NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: Australian Camaro study confirmed

General Motors is studying the new sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro’s Australian prospects in the wake of Ford’s decision to offer the Mustang in right-hand drive (RHD) markets.

But in a guarded if good-natured interview, chief engineer of the iconic us muscle car program, Al Oppenheiser, also stressed that no business plan currently exists for ex-factory RHD Camaros to be manufactured by Chevrolet and shipped to Australia.

Asked about the prospects for a RHD, Oppenheiser told motoring.com.au: “There are two answers to that. I know you can get a grey-market right-hand drive version or we could tell you we are doing a right-hand drive version. But we are not doing a right-hand drive version in the foreseeable future.”

Oppenheiser was speaking on the Chevrolet stand at the New York show yesterday moments after the formal launch of his latest baby, the 480kW 10-speed auto Camaro ZL1.

The Camaro has been touted as the logical affordable replacement for the locally-built Holden Commodore V8 ever since GM's 2013 announcement that production would cease and Holden's Elizabeth plant close late in 2017.

There were two RHD false starts for the previous-generation Camaro – which was based on the Commodore’s Zeta architecture. But it was made clear when the new car was launched that RHD was a no-go. However, GM leadership has said several times in the last six months that making RHD models is seen as an important plank in GM's global aspirations.

Even more recently, there have been suggestions from within GM that a RHD Camaro was feasible around mid-life update time later in the decade, or when the seventh generation arrives around 2021.

The latest Camaro is based on the Alpha architecture that is shared with Cadillac and is package-protected for right-hand drive. But while technically feasible, it all depends on the business case stacking up, Oppenheiser said.

“Our Chevrolet leadership and the leadership of our company understands and have made the statement – our president [Mary Barra] made the statement in the UK last year – that it [RHD models] will be a market-driven decision if we think the volume is such that we should do right-hand drive,” said Oppenheiser.

“It’s an investment to do that for us … It would be Australia and the UK, so is that enough sustain it? We are studying that.

“We are studying our competitors over in Dearborn what they are doing, seeing if it is a success for them, or is it not. We know what it takes to do it… but we have not made that decision,” he said.

The Mustang has proved a huge hit in Australia with over 6000 orders placed and the waiting list now out until the end of 2017.

But Oppenheiser said demand had to be sustained for a business case to be a success.

“Was there demand because everyone who wanted one bought it in year one and you don’t sell any in year two? You don’t want to do that,” he said.

“It’s kind of like your V8 [Camaro]. Everybody is going to buy your V8 first, so you want to have all your suppliers ready to pump out as many V8s as you can because they are going to buy them first.

“Then it levels off; the V6 and the 2.0-litre turbo will take over as the volume leader.

“The same thing with that right-hand drive decision. Is it something that will sustain a certain volume every ear; if it is we will do it. But if it is a one-year wonder and then it's gone...

“We’ve experienced that in left-hand drive countries with the fifth-gen [Camaro], especially after the Transformers movie came out [featuring Bumblebee, the Camaro Transformer].

“Certain countries bought 1000 and sold 1000 in a week. We sent another 1000 over and they sat there for three years.

“So you have to make sure. We are in business to make money and it’s got to be a good business case if we are going to do it,” Oppenheiser stated.

An alternate and more affordable proposal that GM might consider is have an authorised RHD converter handle the job. Walkinshaw Group, the parent of Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), is known to have pitched that idea forward.

A RHD Camaro would be great news for Holden fans who still buy more than 10,000 V8 Commodores per annum. Holden has committed to a V8 sports car post-2017, which is thought to be a facelifted or new Chevrolet Corvette, but the top-shelf supercar would have a starting price around $150,000.