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.”
The Camaro’s sixth generation started with the 2016 model year, built from the well-regarded Alpha platform bones shared with some athletic Cadillac models. But unlike the ATS-V, the Camaro packed an optional V-8. That meant it had all the killer apps: an available manual transmission, the small-block, an excellent chassis. Even the eight-speed auto was extremely well-calibrated. And it got better and better the harder we pushed it. It snagged the 2016 Car of the Year award, and our write-up was full of frankly shockingly effusive praise. A Camaro? Flooring us with its limit handling? What alternate universe were we living in?
One where the Camaro had developed into a Mustang-sniping track machine, that’s which one. But the Mustang lives on (with a nameplate-sharing electric SUV, it should be said), and the Camaro is dead. For now. We’ve heard rumors for a while that, given GM’s company-wide EV proclamations, the Camaro might just evolve into an electron-powered, musclebound sedan. Think about what Dodge is up to with the Charger Daytona.
Chevy definitely left the door open a crack for that possibility. As Scott Bell, vice president, Global Chevrolet, mentioned in a statement, “While we are not announcing an immediate successor today, rest assured, this is not the end of Camaro’s story.”
Meanwhile, the Camaro will bow out with a special Collector’s Edition package that will be available on 2024 RS, SS, and a few ZL1s. It’ll have something to do with the original first-generation Camaro’s project code name—”Panther.”
The time of death will be January 2024, when the final sixth-gen Camaro rolls off the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan. Given the current Camaro’s performance bona fides, its successor—whatever that looks like—will have a lot to live up to. We hope Chevy’s up for the challenge.
Source: Read Full Article