GM High Performance Vehicle Operations, GM Technical Center, Cadillac V-series, Cobalt SS, Cobalt HHR SS, Corvette ZR1, Corvette Z06, Pontiac GXP, Camaro SS, Vince Muniga

Enthusiast cars like this Cobalt SS have hit the wall

GM Disbands Performance Unit: No more V-series Cadillacs

H.P.V.O. developed cars for the enthusiast and tuner markets

After months of announcements of big-slice cuts in expenditures, General Motors has begun trimming with the paring knife, witness the shutting down of its High Performance Vehicle Operations (H.P.V.O.) unit, headquartered at the company's Warren, Mich., Technical Center.

H.P.V.O. was charged with the development of vehicles for the enthusiast and tuner markets - V-series Cadillacs and the Chevy Cobalt SS and HHR SS. Although these cars often featured high performance powertrains, H.P.V.O. concentrated on chassis and aerodynamic improvements - suspension, brakes, wheels and body panels.

Company spokesman Vince Muniga said the unit was being placed on "indefinite hiatus" with its 60 engineers reassigned to other GM vehicle-line teams.

GM's traditional high performance production vehicles - the Corvette ZR1 and Z06, Pontiac GXP and the Camaro SS - are not affected by the disbanding of H.P.V.O. One key to the future of this type of product is that the performance engineers are still in the company.