Don’t Hold Your Breath For A New Camaro

The Chevy Camaro was a good muscle car, a serviceable pickup truck, and a sales laggard compared to the stalwart Ford Mustang. For this sin, it was killed, but the faithful have long prophesied its return in all manner of forms: Electric, crossover, or even a good old-fashioned internal combustion sports car. A new report from GM Authority, though, says those true believers have little left to believe in — the proposal for a seventh generation Camaro was “blown apart” by GM’s higher-ups. 

The report doesn’t have much detail beyond that quote, saying only that a group within GM had been tasked with making the numbers work on a seventh-generation car. The pitch, apparently, didn’t go as that group had hoped — GM has certain expectations for its new cars, benchmarks they need to hit, and the new car simply didn’t. From GM Authority:

Sources familiar with the matter recently told us that a group within GM had worked up a proposal for a seventh-generation Camaro. With support from some GM executives, the group’s purpose was to make a business case for the seventh generation of the iconic muscle car. A plan was generated and compiled, but upon being presented to decision makers, the proposal was “blown apart” due to the business case not being strong enough.

In essence, the plan’s key business-level performance targets – including sales volume forecast and profitability figures – were not met to green light the next-gen Camaro.

One source tells us that GM is still kicking the project around. “It’s still in play, but the light at the end of the tunnel is now dimmer,” the source tells us.

Given that it’s been nearly two years since the sixth-generation Camaro’s official death, it’s not clear how bright that light at the end of the tunnel really is. We’re long past the point where a seventh generation could be introduced into the largely unbroken stream of production that began back with the fifth generation car in 2010. 

A Camaro revival is never out of the question, though — the fourth generation ended eight years before the fifth generation’s introduction, there’s always time to bring the nameplate back on something new. The window may be closing for an all-ICE Camaro, depending on regulatory swings, but we have all the time in the world to see an electric muscle car graced with the Camaro name. It wouldn’t be the first time.

h/t The Drive