Next-gen Camaro will be mean... and green
Don't expect a fuel miser, but GM promises the next-gen Camaro won't empty your wallet every time you pull up at the bowserIt got muscle-car enthusiasts' pulses racing when unveiled as a concept at this year's Detroit motor show, but the reborn Chevrolet Camaro, due in 2009, won't be the environmental vandal that its predecessors were.
Chevrolet marketer Ed Peper was recently quoted by respected US journal Automotive News as saying the new-age Camaro would be a car "tailored to an era of expensive gasoline".
Peper revealed the Camaro would be offered in V6 and V8 variants, and he promised that both models would return good fuel economy.
For those who came in late, the Camaro will be underpinned by the same 'Zeta' platform that forms the basis for the new VE Commodore, which has garnered a rapturous response from the motoring press following its recent local launch.
The versatile Zeta architecture will, in time, be used as the foundation for additional GM vehicles, including one or more Pontiac models -- possibly including a next-gen GTO.
Getting back to the Camaro, it's more than likely to feature cylinder-deactivation (Active Fuel Management in GM-speak) technology, a measure that's recently been introduced in GM's new SUV line-up in the US range to reduce fuel consumption.
"We may well have Active Fuel Management on the V6, if that's what somebody wants," Peper was quoted as saying. "But remember, we produce Corvettes now that get over 400 hp (300kW) and get 28 miles to the gallon."
The arrival of the new Camaro will rekindle the once fiery muscle-car battle in the US. The recently launched Ford Mustang-derived Shelby GT500 got the ball rolling, and the Camaro and upcoming Dodge Challenger will add fuel to the fire.
Although pricing for the Camaro won't be announced until its launch, Peper vowed the car would be "the best value in every segment where we can be."
Expect the production version to closely resemble the weapons-grade concept car. This is heartening news, given that recent iterations of the Camaro have been nothing more than bloated caricatures of the 1960s original.
Although it will be built in the US, the Camaro's engineering development will be carried out in Australia by our own Holden labcoats.
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