Media | Articles
Report: Seventh-Gen Camaro Plan Derailed but Still Alive
If you are among the Chevrolet faithful waiting on a new, seventh-generation Camaro, you’d best keep waiting. As reported by the GM Authority website, the project isn’t dead, but it recently suffered what may be a mortal wound.
“A plan was generated and compiled, but upon being presented to decision makers, the proposal was ‘blown apart’ due to the business case not being strong enough,” the story says. “One source tells us that GM is still kicking the project around. ‘It’s still in play, but the light at the end of the tunnel is now dimmer,’ the source tells us.”
In a separate story the website posted in January, a “source familiar with GM’s internal Camaro discussions” said that a key factor needed to proceed with seventh-gen plans is that “affordability is a priority,” suggesting that the aforementioned “business case” may not have properly pressed that button.
The 2024 model, the last in the sixth-generation’s life, which began in 2016, started at $32,495, but it could be optioned out to over $55,000. The slick, Corvette-powered ZL1 started at just over $75,000 and topped out at about $82,000.
Until proven otherwise this is still very much an unverified report, and the question the rumor mill hasn’t answered is whether this upcoming seventh-generation Camaro model would be powered by electricity, or gasoline, or both. Ford has suggested that the Mustang will be petroleum-powered for at least the near future, apparently with optional V-8 engines. What platform a new Camaro might appear upon is similarly unclear.
Marketplace
Buy and sell classics with confidence
Another, lesser consideration was raised by Road & Track several days ago, in a story titled “NASCAR Has a Camaro Problem.” It points out that Toyota races the Camry and the Supra—or at least races cars that carry those names—and sells those models to the public, as does Ford, which races the Mustang.
Chevrolet is still racing the Camaro in 2025, and the automaker has no other obvious production model to which it can pivot in the name-only NASCAR war. NASCAR isn’t about to kick Chevy out of Cup racing, but if the NASCAR Camaro continues its run for much longer, people will start talking. The only “car” Chevrolet has left is the Corvette, which might work, but using it for a new NASCAR body style would, well, look funny.
We asked Chevrolet about these rumors. Trevor Thompkins, who handles performance and motorsport communications, responded: “We’re unable to comment on rumors and speculation on vehicle portfolio planning.”
They should use the c7 platform to develop the 7th gen Camaro
If they won’t do a RWD car with the engine in the front and a V8 option it won’t be a Camaro. I think the option needs to be there to compete with the Mustang. The Corvette is now a very different car being mid engined so a front engine option needs to come back.
This is a very difficult car to do a very difficult time.
GM only has the Cadillac platform to base this on. It is very expensive. It made a great car out of a Camaro but the price was nearly as much for a Stingray.
The pony car formula is broken. It was based on big engines in Economy car platforms that had better styling. Well there are no REW economy cars anymore.
Coupes are not an easy sale either. Even the Mustang is poorly. They sold 47,212 last year and this was a car that used to sell a 607,568 in 1966. The numbers they move today are not a good ROI.
The Toyota 86 sold 11,486 units in 2024 That is for a much cheaper car than the Camaro and Mustang so even that is not working.
People today are looking for affordable vehicles and utility. Most can only afford one new car so it much check all the boxes anymore. Boomers were the main buyers of the Camaro and Mustang and they are also moving on.
Many Camaro people went to the Stingray as it was nearly the same price and even cheaper than the ZL1. Moving to the C7 is a no can do as the car was not designed to be a coupe with a back seat. The reengineering would be as much as a new platform. Also the cost would not make it cheaper than the present Stingray,.
The trouble is cars like this make money but they do not make as much money as a truck or SUV. They also are declining in sales numbers before they were removed. To make a buisness case here is really tough.
Many companies are laying off engineers as they are strapped for money. Smart ones like GM are trying to build for the future and present by holding on to the ICE but having EV ready should the political winds blow the other way come next election.
Also globally the only area of market growth is the EV market. the rest is stagnate.
I love the Camaro and wish it to come back as a cool affordable ICE model but that is a tough one. To do a FWD is a no go and to do a 4 cylinder would need a new name.
Maybe an AWD lowered on a CUV platform and call it some new name for a new preperformance car but even then it would never make the money they need on the investment.
It is not enough to just make money you need the greatest return on what you invest in.
To be honest the Mustangs clock is ticking. It is either going to have to cost more and expand upward or die. They could do a mid engine Mustang and try to compete with the Corvette.
The C8 like it or not sells and it makes money. Even if it were struggling with 10K sales and little profits like in 1992 GM would kill it. They did that year and only some rebel engineers kept it alive with Perkins.
Now get the economy better and people earning more to gain on the cost of a car we could revisit this.
The prices of the cars have far out paced the increase in wages unless you are a UAW worker who got a major bump. The trouble is the rest of us can’t afford to pay it.
How true when you said the Mustang’s clock is ticking. Times have changed.
Cars are too expensive for most people. The Pony car market isn’t there anymore.
Ford holds on because they have nothing else.
I can see them making the Mustang more a Corvette competitor. They kind of have as their GT3 car is a $400,000 Mustang.
I think Ford failed when they did not make the first Ford GT a lower priced cars. They could have competed with GM and the Corvette easily. Offering a non supercharged base car and then the higher end like they did. That would have been a killer move. Now these are cars most people never see on the street and just in collections.
hyperv6,
Does Haggerty pay you to comment on EVERY article that they publish?
Or do you just have endless amounts of time to post comments on EVERY article?
Maybe both?
If you regularly read the comments in the daily Hagerty stories, you will notice that hyperv6 typically, but not always, limits his comments to stories that involve GM products.
Ahhhh….
GM Products
Thanks, That explains everything!
Agreed. I am a Mustang guy and still have a 1970 Boss 302. I see modern Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes and love them all but they do not serve my needs anymore. A full size, 4 door, short bed truck is what meets my perceived needs now.
I keep hearing the same arguments over and over and collectively, all that has become is a justification to see the car discontinued….over and over again.
The first gen rocked because it was NEW. It was FRESH and it was TIMELESS. No, that’s not an excuse to reproduce the same design indefinitely….unless you 911 it.
With that said, the Camaro has room between it and the C8 since the Corvette has gone top end. The opportunity for Camaro is to go SIMPLE and that means in the ICE REFRESHED market, produce platforms that are SMALLER that can facilitate the safety features necessary for good insurance ratings and….higher performance versions to possibly include V8. Why not? When LTs were getting over 30 MPG there’s no reason NOT to offer them.
But like someone else wrote….these cars must maintain a fairly large price delta between the top CAMARO dog and the lowest Corvette. Sincerely, this is possible given most the of doodads in the car which are technology based are…..cheap. Digital dashes which can change arrangements and functions are CHEAP! The emphasis should be on DESIGN, Simple but efficient Powerplants, Braking and Handling. Hey, I’ll consider a four banger turbo that has near 300hp. WHY NOT? BUT THEY MUST REMAIN SIMPLE, and NOT STUPID in DESIGN.
Look at a BMW today. Their designers obviously played WAY TO MUCH on MIND CRAFT!!!!! I CAN’T STAND EM!
Cheverolet has an opportunity to do it right. But frankly, I think their management and business structure is the problem and if they can’t get that fixed….CAMARO aint the only brand dead…..CHEVROLET may go the way of the DODO and frankly I don’t want to see that happen.
Watch first of the three part interview with Corvette designer and manger. How can I watch the last two sections?
Just look back on this web site. It was presented in 3 parts and one full video. Good video.
Chevy still holds on to the Corvette. The Camaro is currently irrelevant.
America needs a Camaro. Why must I have to buy a Mustang? We need the V8 rumble that’s somewhat affordable.
I’m a Ford guy but I have said for years that Ford needs the Camaro and Chevy needs the Mustang. It’s the competition that improves both cars.
Not sure whats gonna happen here….either all the greaseballs with the mullet haircut and tattoos will have to buy Mustangs or Chevy has got to bring the Camaro back and sell 3 of them a year like they have been doing. All the retired old geezers wait in line to buy the Corvette for $10K over MSRP so they can then take it home and park it in their retirement home garage and wax it 5 days a week. As for Nascar? Who cares? Its just a big wrap that they put on the same car.
Maybe Nascar teams could switch to Cadillac. Cadillac is very successful in IMSA GTP with some big names involved. Or GM can make just 500 Camaros for Nascar qualification. Hendrick would buy 100 of them.
The Camaro needs to have a very healthy gas engine and a manual transmission or I won’t buy it.
If Toyota can race the “Camry” ( whatever that means) Chevy can re-introduce the Vega, sell it as an affordable sporty hatchback but with much better quality and NASCAR will allow that car to be the Chevrolet in the field. We all know the LS will fit in one. Problem solved.
That’s a great idea.
The Vega idea is plausible and cheap. Agree quality must be there!
Years ago, I thought I wanted a Camaro. I travel a lot and arranged to have an SS Camaro rental on a business trip to southern California in 2018. The engine and chassis were outstanding, but the rest of the car was a big letdown. At the airport I discovered that the trunk opening was too small for my roll aboard bag, so my bag had to go in the front seat. Then driving at night through the LA traffic I found how bad the outward visibility was. Finally, I discovered there is no spare tire or any place for one (the dreaded run-flat tires), had to be rescued by the rental car company. A few months later I bought a Mustang GT, which has a usable trunk, spare tire, and is much easier to live with as a daily driver. If they ever do another Camaro they need to ensure it is usable as a regular car.
The only car Chevrolet makes is the Malibu. Easy enough to switch to that for NASCAR, since it’s similar to a Camry. They could probably use most of that platform for a new Camaro. Switch to rear drive and a two door format. 60% or so of the body and parts would be new, but that 40% shared would be a substantial cost savings over a 100% unique body. The only way Camaro comes back in an affordable manner is by sharing as many components as possible with something else. Cadillac CT4 or CT5 could be an option, again in a two door/RWD configuration, and still only sharing about 40%…
Malibu was discontinued in the fall of 2024
What is even considered affordable in todays money? When the average price of a new car is like 40k now, an affordable Camaro V8 probably isn’t even a reality anymore.
Dodge has built the new Charger for 2025. It is available as a two-door, four-door, EV and ICE!
ALL of them are called Charger! The designers have brilliantly made the rear window, roofline and trunk lid into a hatchback! It looks like a traditional fastback coupe with a separate trunk lid, but the entire rear opens up and the back seats fold down for incredibly large storage space and ease of access!
Right now, the only ICE engine is the two hp versions of the new twin-turbo inline 6cyl “Hurricane” engine. But with all of the different engines available from it’s parent company, Stellantis, Charger could easily get a 2.0 liter turbo 4cyl, or any number of V6 engines, or even a newly developed 4.5 liter DOHC V8 with Hemi heads developed by Maserati or Alpha Romèo or any other sister company.
The new Charger platform can be many things to many people and bring cars back to North America!
GM could do this same kind of thing and share the platform with Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, etc. The four-door could be called Malibu, the two-door could be called Camaro and Cadillac/Buick could use both platforms with different skins!
I’m really rooting for the new Charger platform to be a huge success. I’ve seen a few of the Charger Daytona EV on the street and have seen one four-door ICE Charger with manufacturer plates.