More downshifting by GM

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Along with the corporate jet fleet and executive bonuses, General Motors’ newfound austerity mode has claimed another victim.

The automaker said today that it would disband its High Performance Vehicle Operations, the unit that makes low-volume, go-fast versions of mainstream GM vehicles. Designed to appeal to speed enthusiasts and give GM some street cred, the unit’s products included the V-series Cadillacs and the SS versions of the Chevy Cobalt and HHR.

“All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold,” GM spokesman Vince Muniga told Automotive News. “The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs.”

High speed — which generally is accompanied by low mileage — is far down GM’s priority list right now. As part of its effort to wring more money out of the federal government, the once-proud automaker has been forced to adopt a laser-like focus on fuel economy, including a pledge to build enough hybrids to choke a moose, or at least a congressman.

Losing the Super Sport version of the HHR may not occasion much wailing or gnashing of teeth. But the Cobalt SS is/was a rather feisty little beast — sort of a stealth street fighter. Hidden beneath the rather bland exterior of the ‘09 is a 2-liter, direct-injection, turbocharged four-banger that pumps out 260 horsepower and can do 0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds.

According to the reviewer at MarketWatch.com (OK, what would you rather write about these days — the stock market or the auto industry? Wait, don’t answer that . . . ), the Cobalt SS “carves up back roads unlike virtually any front-wheel drive car I can remember.”

GM even thought enough of the Cobalt’s capabilities to run it around Nurburgring, the legendary German track where, according to the automaker, the Cobalt set a compact-car lap record of 8:22.85.

Muniga said the high-performance division could be reinstated after GM regains its financial footing — if it ever does.

-- Martin Zimmerman