It wasn’t until late last month that GM finally got around to trademarking their prized SS moniker, surprising since the SuperSport designation has been around over 50 years. Of course, this brought plenty of speculation from automotive news sources across the country, including our own. But thanks to a recent entry on Car & Driver’s blog, we don’t have to guess at GM’s antics any longer. It seems that GM will in fact be offering a civilian version of the Chevrolet Caprice PPV for 2013 under the SS designation. A civilian police car? We’re game!
The new SS sedan will be built on the Zeta platform, the favorite rear-wheel-drive platform used by GM for vehicles such as the Camaro, GM Australia’s Holden Ute, and a Chinese Buick Park Avenue. Before Zeta II, a more flexible, light-weight platform is released for 2015, GM will produce two more Zeta-based cars for the American market. If your local government allows their vehicles to be imported, you may have already seen one of these Zeta cars: the Chevrolet Caprice PPV. However, because some localities don’t allow their government vehicles to be assembled anywhere but the United States, the most recent Chevy police car may not be available in your area just yet.
The other Zeta-based car GM has come up with is set to hit the market for 2013. Based on the PPV, the new four-door sedan will join Chevy’s long list of SS vehicles.
Carrying the SuperSport designation, the new car will more than likely be powered by the 6.2L V8 out of the current Camaro SS, with a less potent V6 version expected to be available after the car’s initial launch. There will also be a SuperSport-based 2013 Chevy NASCAR entry.
Come 2015, both the SuperSport and Caprice PPV will move over to the new Zeta II platform. Production of the two models will shift to the United States at that time, making the Caprice PPV available to more local governments. Discussions are also being had regarding the possibility of a sport wagon and Ute pickup truck being added to the lineup come 2015.