AJC CAR NEWS
Camaro makes a comeback at shows
Chevy muscle car to be available early next year in coupe and convertible
San Antonio Express-News
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Chevrolet’s revived 2010 Camaro coupe, which goes on sale early next year, will start at an affordable $22,995 (including $750 freight) for the base V-6 model, while the performance-oriented V-8 SS model will begin at $30,995, General Motors has announced.
Dealers already are taking orders for the cars, which are generating a lot of excitement among baby boomers who grew up with the Camaro, as well as younger aficionados who may have owned some of the newer versions.
SCOTT WIEMELS/General Motors
The 2010 Camaro SS was on display at the 2008 SEMA Show in Las Vegas this month. Out of production since 2002, the Camaro is redesigned and due back on the market early next year.
SCOTT WIEMELS/General Motors
General Motors North America Chevrolet Vice President Ed Peper introduces the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Camaro Concept as one of a quartet of concepts based on the all-new 2010 Camaro at the 2008 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. A convertible will arrive after the coupe.
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The previous model went out of production in 2002.
GM showed the concept version of the new Camaro coupe at the 2006 Detroit auto show; and a concept of the convertible version, which will arrive later, was on display at the recent San Antonio International Auto & Truck Show, as well as at the Texas State Fair auto show in Dallas.
No prices have been announced yet for the convertible.
“The wait is almost over,” GM North America Vice President Ed Peper said in an announcement of the pricing. “The return of the Camaro gives sports car enthusiasts a reason to rejoice. It’s a 21st-century sports car with a distinctly American legacy.”
Auto sales are down this year, for sure, having been scared off earlier by $4-a-gallon gasoline prices and now the credit crunch and uncertainty about the national economy.
But with gasoline prices now down to levels we haven’t seen in about two years (and actually under $2 a gallon in some areas including metro Atlanta), consumers are returning to dealer showrooms to buy the vehicles they had been holding off purchasing.
That bodes well for the Camaro when it arrives in the first quarter of 2009.
But fuel economy isn’t expected to be an issue, anyway, as the V-6 model is rated at up to 27 miles per gallon on the highway.
GM said more than 600,000 potential buyers already have requested information on the vehicle — just since production plans were announced this past summer.
Those consumers, most of whom checked out the Camaro on a special GM Web site (www.chevrolet.com/camaro), are the ones the automaker believes will be the first to order the car.
At the Web site, consumers will find all of the available information about the 2010 Camaro, along with ordering instructions. Pricing, options packages and specifications are included on the site.
GM said production will begin in mid-February at the plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada; and the cars will begin arriving at dealerships by early March.
Also coming at the same time will be a group of accessories that can be purchased at dealerships to customize the cars, including “21-inch wheels and tires; ground effects and stripe kits; and a classic-styled Hurst shifter,” GM said.
All of those accessories can be ordered and installed before delivery, and in some cases can be “rolled into the monthly payments,” the company said.
Already, the new Camaro has starred in a TV show — the drama “My Own Worst Enemy,” which NBC recently canceled. The Camaro also appeared in the 2007 movie “Transformers.”
Three trim levels will be offered, the V-6 LS and LT models, and the V-8 Super Sport or SS version, intended for the diehard enthusiasts.
Two V-8 engines are offered. The LS3 engine from the 2008 Corvette, with 422 horsepower and 408 foot-pounds of torque, will be available only with a six-speed manual gearbox.
Those who want the six-speed automatic transmission will get the L99 engine, rated at 400 horsepower and 395 foot-pounds of torque.
The L99 engine will feature active fuel management, which cuts out four of the cylinders during normal highway cruising to help conserve fuel. That will give the car an EPA highway rating of 23 mpg.
No city mileage ratings have been announced yet for either the V-6 or the V-8 models, and no estimates at all have been given for the manual-gearbox V-8 model.
While the V-8 versions obviously offer the most excitement, the V-6 is not your average Sunday go-to-church car, either.
It’s rated at 300 horsepower and 273 foot-pounds of torque. That’s the same horsepower as the V-8 version of the 2009 Ford Mustang.
It was the success of the newest generation of the Mustang, for 2005, that led GM to revive the Camaro, which was the GM answer to the original Mustang in the mid-1960s.
For its part, Dodge has introduced a new version of its late ’60s Challenger muscle car this year, also a response to the retro-styled new Mustang.
While the current Mustang and Challenger borrow heavily from their 1960s predecessors, the Camaro does not.
It’s a modern interpretation of the muscle car with a few basic styling cues from the 1969 model.
This new Camaro also has some styling cues from the current Corvette, as well as from some high-performance aircraft, the company said. That gives the new Camaro the feel of a ‘Vette with a back seat. The car seats up to four people.
Features include a four-wheel independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes (with four-piston Brembo calipers on the SS models), Bluetooth phone connectivity, GM’s electronic stability control, OnStar and XM satellite radio.
GM will offer 18-, 19- and 20-inch wheels; and a premium Boston Acoustics audio system will be available, along with ultrasonic rear parking assist and remote vehicle starting. Cloth upholstery will be standard, but heated leather seats will be available.
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