When you see the iconic Chevrolet SS badge, you know it means one thing: High performance. Since debuting in the early 1960s, the SS family has grown to include muscle cars, pickup trucks, sport compacts, and more.

This year, we welcome the first all-electric addition to the Chevy SS family, the Blazer EV SS. It’s the quickest Chevy SS ever, accelerating from 0 to 60 in just 3.4 seconds with Wide Open Watts¹ mode. It’s also the most powerful EV in its class, packing 615 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. 

Chevy is the fastest-growing EV brand in the U.S., and with the debut of the Blazer EV SS — Chevy’s first performance EV — we’re further expanding our industry-leading customer choice in electric vehicles.

It’s a fitting moment to look back at the history of SS.

The 1961 Impala was the first Chevy production car to offer a Super Sport package. The Impala SS had upgraded heavy-duty springs and shocks, power brakes, and special interior and exterior trim. The Impala SS was available with the 348-cubic-inch or 409-cubic-inch V8, paired with either a 4-speed manual or a 2-speed automatic transmission. Two years later, the 1963 Chevy II Nova got an SS package, which paired a 120-hp 6-cylinder engine with bucket seats and special interior and exterior trim.

A flurry of Super Sports followed. The Chevelle debuted in 1964 with an available SS package. In 1966, you could finally get a Nova SS with a V8 engine, and in 1967, the Camaro debuted with its own legendary SS model. That same year, the Impala SS 427 offered big-block power in Chevy’s full-size coupe, and in 1968 the redesigned Chevelle muscle car and the all-new El Camino pickup truck both offered SS 396 packages.

The Eighties and Nineties

Super Sport models dwindled during the gas crunch, and from 1976 to 1982, Chevy didn’t offer a single factory SS package. But the Super Sport returned in 1983, with the NASCAR-inspired, aerodynamically sleek Monte Carlo SS. In 1990, the Silverado 454 SS debuted, continuing the street-performance truck tradition that began with the ’68 El Camino.

1993 saw the SS pack return to the Camaro as a dealer option that became a factory-installed package three years later. And then there was the 1994 Impala SS, which packed an LT1 V8 and major suspension upgrades into the sleek, full-size Caprice body.

The 21^st Century

With the dawn of the 21^st century there was a Super Sport renaissance at Chevrolet. The Monte Carlo SS returned in 2000, followed by the four-door Impala SS in 2002. The following year, Chevy debuted two performance pickup trucks: The 2003 Silverado SS, and the drop-top, retro-style SSR. In 2005, the sport compact Chevy Cobalt SS hit the streets, first with a supercharged 4-cylinder, later with a turbo four.

In 2006, the Corvette-powered Trailblazer SS became the first Super Sport SUV, and both the Malibu midsize sedan and the Malibu Maxx 5-door wagon offered SS versions. In 2008, the Art Deco-inspired HHR station wagon got an SS package, using the turbocharged four-cylinder engine from the Cobalt SS. 

When the Camaro returned in 2010, it offered a muscular SS version with a 426-horsepower V8, and in 2015 the simply named Chevy SS became the ultimate American sport sedan.

Since the launch of the SS badge in 1961, these models have proven hugely popular among American car buyers. In the 1960s alone, Chevy sold more than 1 million examples of the Impala SS, and since 2010, more than 400,000 Camaro SS models have been sold. In total, Chevrolet estimates that more than 4 million vehicles have rolled off the assembly line proudly wearing an SS badge. 

No matter if it’s a sport compact, a muscle car, a pickup truck, or an all-electric SUV, every SS model has one thing in common: Driving excitement and pulse-pounding performance. As the quickest-accelerating Super Sport in Chevrolet history, the Blazer EV SS is the natural next-generation in this family tree.

¹On a closed course only. Based on initial vehicle movement.