Chevy Unleashes Powerful Supercharged Cobalt SS

Cobalt SS Sports Subtle Styling Upgrades but Serious Horsepower

The Chevrolet Cobalt is already being modified for performance and it's not even out on the market yet. Without doubt GM wants to make sure the young, and the young in

Chevrolet presented attendees at the New York auto show the Cobalt SS, the hottest compact Chevy to date. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

heart know the new car is much more capable than long-in-tooth Cavalier it replaces.

With the sport compact craze playing an important role in overall small car sales, Chevrolet presented attendees at the New York auto show the Cobalt SS, the hottest compact Chevy to date.

The Cobalt SS presents its performance in a subtle yet sporty way, not too over the top or exhibitionistic. Fenders with rolled lips and a slightly deeper front air dam accentuate the clean body design language. This

The Cobalt SS is more than just a sporty appearance package, boasting some serious power under the hood. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

sport compact is reserved, rather than wild like Dodge's Neon SRT-4. It comes with a tall rear spoiler, and your choice of five vivid paint coatings, but it's less "boy racer" than previous GM sport models.

But there's more to the Cobalt SS than a mere styling upgrade. The new car sports some serious tuning under the hood, the result of years of GM know-how developed from tweaking supercharged Cavalier concepts. Starting off with a base Cobalt power source, the 140 horsepower 2.0-liter Ecotec inline four, output is up to 205 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque in SS trim. It's not class leading, especially when compared to the aforementioned 230 horsepower SRT-4 with its sensational 250 lb-ft of torque, but it's plenty to get drivers from A to B in an awful hurry.