The production Chevrolet SS was a performance full-size rear-wheel drive sedan sold in the United States from 2013 to 2017, built on the platform of the Australian Holden Commodore VF. It was unveiled during Speedweeks at Daytona Beach in February 2013 — the same event at which the NASCAR version made its competitive debut — and went on sale to the public later that year. The SS was Chevrolet's first rear-wheel drive V8 sedan since 1996, powered by a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 producing 415 horsepower.
The decision to use the SS nameplate for Chevrolet's new NASCAR entry under the Generation 6 rules reflected the car's performance image and its Holden Commodore lineage, which itself had a strong racing heritage in Australian V8 Supercars competition. The SS replaced the Car of Tomorrow-era Impala SS, marking a more aggressive brand positioning for Chevrolet in NASCAR.
The Chevrolet SS made a spectacular debut at the Sprint Unlimited non-points race in 2013, with Kevin Harvick winning in the car's first appearance. The SS's introduction coincided with the launch of the Generation 6 body program, which gave the Car of Tomorrow chassis new manufacturer-specific body panels designed to visually match the respective production vehicles.
Jimmie Johnson gave the SS one of its most significant early victories at the 2013 Daytona 500, a race in which Danica Patrick had taken pole position in her own SS — a landmark moment in NASCAR history for the highest qualifying position ever achieved by a female driver at Daytona. Johnson went on to win the Sprint Cup Series championship that season, giving the SS a manufacturers' championship in its first year of full Cup competition.
In 2014, the SS again delivered the Sprint Cup Series championship, with Kevin Harvick claiming the drivers' title. In 2016, Jimmie Johnson won the Sprint Cup Series championship in an SS for the seventh time in his career, tying the all-time record held jointly by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
Like the Holden Commodore on which its production counterpart was based, the Chevrolet SS accumulated significant championship hardware during its relatively brief tenure.
Following the closure of General Motors' Elizabeth, South Australia plant and the subsequent discontinuation of the Holden VF Commodore, Chevrolet announced on August 10, 2017, that it would replace the SS with the 2018 Camaro ZL1 beginning with the 2018 NASCAR season. The Camaro was the brand's first coupe-based Cup entry since the Monte Carlo was retired from competition after the 2007 season, marking a return to a two-door body style for Chevrolet's NASCAR identity.
The Chevrolet SS's five-season Cup tenure produced an exceptional record: multiple manufacturers' championships and a role in some of the era's most celebrated driver championship campaigns. Its association with Jimmie Johnson's record-tying achievement made it one of the most headline-generating chassis of the Generation 6 period. The SS nameplate's parallel existence as a road car — sold in limited quantities to performance-oriented buyers — gave it a more genuine production-car identity than some prior NASCAR nameplates, even if the production volumes were modest compared to mainstream sedans like the Impala or Camry.