Say Goodbye to the Chevy Camaro as We Know it

[Henry]

Next year will be the final production year of GM's take on the pony car:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gm-stop-making-camaro-successor-174452199.html

With the Dodge Challenger being discontinued at the end of this year, the Ford Mustang will once again stand alone in its field.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Challenger and Charger have an EV replacement coming.  All the same, I'm glad that I got to own a 2010 Camaro SS and 2016 Challenger Scat Pack (which I still have) when I could.  This really is the end of an era with all these Pony/Muscle cars going out of production. 

My take with the Sixth Generation Camaro was that bringing up market on the Alpha Platform was a big mistake.  The advantage the Fifth Generation Camaro had was that the Zeta Platform completed with the Mustang for price and had a huge aftermarket assortment.  Moving to the Alpha platform really pushed the base MSRP of the Camaro up and drove a lot of people away.  This was only worsened by the 2015 Challenger becoming more affordable and filling the void left by Fifth Generation Camaro.

My hope is that the Camaro doesn't pop back up as a CUV.  I get it that all these cars headed towards being an EV but it really rubs me the wrong way when I see a Mustang CUV. 

[Road Hog]

Mustang has already been bastardized as a crossover/EV for 2024.

https://inhabitat.com/ford-releases-a-sleek-new-mustang-electric-crossover-suv/

[hbelkins]

NASCAR will have to find another Chevy body style to run now.

[Max Rockatansky]

NASCAR will have to find another Chevy body style to run now.

Likely will be the Malibu. 

[7/8]

Mustang has already been bastardized as a crossover/EV for 2024.

https://inhabitat.com/ford-releases-a-sleek-new-mustang-electric-crossover-suv/

As if there aren't enough crossover/SUV choices as it is.

There's also an irony in manufacturers switching to EV's to "help the planet", but also making many of their EV's heavy with higher ride heights, reducing their energy efficiency.

[Takumi]

Mustang has already been bastardized as a crossover/EV for 2024.

https://inhabitat.com/ford-releases-a-sleek-new-mustang-electric-crossover-suv/

Yes, that's a travesty, but people seem to forget that there's also a new generation of the regular Mustang out now too.

[Max Rockatansky]

Motortrend seems to think the Camaro will return for a 7th generation as an EV sedan:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/chevrolet-camaro-discontinued-official-2024/?lid=0nyemn054gkk&eml=organic%3Aeml%3Abrz2&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=emaileditorial

[Henry]

Motortrend seems to think the Camaro will return for a 7th generation as an EV sedan:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/chevrolet-camaro-discontinued-official-2024/?lid=0nyemn054gkk&eml=organic%3Aeml%3Abrz2&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=emaileditorial

The quote that really got me?

The Chevrolet Camaro as we know it is dead. The company just announced that the sixth-generation of the long-running pony car will be discontinued at the end of the 2024 model year. And, it's likely, it'll be dead permanently in a form we're familiar with–a gas-powered two-door coupe or convertible. But, as has been rumored and which was obliquely referenced in Chevy's release, the Camaro nameplate will survive–in what form remains to be seen, but you can probably guess, and it rhymes with "TV."

Count me in as another hater of the Mustang CUV, but at least it'll still be available in the only style that it's always been, a two-door coupe/convertible.

NASCAR will have to find another Chevy body style to run now.

Likely will be the Malibu. 

I'll admit that I thought it would be discontinued by now, as other similar models have been. And that includes its former Detroit rivals (Fusion and Avenger), meaning that perhaps it has overstayed its welcome, despite carrying a classic nameplate.

[SSOWorld]

NASCAR will have to find another Chevy body style to run now.

or rename to NASCUV.

[Duke87]

The Chevrolet Camaro as we know it is dead. The company just announced that the sixth-generation of the long-running pony car will be discontinued at the end of the 2024 model year. And, it's likely, it'll be dead permanently in a form we're familiar with–a gas-powered two-door coupe or convertible. But, as has been rumored and which was obliquely referenced in Chevy's release, the Camaro nameplate will survive–in what form remains to be seen, but you can probably guess, and it rhymes with "TV."

Count me in as another hater of the Mustang CUV, but at least it'll still be available in the only style that it's always been, a two-door coupe/convertible.

Yeah the "Mach-E" is an unholy demon, but not because it's electric - purely because of the body shape that is entirely unbecoming of what's supposed to be a low-end sports car.

If you made an electric one that's otherwise a regular coupe like it's supposed to be, then that's fine.

There's otherwise nothing wrong with an electric sports car: electric motors can produce a lot of torque, so there's actually an advantage to this. Just... no canned engine or exhaust noise please. No pretending it isn't electric. Embrace it, give the car a nice loud electric motor whine.


As far as the Camaro, yeah, you have to keep in mind here that Stellantis is a European company so politically they have to at least pretend they're going to be selling nothing but electric cars in 10 years or so. But also, more expensive platforms are logical first places to start ditching the internal combustion platform because it's easier for their buyers to absorb the cost increase an electric platform entails, and since these cars tend to be used for funsies more than for the daily drive grind (i.e. people who buy them usually own another car), the limitations on range and charging speed are less an issue.

[Max Rockatansky]

Coincidentally today 13 years ago was the day I took delivery on 2010 1SS Camaro.

[SP Cook]

NASCAR "stock" cars have born no actual relationship to actual products made by the car companies since the failed "car of tomorrow" was introduced in the 2007 year.  The cars of today are specmobiles.  The only thing Chevy about a NASCAR Chevy is the stickers that say it is one. 

[Max Rockatansky]

You guys do know that this was said about NASCAR even back during 1990:

Before someone says, I am aware that Winston Cup cars used to have a couple factory body panels.  Specifically in the 1990s the panels were the hood, roof and trunk lid.  The hood I have from the 1995 71 Prodigy car is indeed a Chevy Monte Carlo stock panel. 

[Takumi]

It was the mid-late 90s, when Ford switched from the Thunderbird to the Taurus, that it started really getting away from the "stock"  look, but it was starting to get that way in the 80s when the street cars for the GM brands changed to FWD chassis without V8s.

[triplemultiplex]

Pour out some Pabst and tip your mullet in honor of the demise of an American icon.

[Max Rockatansky]

It was the mid-late 90s, when Ford switched from the Thunderbird to the Taurus, that it started really getting away from the "stock"  look, but it was starting to get that way in the 80s when the street cars for the GM brands changed to FWD chassis without V8s.

With 358 Cubic Inch V8s with carburetors no less.  Even back then it was a spec series with only minor variations between the auto manufacturers.

[JREwing78]

Much like Ford whiffed on the naming of the Mach-E (Galaxie would've been the perfect name), Chevrolet is missing a massive opportunity by not bringing back the Chevelle nameplate on the 4-door. I mean, if we're going to recycle nameplates, recycle ones that actually might make sense on the vehicle.

(Yeah, that goes against the Malibu historically being the "premium" nameplate. I argue Chevelle has much better cachet than the Malibu.)

[hbelkins]

It's odd how NASCAR has changed the type of car it races. When it burst into true national popularity, Chevy's entry was the Lumina. Hardly a sports car, and neither was the Monte Carlo. Now they're running their ideas of sports cars (Camaro and Mustang.)

Toyota has always used a Camry, which looks a lot sportier now than it did 20 years ago, but I would never consider a Camry to be on the same level as a Camaro or Mustang.

[Max Rockatansky]

As someone who followed a Chevy team it used to bother me that Ford was running one of its cooler models with the Thunderbird.  The Lumina was lame looking and the Monte Carlo wasn't much of a step up when 1995 came.  The W-Body cars in general were nowhere nearly as exciting looking as the late 80s G-Body Monte Carlo SS and Grand Prix 2+2. 

[Takumi]

Toyota has always used a Camry, which looks a lot sportier now than it did 20 years ago, but I would never consider a Camry to be on the same level as a Camaro or Mustang.

Toyota uses the Supra in the Busch Xfinity series, which is interesting because part of the rationale of letting Toyota into NASCAR in the first place is that the Tundra and Camry were built in the US. The Supra is built in Austria. Not the first car to not be built in the US to be represented in modern NASCAR (the short-lived Chevy SS was built in Australia, at least some Ford Fusion production was in Mexico, and the Dodge Charger and Challenger were built in Canada), but the first Toyota to be that way.

[Henry]

The W-Body cars in general were nowhere nearly as exciting looking as the late 80s G-Body Monte Carlo SS and Grand Prix 2+2. 

There was also the Hurst Olds/442 and GNX in that same timeframe.

And speaking of G-bodies, I wonder what was the rationale for continuing to use the Colonnade-style versions for the 1978-80 seasons when the production models (including the pre-1982 A-bodies) were downsized for those years? I wouldn't be surprised if the T-Bird went through the same thing in 1980-82, when the street version was downsized, then used the new body style of the '83 model.

[Max Rockatansky]

The W-Body cars in general were nowhere nearly as exciting looking as the late 80s G-Body Monte Carlo SS and Grand Prix 2+2. 

There was also the Hurst Olds/442 and GNX in that same timeframe.

And speaking of G-bodies, I wonder what was the rationale for continuing to use the Colonnade-style versions for the 1978-80 seasons when the production models (including the pre-1982 A-bodies) were downsized for those years? I wouldn't be surprised if the T-Bird went through the same thing in 1980-82, when the street version was downsized, then used the new body style of the '83 model.

I don't think the wheelbase was shrunk on the racing specifications until 1979.