GM hasn’t given up on Chevrolet Camaro, subsequent gen might supply low-cost muscle – report

When Normal Motors introduced in 2023 it was retiring the Chevrolet Camaro as soon as once more, it stated “this isn’t the ultimate chapter for the nameplate”.

Now, GM Authority experiences phrase from sources near the matter that GM wasn’t simply paying lip service, and that it hasn’t given up on reviving the horse automotive.

These sources have stated affordability is the main focus for the subsequent Camaro, which might imply Chevrolet has modified tack after earlier experiences stated the nameplate would return on an electrical car.

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A seventh-generation Camaro coupe reportedly must be “inexpensive and attainable”, and that “affordability is a precedence”.

If it will possibly’t be provided at an accessible value level, a supply advised GM Authority this future Camaro gained’t see the sunshine of day.

In 2023, the Camaro opened at US$27,495 (round A$44,000 in the present day) for the bottom 1LS, powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

This was dropped for mannequin yr 2024, with the bottom value leaping to US$32,495 (~$52,000) for the three.6-litre V6-powered 1LT.

Chevrolet moreover provided the sixth-generation Camaro with each naturally aspirated and supercharged 6.2-litre V8 engines, with the ZL1 variant powered by the latter and costing US$69,695 (~$113,000) in North America.

In the direction of the tip, the Camaro’s base value was corresponding to that of its arch-rival the Ford Mustang, which at the moment opens at US$31,920, in addition to the Toyota GR86 (at the moment priced from US$30,000 or ~A$48,500) and Subaru BRZ (from US$32,210 or ~A$52,000).

It’s unclear how Chevrolet might make the Camaro extra inexpensive.

Whereas its predecessor was primarily based on the identical Zeta platform as Holden’s VE-VF Commodore, the sixth-generation Camaro launched in 2016 shared its Alpha platform with luxurious Cadillac fashions, and GM has no different platform for a rear-wheel drive, combustion-powered passenger automotive.

Even when it used the identical electrical car (EV) platform as the brand new Equinox EV, it might be extraordinarily unlikely to be any cheaper than the outdated Camaro.

A transfer to a front-wheel drive platform can be seen as sacrilege to Camaro followers. GM thought of changing the Camaro with a FWD mannequin within the early Nineties, however improvement hurdles plus public outrage to Ford’s mooted substitute of the Mustang with the FWD Probe put paid to that.

Chevrolet has beforehand provided extra inexpensive coupes to fit in underneath the Camaro, together with the Monza and Beretta plus coupe variations of the standard Cavalier and Cobalt.

Whereas these fashions are lengthy gone, through the twenty first century it has flirted with introducing a extra inexpensive sports activities coupe.

On the 2012 Detroit motor present, it revealed two coupe ideas: the Tru 140S, a front-wheel drive coupe associated to the Cruze; and the Code 130R, a rear-wheel drive coupe solely barely bigger than the modern Toyota 86.

Each used a four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, however sadly neither reached manufacturing.

The horse automotive phase the Camaro competed in has continued to say no in quantity globally.

Final yr, the Ford Mustang posted its worst annual gross sales ends in its 60-year historical past, and was outsold for the primary time by the unrelated electrical Mustang Mach-E.

The Dodge Challenger exited manufacturing in 2023, and its substitute – the coupe model of the brand new Charger – is barely now reaching US sellers. The brand new mannequin ditches V6 and V8 engines in favour of both electrical or twin-turbo inline six energy.

The possibilities of it being bought in Australia are slim, after plans to promote the earlier Challenger right here as a Charger failed.

Meantime, Ford is lastly about to land its new S650-generation Mustang in Australia, the place the Blue Oval’s pony automotive continues to be the nation’ top-selling sports activities automotive and a facsimile of it contineses to symbolize Ford within the premier motorsport class.

About 1200 Camaro 2SS and 320 Camaro ZL1 automobiles had been bought by HSV sellers between September 2018 and early 2020, following right-hand drive improvement and remanufacture by Walkinshaw Automotive.

The GM muscle automotive was supposed to be a religious successor for the new Holden Commodores bought by HSV till 2017, however RHD conversion prices made pricing uncompetitive with the primary world Mustang launched in 2015, with a beginning value of about $90,000 and about $160,000 for the ZL1 flagship.

A weakening Aussie greenback put the ultimate nail within the official RHD Camaro program in 2020, when Holden was axed and GM Specialty Automobiles (GMSV) was established to promote Chevrolets together with the remanufactured Silverado pickup and now the worldwide C8 Corvette supercar.

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