Welburn: GM could move quickly on Camaro

Greg Migliore
Automotive News / January 19, 2006 - 1:27 pm


DETROIT -- The Camaro concept unveiled by General Motors at the Detroit auto show clearly gets design chief Ed Welburn's blood pumping.

It didn't take much reading between the lines of his remarks at the Automotive News World Congress to get the message that he wants the remake of the classic muscle car to join the Chevy lineup as soon as possible.

GM stopped building the Camaro and its Pontiac Firebird sibling in 2002. The cars debuted as 1967 models.

"It was a vehicle I was very passionate about," said Welburn, GM's vice president of global design.

Welburn wouldn't say whether a decision had been made to put the concept into production. Once GM brass give a vehicle the green

light, Welburn noted, it typically takes three years for production to begin.

"But the Camaro isn't a typical car," he said. "I think we could move very quickly. It is a strong design."

Despite Welburn's coyness, it's an open secret that the Camaro is headed for production. The car is based on a rear-wheel-drive platform that will be engineered by GM's Australian Holden subsidiary.

GM sources say the production Camaro will be almost 100 percent true to the concept car. But the interior will be scaled back to allow lower prices for an entry-level V-6 version.

Welburn said he and GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz wanted the Camaro to be reminiscent of its predecessor, but updated. This suggested a strong Corvette flavor for the project, he said.

The concept is powered by Corvette's aluminum LS2 6.0-liter, 400-hp V-8.

Welburn said he was happy to be able to talk about the Camaro, after frustrating months of enforced silence.

GM kept details of the concept shrouded in secrecy for eight months before its debut.

And inside the company, he said, "We never used the word 'Camaro' above a whisper."

 

Quoted again for emphasis....

 

Very good news...I say make the car look like this:

and get it into showrooms asap

 

Damn, that is a nice looking car.

 

Except it doesn't look anything like a GTO and happens to look more like a firebird.

Anyway, I don't think GM's "Real fast" is the same thing we think of when we hear "real fast."

There's no way they could get this car to market in 24 months if they kicked it off today, so I can't see how they'd ever get it here in less than three years.

 

I'd venture a guess that a lot of work has already been done on the platform at least and we might just be pleasantly surprised....just a hunch....

 

Heh, I didn't even notice the Pontiac badge or the GTO badge on it. I just thought it was yet another rendition of the 5th gen.

 

I've been told by a guy I trust, who was correct on the C6 and several other GM products, that a lot of work has already been done on the Camaro. The platform is supposed to be done. He told me early last year that the new Camaro could tool by the end of 2006, maybe a little earlier.

 

I should have stated that they should remove the GTO badges and replace them with Camaro ones Anyway, this chop reminds me quite abit of a 3rd gen, which to me is a good thing. I think these changes make it look sleeker, meaner and more modern. That front end looks sooo much better than the original. I mean really, it took me from thinking the car looked ok to really, really liking it If the production version came out with a front that looked like that I'd be left with very little to complain about

 

450000 Al uminum V6 blocks

 

I thought the interior would be scaled back because it is idiotic?

 

Agreed...that interior looks ridiculous

 

I think they're referring to the use of alot of brushed aluminum or whatever metal panels all over the place in the interior, expensive stitching on the seats/perhaps the seats themselves, etc. Honestly the only area of the interior I find "idiotic" are the gauges that look about impossible to read and use, colored and styled in such a way that they throw off the whole look of the interior... I don't know what they were thinking with those things.

Somebody should photoshop in some standard looking gauges and lose the orange or whatever colored panels, I think the interior would have looked alright like that... I will miss the wrap-around cockpit style feel to the interior the 4thgens have though...

 

Is it better as a Trans Am??

 

So, what's up with this statement?? 8 months? Haven't they been working on it longer than that?