’16 Chevy Camaro Bows, Promises ‘Finely Honed Performance’

DETROIT – General Motors pulls the cover off the redesigned ’16 Chevrolet Camaro sports car, a lighter, more powerful and technically advanced version of one of the automaker's most successful and instantly recognizable vehicles.

“Redesigning the Camaro is thrilling and challenging all at once, but the secret is to offer something more,” Mark Reuss, executive vice president-Product Development at GM, says in a statement ahead of the unveiling today, held here on Belle Isle, site of the annual Detroit Grand Prix and attended by 1,000 Camaro fanatics. About 350 Camaros were on site.

“For Camaro enthusiasts, it retains iconic design cues and offers even more performance,” Reuss adds. “For a new generation of buyers, the 2016 Camaro incorporates our most innovative engineering ideas with finely honed performance and leading design.”

The Camaro ranks as one of GM’s most successful vehicles, if not on a volume basis but in terms of popularity with in its segment. According to WardsAuto data, the Camaro delivered 86,297 units last year off a design and underpinnings dating back to 2009. It is No.1 in the Middle Specialty segment, nearly 4,000 sales ahead of the venerable Ford Mustang.

The sixth-generation redesign witnesses a shift for the Camaro to the sophisticated rear-wheel-drive Alpha platform used by GM’s Cadillac unit from the Zeta platform. The pony car’s assembly site also switches to Lansing Grand River, MI, from Oshawa, ON, Canada, and for the first time the Camaro will be available with a 4-cyl. engine.

'16 Chevy Camaro interior.

The standard 2.0L turbo 4-cyl. in the latest Camaro, due at U.S. dealers late this year, achieves a GM-estimated 30 mpg highway with output of 275 hp and 295 lb.-ft. (400 Nm) of torque. It does 0-60 mph (7.8L/100 km) in less than six seconds, the automaker says. The engine mates to either a 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic transmission.

Optional engine choices include GM’s recently updated, high-feature 3.6L V-6, now making 335 hp and 284 lb.-ft. (386 Nm) of torque. The gasoline direct injection engine now features fuel-saving cylinder-deactivation technology, which shuts down two combustion chambers during light-load conditions. Gearbox choices include a 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic.

The range-topping engine for SS models remains a 6.2L LT1 V-8 churning out 455 hp and 455 lb.-ft. (617 Nm) of torque. GM says the engine, which has earned two consecutive Ward’s 10 Best Engines awards, adds a number of Camaro-specific components to its suite of hardware, including tubular “tri-Y”-type exhaust manifolds.

The SS offers high-torque versions of either a 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic. The manual gearbox features GM’s “rev matching” technology, which blips the throttle for perfect downshifts.

The new Camaro does not get significantly smaller compared with the old model, but GM says its muscular, sculpted design makes it look lower and wider.

“From every angle, you’ll never mistake this for anything but a Camaro,” says Tom Peters, design director-Camaro and Corvette.

“We’ve taken that iconic design and amplified its proportions to reflect a more dynamic driving experience, like the T-shirt on a muscular physique.”

Familiar design cues include a cross-car grille/headlamp aperture up front but GM says the execution is more expressive, giving the Camaro a stronger, more determined face. The taillamps are more expressive, too. The design dates back to the first-generation Camaro, but this time they feature a more aggressive horizontal taper.

All-new elements include a fastback profile, which flows into pronounced haunches of the car’s rear fenders to give it a wider, more aggressive stance.

The marriage between classic and contemporary also plays out inside the new Camaro. The instrument panel, for example, is fresh but it retains the old-fashioned, dual-binnacle-style instrument-cluster hood.

“Given the level of technology and performance, the interior had to be modern and driver focused.” says Ryan Vaughan-interior design manager, Camaro. “But although the interior is an all-new design, it is still instinctively recognizable as a Camaro.”

Other interior highlights include an available 8-in. (20-cm) high-definition center screen. The screen can be configured multiple ways for navigation, performance, and infotainment information. Another 8-in. screen, integrated in the center of the instrument panel, serves as the interface for an enhanced, next-generation MyLink infotainment system.

Pricing of the sixth-generation Camaro will be released closer to its launch.

Camaro enthusiasts and cars at the unveiling come from 35 states and Canada for a daylong celebration that includes hot laps around the island’s race course. Camaro fans unable to attend – GM says an additional 2,400 enthusiasts were placed on a waiting list – could follow the festivities online. The unlucky lot did not lose out entirely, however. GM sent them a sneak-peek of the car before the rest of the world laid eyes on it.

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