2009 comebacks: Time Is Right for a Sleek, Fast, New Camaro
Filed under: Transportation
GM is bringing back the Camaro -- just in time for a baby boomer mid-life crisis. As Chevy lover Bruce Springsteen sang, "The time is right to go racing in the street."
The 2010, fifth-generation Camaro can be special ordered now and ready for cruising this spring. It's got a choice of a V6 engine with 300 horsepower and 27 miles to the gallon, or a 400 horsepower V8 with automatic transmission and something GM calls active fuel management, which is supposed to mean that the car gets 23 miles to the gallon on the highway.
If you really want to blow the doors off -- Chevy is also offering a 422 horse V8 with a six-speed manual trans. I'd probably get a ticket in my first five minutes behind the wheel, but what a kick it would be to own that baby and go roaring down a windy road on a beautiful summer day.
I never owned a Camaro, but I did own and love its chief competitor – the Mustang. In 1967 when Chevy first introduced the Camaro at a press conference, a reporter asked what the name meant. The product manager answered, "a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs."
The Camaro was hard to spot at the North American International Auto Show, which runs through Sunday in Detroit this week. It was old news -- since the concept car was introduced at the 2006 show. But beyond that, this year Chevy is putting all its eggs in the economy and Volt electric car baskets. The sexiest vehicle GM has at the show is the 2010 Buick Lacrosse. That's sad.
Let's hope the U.S. auto industry's future doesn't depend on being boxy, ugly and slow. To hell with green, I want a beautiful red Camaro.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-22-2009 @ 12:43PM
Robert said...
The Camaro should NEVER have been canceled in the first place. Instead it should have been redesigned and refined like the Mustang. Instead GM in it's usual poor judgement has spent billions on several other "flops". This car will NOT save GM and has been the worlds worst kept secret. It has wore out it's newness before it's even been released. As much as I hope this car does well, I fear that in usual GM fashion it's too little, too late!
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1-24-2009 @ 10:22PM
jim said...
It is a sharp car and the Mustangs and MoPars surely welcome the competition. It sucks though that the automotive market is as it is right now because the return of the Challenger and Camaro should not have to also fight this economy. Dealers are screwing us on markup with Hemi Challengers and who knows what they will do with any hi-po Camaro's. They will be the enemy regardless when there is anything good to be had!
The last Camaro/Firebird twins dropped from production simply because the sales were poor. GM lost sight of the market while the Mustangs were outselling them combined by a 3 to 1 margin! They stuck with the same thing too long and paid the ultimate price! Old styling gets boring fast!
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2-08-2009 @ 6:15PM
Mistermac said...
If this picture of the front fender is an example of the fit and finish of the new GM, its like the past sloppiness and one of the reasons the Japanese kicked their butts. People are really tired of their snap together, stick together with glue engineering where pieces fall off the car before you can get it home.Build quality and people will buy it.
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4-02-2009 @ 9:03PM
Jason Skrew said...
I saw the new Camaro and it's beautiful on the outside and it's got the horses to go with it but GM went cheap on the interior.
GM has a chance to hit an inside the park homerun and settled for a double instead.
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