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FOR RELEASE: 2006-08-10



Auto Buyers Have Spoken: GM Will Build An All-New Chevrolet Camaro

Next generation of classic sport coupe goes into production in late 2008, on sale in 2009; will be almost identical to wildly popular concept unveiled at NAIAS




TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Dear sports car fans: General Motors heard you loud and clear.

GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced today that GM will build an all-new version of the Chevrolet Camaro sport coupe based on the award-winning concept that stole the spotlight at the North American International Auto Show and has ignited the passion of car enthusiasts around the world ever since – even spurring consumers to start petition drives and send in certified checks in hopes of placing early deposits.

“The overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the Camaro Concept continues to remind me of the uniquely iconic place our products can have in customers’ hearts,” Wagoner said. “Camaro is much more than a car; it symbolizes America's spirit and its love affair with the automobile.”

The all-new Camaro will begin with early production versions at the end of 2008 and will go on sale in the first quarter of 2009. “The new Camaro will be almost identical to the concept, a thoroughly modern interpretation of the 1969 model, considered by many to be the best design of the car’s first generation,” said Ed Welburn, GM's global vice president of design, who owns a 1969 Camaro SS. The front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sport coupe will feature an independent rear suspension, and will be offered in a variety of models with the choice of manual and automatic transmissions and V-6 and V-8 engines.

Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper said the new Camaro will appeal to both men and women, and unite customers with fond memories of previous Camaros with those who first experienced a Camaro when the concept was unveiled in January.

“We intend to make the all-new Camaro relevant to younger buyers while retaining its appeal to current fans,” said Peper. “The beauty of the best Camaros is that they have always been beautiful to look at with performance that rivals expensive European GTs. Yet they were practical enough to drive every day and priced within the reach of many new-car buyers.”

In fact, the Camaro Concept design team embodies the universal appeal that Chevy envisions for the car: The core team reporting to the lead designer ranges in age from 27-35 and came from all over the world, yet they all had similar experiences growing up with a love for the Camaro and American performance cars. Their concept redefines the Camaro for both existing and new generations of fans in a contemporary way with responsive performance and modern technology.

Peper said Camaro will complement Chevy’s already-popular portfolio of performance vehicles led by Corvette and including its broad SS lineup.

An American icon
The Camaro has touched many lives – and graced many garages – with nearly 4.8 million produced between 1967 and 2002. More than 1,000 Camaro clubs exist globally, and thousands of Camaro web sites pay homage to the sports coupe. A recent report on America Online’s Top Searches of 2005 placed Camaro in the Top 10 car searches for the year.

About Chevrolet
Chevrolet is America's No. 1-selling automotive brand. With the largest dealer network in the United States, Chevy is the leader in full-size trucks and the leader in sales of vehicles priced $35,000 and above. Chevrolet delivers more-than-expected value in every vehicle category, offering cars and trucks priced from $9,995 to $78,175. Chevy delivers expressive design, spirited performance and great value with standard features usually found only on more expensive vehicles. For more information on Chevy cars and trucks, please visit www.chevrolet.com.

About General Motors
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader for 75 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM operates one of the world’s leading finance companies, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and insurance. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.


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Camaro Photography

That is good news. Hopefully this will send a mesage to the car makers that buyers are sick of computer designed cars, and hark back to the times when men/women would draw cars on a drawing board. And stop feeding us these cookie cutter cars.

Its just too bad it will never actually look like that by the time it hits the showroom...they never look as good as the concept

I think the challenger concept was better looking. But this is better than the current camaro/firebird. What they should do is just put a new engine, suspesion etc in a 69 body and sell it they would make millions.

Looks like a friggin mustang to me !

Looks like the designers at MOPAR, Ford, and Chevy got together on this one. It has the Chrysler high shoulder look that seems to be in vogue. Also looks like it has attitude. I LIKE attitude. Wonder if they'll have a convertible version. I REALLY like convertibles with attitude.

Great looking car.
Cool if they make it like that.

Even better, it looks like this http://www.dodge.com/en/challenger/ is a go.

I wonder where they'll build the new Camaro? They knocked down the Camaro/Firebird factory and put in a shopping mall about 10 years ago.

As owner of a 68 Firebird... The car has the lines of the 68 F-Body and the grill is classic Camaro all the way; but the hood/scoop thing is all wrong... I can't imagine where that came from. The "gill's" behind the doors WAS a Pontiac Motor Division trait (Thank You DeLorean, RIP) The lower facia is over-accented, they need to under-cut it a bit to hide it. I'm sure it's there for drag coefficient/economy. The 2008 and up EPA regs are getting pretty tight with emissions, good luck to them.
-Jim

Horrible!!!

Looks like Benny's new Charger don't it?
I suppose if they really try, they could make it a even uglier, hard to do, but possible.

Beautiful car.... just hope GM's around to unveil it in 2007 !!

nah the charger is WAY bigger. I parked next to a Cadillac fleetwood yesterday and my car is longer...

The grill makes it look like it's half asleep - or hung over.

I heard Nascar is considering pony cars for the Busch cars: Mustang, Camaro, Challenger and Solara. What does our inside man Ryan say? I'd like to see it.
Mike Sr.

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What they should do is just put a new engine, suspesion etc in a 69 body and sell it they would make millions.

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Check this out NEW '69 Camaro!

All I have to do now is win the Powerball.

The car is based on the 69 MY. It is a modern design, as opposed to retro, heck, the Mustang looks stale compared to this. The Challenger looks real good, but the design it is based on is much cleaner to begin with. I got a chance to see a red Camaro Sunday at the race in Indy. It looked INCREDIBLE !!!.

It's ok but I've always been a mid-size guy myself--drove a '70 LeMans Sport for years. I wish GM hadn't squandered the GTO moniker on the current offering and had instead gone the new Challenger route. It seems detroit has learned from VW and is cashing in on the popularity of its own classics.

Being a Mopar fan I like the new Challeger better. But like Adey inferred, there is sometimes a big gap between a prototype and the actual production model. I think Ford did pretty good with the production Mustang looking like the prototype. And also at least Ford and GM are still all American owned unlike Chrysler whose majority partner is Daimler. Not that I guess it makes much difference anymore.

Of course with the 427 tri carb set-up!