Holden lifts the wraps off Camaro

Holden revealed the new Chevrolet Camaro to local media today. Classic Camaro owner and V8 Supercar driver, Garth Tander, was joined by GM execs and enthusiasts from the Camaro Car Club to welcome the production version of the new car.

Holden has played a major part in the development of the Camaro, which rides around on a modified version of the Zeta platform developed by Holden for the VE Commodore and WM Statesman/Caprice.

"We're incredibly proud of how faithful the production version is to the original concept," says Holden's Peter Hughes, Camaro Exterior Design Manager.

"This is a 21st century sports car that acknowledges its iconic heritage, while at the same time is smoothly integrated into a very contemporary exterior."

The local reveal coincides with the car's launch to the media in North America. GM's video feed of the American unveiling can be viewed here.

Chevrolet's Oshawa plant in Canada will commence production of the new car in February 2009, for a first quarter retail release. The price is expected to start from around US$22,000 for the base Camaro LS. Two higher levels of trim will be the LT and SS grades -- and these levels will be available with the optional RS appearance package.

Power will come from either the 3.6-litre SI-DI (direct injection petrol) V6, driving through either a six-speed manual or an optional six-speed automatic transmission. GM claims power and torque figures of 224kW and 370Nm respectively.

Two V8 powerplants will also be offered, with the manual variant fitted with a 6.2-litre LS3 engine (315kW, 553Nm) and the automatic variant fitted with the L99 engine (299kW, 535Nm) which features Active Fuel Management (AFM) to close down four cylinders for more economical running. As for the V6 models, transmissions for the V8 variants are both six-speeders.

Initially, the Camaro will only be available as a coupe, but a drop-top version is pencilled in for a launch 12 months down the track.

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