Just In: 2014 Chevrolet SS sedan with a NASCAR silhouette and a Corvette engine

When General Motors announced that it would offer a rear-drive, full-sized sedan powered by a 415-hp, 6.2-liter Corvette V8, we had to start budgeting. While the Chevrolet SS may essentially be a homologation special for NASCAR, it is also the answer to our mourning the passing of the Pontiac G8 (another Australian import).

Part of my holiday shopping this year was to buy the SS for our test fleet. The purchase proved very straightforward, although the acquisition had some seasonal challenges.

Offered in limited volume its first year, the SS is both a rare and hot commodity. The dealers I spoke with claimed only 1,500 units would be offered. (Chevrolet told me more like 3,000 to 5,000—or about a third of the Malibus sold per month.) Making it harder to find the right one for our fleet, the SS is available in five colors, with just one being a magazine-friendly hue. The others (black, white, silver, and light green) wouldn’t pop off the pages or screen. At least the car is a one-size-fits-all model, with no trim levels and effectively no option packages.

The Chevrolet.com tool to search the inventory of local dealers made finding a Red Hot SS rather simple. I called dealers in my area shown to have a car, finding that there were other shoppers sniffing around. It wasn’t long before I found one at a convenient dealership who said the first customer to put a deposit gets the car. Whipping a credit card out, it was mine. The price was not negotiable. None of the dealers were about to haggle. But, at least there wasn’t a mark up, and I managed to dodge any extras, like VIN etching on the windows.

The base MSRP ($43,475) notched up a bit anyhow due to a $1,300 gas-guzzler tax, power sunroof ($900), and spare tire ($500). Add $995 for destination charges, and the price landed at $47,170.

The next trial was picking it up. Two snow storms and scheduling conflicts on my part and that of my salesman added several days to the process, but it worked out fine.