These photos also show the car with the doors open, which makes us think the passengers bolted and started chasing down the photographers. Though the Coblat appears to be getting a major enhancement in the styling department, details about the platform and powertrain are limited. It would probably be safe to assume the popular Ecotec powertrain is going to remain in some version.

This question was recently posted on CobaltSS.net, 20 pages of comments followed.

Reverse?
So we all know that the supercharged engines need the intake bypass valve so they work in reverse. Otherwise the supercharger would just suck all the air out of the cylinder. So knowing that, how does the turbocharged version work in reverse? The engine is trying to suck air backwards, yet the turbo wants to spin forward so I don't see how it works. Is there some sort of exhausting intake bypass valve on the turbo version? Also, if it does have the valve, does that also mean that it can make boost in reverse? Like how much boost? Like 5 psi or does it go over 20?

Can anyone help me sort this out?

Drivers of Chevy Cobalt SSs and Saturn ION Redlines will finally be able to add firepower under their dimunitive hoods for not a whole lot more money. GM Performance Parts, the company's aftermarket pimps, have released two aftermarket engine-upgrade kits that will add between 31 and 36 horsepower. The Stage One kit ($500) includes ECU tweaks and higher-flow injectors, and Stage Two involves a giant slingshot and rubberbands made from melted-down cheater slicks. No, seriously. Press release after the jump.

Press Release

2.0L Ecotec gets a boost from GM Performance Parts' Stage Kits

A Stage One to Stage Two Upgrade Kit (P/N 17803230) is also available for an ION Redline or Cobalt Coupe SS Supercharged with a Stage One performance upgrade kit already installed. This kit converts the Stage One to Stage Two, increasing performance from 236 hp to 241 hp and has an MSRP of $400.00.

Related:
Here Come the Kits: Chevrolet Cobalt Gets Dealership Bolt-On Power [internal]

A friend of ours who, until recently, was in the car-review biz, gave the Chevy Cobalt SS a lukewarm review, pointing out the harsh motor, plasticky interior and doofy rear wing. GM's response? Anger, misery, yanking of advertising from the publication he worked for. When the HHR dropped, GM Executive for small cars, Lori Queen, dropped by personally with the test vehicle, pointing out all of the features, but, to quote our friend, "But, when we asked simple questions like, 'Why does this look just like a PT?' and 'How come the dash is harder than my Labrador's head?' she took it VERY personally, like we insulted her kid."

Our source goes on to note that he thinks Queen's a very nice lady, but the problem here is endemic to the head-in-the-sand groupthink over at GM. And now the Detroit News is reporting that Rick Wagoner hisself issued an apology after Queen targeted Consumer Reports in a letter to Automotive News, personally calling Consumer Reports' head of auto testing David Champion, to assure him that Queen wasn't speaking for everyone at GM. Apparently just for the hurt feelings of those on the Cobalt development team. We've never had any dealings with Queen one way or another, but then again, nobody at GM will talk to us.

GM exec's rant prompts apology [Detroit News]

Related:
Oopsie! Bean Counter Mishap At The General (Again...)

Word is, Pontiac is getting a badge-engineered version of the Chevrolet Cobalt that Canadians already know as the Pontiac Pursuit (pictured). In its US guise, the new compact will likely be dubbed the G4 (hello, Apple Computer?), and according to Edmunds Inside Line is expected to get the Cobalt SS's supercharged 2.0-liter four, and possibly even the 260-hp turbocharged direct-injection mill from the Pontiac Solstice (260 hp at the front wheels? Oh, that'll happen). Let's see, which part of Pontiac's plan to focus its brand does this fall under? Oh yeah, the last line, which reads "ignore all of the above."

Related:
Pontiac to Unveil 2007 Solstice GXP at Los Angeles Show

Chevy Cobalt SS owners whose adrenals have hit a wall will have new dealer-installed options to give them a mild kick in the glands. GM Performance Parts will offer two bolt-on boost ECOTEC mods that will be available at dealerships in early 2006. Stage 1 pulls 31hp out of higher-flow fuel injectors and an engine-computer upgrade that raises the rev limiter to 6700rpm, for a total of 236 hp and 205 lbs-ft of torque; Stage 2 adds a smaller, 79mm supercharger pulley to add 2psi of boost, upping the horsepower to 241 hp and 218 lbs-ft of torque. A dealership-ready Grand Am Cup Cobalt? Pretty close, though no word on prices yet.

Related:
Dan Neil on the Chevrolet Cobalt SS [internal]

"A very fine little car despite its resemblance to a cheese slicer."
— Dan Neil

We've got some kind of perverse fascination with Chevrolet's Cobalt SS. If we examined our feelings too liberally, to which every good blue-state fooker is obliged by law, we'd unearth that ever-creeping desire. You know, the one in which GM creates yet another unappealing shitbox at the bottom of its line, and tags it with one of those muscle-car symbols dredged from grandpa's hope chest, thereby giving us another production cycle's worth of punchlines. But we're not going in for self-examination on this one. That's because everything we've read about the littlest SS, having yet to get GM to trust us with a test drive of our own, points to a worthy machine of fine fettle. Now, the LA Times's Dan Neil, whom we'd trust with the lives of our unborn children, issues a favorable report on Chevy's new, factory-tuned version of the Cobalt coupe, the SS-SC. Now we must drive this car, if only to plug up that last, unexamined crevasse of doubt.

If Red Bull Were Blue [The Los Angeles Times (sub req.)]

Related:
Paul and Anita on the Cobalt SS [internal]