even touch the “SS” abbreviation with a ten foot pole even after more than 60 years. In fact, the SS badge was removed from all European Chevy products, not just those sold in Germany, according to Hoss Hassani, the iconic products manager of Chevrolet Europe. He confirms that the SS moniker was dropped because of the history associated with it, at least in Europe.

Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t SS-badged Camaros in Europe. We’ve seen them ourselves. But these cars are likely “gray market” imports, bought by people with the money and connections to have a Camaro shipped over to the Old World before GM’s official debut of the Europeanized Camaro. Makes us glad we live in America, where SS just means “fast.”