Filed under: Coupes, Green, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, Pontiac


Buried at the end of an article from The Car Connection that discusses the future of General Motors' rear-wheel-drive expansion (or lack thereof) was an interesting canard. In an effort to lower the General's CAFE rating, GM has supposedly assembled a team to outfit the new Camaro with the automaker's dual-mode hybrid drivetrain. The rational behind outfitting a Camaro with a hybrid system might be sound from a fuel-economy standpoint, but offering a fuel-sipping pony car seems like the antithesis of what a muscle-bound coupe is all about.

The article goes on to say that our new CAFE standards have all but killed GM's planned RWD cars, and because the platform underpinning the Camaro was supposed to be utilized on these other vehicles, its costs can't be kept in check. That's likely going to cause the V8 Camaro's sticker to be higher than anticipated -- possibly encroaching on Corvette territory.

Both the Camaro and the Pontiac G8 will live on, but everything else is likely off the table. Rear-wheel-drive Chevys and Buicks are dead in the water, but Cadillac will soldier on with a RWD vehicle to compete in the ultra-luxury segment.

Gallery: Chevy Camaro Concept


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Super. Let's up the corporate tax and finish GM off. Ugh.

 

The author (I assume the Car Connection) of this offers a bunch of speculative garbage. No one is going to pay a corvette price for a v8 camaro. Why not just buy the corvette. GM developed this architecture and the US congress screwed them over. That is just the way business goes. They aren't going to sell any camaros if they jack up the prices to cover all architecture costs.

 

A hybrid option package would be a good way to extend the new Camaro's reach in the marketplace. Hybrids can be designed to offer lively performance. A V6 hybrid Camaro would appeal to quite a few ecology-minded buyers.

 

Ok I just do not undrestand something. What does the CAFE standard have to do with RWD cars. Why does increasing the gas milage kill RWD cars?????


Reb

 

I don't think that's the word you wanted to use.

 

Thats what I want to know! all this talk of CAFE killing RWD and I dont see why/how!?

 

Is a Hybrid powertrain even a viable option here? It would add $5-10,000 and who knows how many hundreds of pounds to a Camaro.

Personally, if I needed to go with a high mpg Camaro, I'd rather have a turbo Ecotec or a diesel over a hybrid any day.

 

Agreed Charlie. I think there are other alternatives that would suffice rather than hybrid.

 

When they say RWD - they mean Zeta. Could be some backroom politics involved too.

But Zetas are heavy, and building hundreds of thousands of 2(+) ton sedans, no longer fits into GM's future plans. A new smaller lighter RWD architecture should be out by about '11.

 

The Camaro WILL once again fail if not priced properly. Another speculative "GM is dead" article. And yes, the high end V-8 will be a "high priced" Z28... we already knew that.

Here's the full original article.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/blog/?p=759

It's already been posted under the powertrain section.

 

I'm not at all opposed to a hybrid Camaro OPTION. I'll take MINE in as the most powerful traditonal V8 as I can get.

 

The sky is falling....


Have faith people, and don't take everything you read on the internet as the truth.

 

...reading the article again....

...to me that statement implies there is an actual 1 mpg penalty automatically applied to any car that is RWD... that can't be right... can it? Or are they just assuming all rwd cars get 1 mpg less than a similar fwd version???

 

that is good news for hybrid buyers but i would not by a hybrid camaro