RX8Club.com - The real story about GM disbanding HPVO

DETROIT - There's a bit of confusion following Automotive News' report
Wednesday that General Motors has shut down its High Performance Vehicle
Operations. HPVO's 60 engineers have been moved to other projects,
mostly alternative fuel/powerplant vehicles and getting better fuel
mileage out of conventional internal combustion engines, for example.

GM will continue to produce low-volume performance cars that have been
designed, including the Cadillac CTS-v sedan, Chevrolet Cobalt SS and
HHR SS and, of course, the Australian-sourced Pontiac G8 GXP. Spokesman
Vince Muniga likens it to Ford's shutdown of its Special Vehicle Team
about three years ago. Ford has just unveiled SVT versions of the F-150
(Raptor) and 2010 Taurus (SHO).

And because the CTS-v sedan has been on sale for several months, there's
a good chance you'll be able to buy a CTS-v coupe some time in 2011,
following the 3.6-liter V-6-powered coupe's planned launch in late 2010.

Corvette engineering and design were never part of HPVO, so ZR-1, Z06
and even Camaro SS production are not affected. We've reported, however,
that Chevrolet's Z/28 version of the Camaro, which would have used the
CTS-v's engine/tuning, is on indefinite hold.

So what does this "hiatus" affect? Mostly future product that would have
gone through the HPVO pipeline. Frankly, that makes this almost a
non-story, as cash-strapped GM has put much of its future product on
hold in order to get the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and Cruze on the market
(the new Opel Insignia, just launched in Europe, too). You were
expecting, maybe, a Volt SS or Cruze SS?

Indeed, the future of GM's performance division relies as much on what
emissions and fuel economy standards the government imposes on the auto
industry as it does on whether the automakers get any more federal money.