Good question.

My guess? In the 2012-2014 time frame.

There are those at GM who feel that the market conditions and timing are far from ideal for the kind of car the 5th gen will be.

Add to that, the fact that all other Zeta programs have virtually completely imploded in North America - leaving only Camaro on Oshawa's newly refitted Zeta assembly line. That wasn't the business plan for this car, and puts more pressure on it for a replacement architecture.

And as GM moves forward with Alpha, it seems that Chevy will share in it's developement with Cadillac. And Chevy might get more than just a "coupe" out of it.

Lastly, despite all the changes going on at Ford, the buzz is, that a new, smaller Mustang, is still on the way in the '12/'13 timeframe.


Put all of that together, and you create the perfect storm for getting a replacement out ASAP.

 

Once nice thing about the Camaro still being several months out is the mass hysteria regarding fuel prices should die down some by the time it hits the streets.

 

You must be dreaming to include 2012... That's only 3 years for the 5th gen!

2014 at best, going with GM's track record, and considering the current volatile market.

 

Yup, exactly.

But anything might happen. Well, anything except a very long run for this particular car.

 

What about Pontiac?

Giving Chevy FWD except for Camaro, Corvette, & trucks, and giving Pontiac a broader selection (though not exclusively) of RWD made some sense to me.

By the way, is it possible that Chevy would get an Alpha coupe and it would not be called Camaro, and the new Camaro would continue on? That would be analagous to the latter half of the 70s where there was both the Monza and the Camaro.

 

I'm thinking that Pontiac is probably out of the Alpha mix. Buick might get something though.

And while having both a Zeta coupe and an Alpha coupe is an interesting scenario, I believe anything on Zeta is now a dead man walking.

 

I have a fool-proof plan for making the 6th gen CAFE-positive, and still keeping a couple badass V8s in the lineup.

We need a couple hundred Camaro enthusiasts. Every one of them will run for Congress, on a platform of "Say anything to get elected". Once elected to Congress, they will then repeal the CAFE law, paving the way for the 6th gen.

Who's with me?

 

Actually, the more I think about it, the only way I can see keeping a badass V8 in the line-up, is to make it very fuel efficient and wrap in a smaller, lighter Camaro. That, and make all the other Camaros L-4's and turbo L-4's.

 

Smaller and lighter, definitely. L4's and turbo L4's, I'm not so sure about.

I won't be surprised if that's the route the Camaro takes, but it's not something I'd be too thrilled about.

 

If that was a way to make a V8 version available, I'd be good with that. Four cylinders of up to around 300 hp are possible or even probable here. In a smaller RWD package, performance could be quite thrilling - and very importantly, CAFE positive.

 

Well, lookie here:

 

Damn that's ugly!

 

photoshop between the Camaro and the Volt?

 

Yeah, could be. I found it on GMI.