Chevrolet Cobalt SS

The Chevrolet Cobalt SS is a sport compact high performance version of the Chevrolet Cobalt, featuring three inline-4 Ecotec engines, built on the General Motors Delta platform. The car debuted with a 205 hp (153 kW) supercharged 2.0 L engine in late 2004, the only transmission option being the F35 manual of GM Europe. The engine had been first introduced one model year prior on the Saturn Ion Red Line. For 2006, a naturally-aspirated Cobalt SS with both automatic and manual transmission options was one of three Delta cars to carry GM's new 2.4 L,171 hp (128 kW) engine. A second 2.0 L engine exclusively mated to the F35, with power upped to 260 hp (194 kW) by way of a turbocharger, revived the Cobalt SS in the second quarter of 2008 after a brief hiatus (See timeline).

The powertrain of the Cobalt SS has received generally positive reviews, especially the turbocharged version, but the car has been criticized for poor interior quality and exterior styling that is too reminiscent of its predecessor, the Chevrolet Cavalier.[2] The Super Sport moniker had not been used on the Cavalier, a compact built on the widely used and now obsolete J platform. Though the car was produced until 2005, it saw its most powerful trim, the Z24 featuring a 2.4 L 150 hp (112 kW) engine, cancelled in 2002 as GM prepared to phase out the platform.[3] Chevrolet will end production of the Cobalt at the conclusion of the 2010 model year and replace it with the European-developed Cruze after producing the two simultaneously for the North American market, but a high performance version to directly replace the Cobalt SS has not yet been announced, nor any possible powertrains.[4] Reports surfaced in May 2009 that General Motors will be eliminating the Cobalt SS coupe even earlier than expected, possibly as soon as December 2009.[5][6]