The Chevrolet Camaro is yet to hit the track in Supercars, but the American brand is reportedly already planning a special way to send-off the iconic pony car within the next few years.
While Chevrolet parent company, General Motors, hasn’t confirmed any plans to axe the Camaro, all signs point to it being discontinued at the end of the current model’s lifecycle by 2025 (at the latest). But GM is also rumoured – according to GMAutority.com – to be working on installing the newer ‘LT2’ engine under the bonnet of the Camaro, to give it one last performance boost.
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The LT2 is the same 6.2-litre V8 engine found in the back of the new Corvette C8 Stingray, while the Camaro continues with the older LT1. The Camaro SS and LT1 models currently boast 340kW of power, while the LT2 would be able to boost that to 365kW.
However, the article cites several reasons why the rumours may be wide of the mark. For starters, with the Camaro set to be dropped, most of the engineering team and resources have already moved on to other projects within GM.
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There’s also the costs involved in swapping out the engine at such a late stage of the Camaro’s life, with it likely only having, at best, two years on sale.
On the flipside, a power boost would be a nice way to farewell a car that has been a key part of Chevrolet’s line-up for decades. It’s also the hero model for the brand’s NASCAR entry, so ensuring it remains popular and relevant during its final years is clearly important to GM.
There is a sliver of hope that the Camaro nameplate may survive in the future of GM, albeit in a very different form. There have been reports that the company is planning to launch an all-electric sports sedan that could carry the Camaro badge.
This is a similar strategy to Ford, which has applied the Mustang nameplate to its electric SUV, the Mach-E, to try and bridge the gap between its popular models from the past to its plans for the future.
GM has already announced plans to have the majority of its range – with the exception of its pickups and other trucks – be all-electric by 2035. So if the Camaro were to survive, it won’t be anything like the current V8-powered coupe.
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