Chevrolet Camaro Test Mule Spied
20 Sep, 2007
12 Comments 
No it isn’t the new Holden Monaro, what you are about to see is a wolf in Holden clothing.
(due to copyright issues, we can’t host the photo here, but to see the image, click here)
It may look like the US domestic equivalent of the Holden VE Commodore SS on the outside, however it is actually a Chevrolet Camaro test mule caught in the US recently.
Technically speaking, this is the world’s most powerful Commodore - being a Camaro test mule, under that bonnet potentially lies an LS8 engine putting out close to 500 HP (373 kW). A 3.6L direct-inject V6 and a ‘regular’ V8 will also be offered.
(another image here)
Along with an obviously shorter wheel base, the test mule also features a lower slung roof line and a lack of rear doors - Monaro fans rejoice because this is as close as it comes to seeing a genuine VE Monaro.
(another image here)
The Chevrolet Camaro is due for a 2009 debut in the US with a convertible model to follow shortly after. There are no plans to release the Camaro in Australia but it hasn’t entirely been ruled out.
Source: LeftLaneNews
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September 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
If Holden are going to build the Monaro then theres no point in importing the Camaro.. unless of course its an HSV exclusive
However; by the time the Monaro is released.. Holden should make the rear end a bit more sportier - to differentiate it more from the sedans
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September 20th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Sorry to dissappoint you wheelnut but there are no plans to bring back the Monaro.
The only reason this mule has two doors is because its just the body on a shorter chassis.
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September 20th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
UMM HOW DO YOU NO ITS A TEST MULE AND NOT A PICTURE OF A VE MULE CAR FROM A WHILE AGO??
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September 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
why is there still a rear door line?
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September 20th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
HOLDEN & HSV 4EVA: Well mostly because the photos were taken only a few days ago?
Andrew M: The body of the Commodore has been roughly attached to the chassis of the Camaro. They are just testing chassis dynamics so appearance wouldn’t matter.
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September 20th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
then why put it on a shorter chassis if it is the same skin?
i maen just change the rear qtr panels to blank out the doors if you arent changing the front or rear etc
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September 20th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I’m not quite sure what you mean?
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September 20th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
What …….I thought they had already released the 2 door VE photos though ?
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September 20th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Perhaps the article isn’t very clear. This car IS NOT a VE Commodore. Its a Camaro. The VE shell has been put on it for testing purposes.
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September 20th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Hey George I read this report from 2006 but does say VE WAGON in 2008 .
Exclusive: VE Sedan To Spawn New Monaro!
Terry Martin
17 July 2006
www.goauto.com.au
An all-new Monaro is coming. Mike Simcoe, the man who crafted Holden’s VE Commodore and the VT-based Monaro - and who is now in charge of exterior design for all GM North America cars - has uttered the words Australians have been longing for: “It will come.”
Mr Simcoe has revealed to GoAuto that a coupe version was “in the offing early on” in the VE Commodore’s development and that building a two-door version would now be a relatively simple task.
However, it will not be seen until bread-and-butter model derivatives such as utilities are built, meaning a likely arrival date of late 2008.
“Right now there is no Monaro that’s going to appear next year or anything like that. There’s too much else that this architecture has got in line before we get to that. It’s not that we’re not doing it – it will come eventually.
“There’s just a whole bunch of other stuff that needs to earn money first,” he said.
“If the host car is good, then doing anything else off it is much easier. The VT delivered the Monaro – and the Monaro was only good because the VT was good. It’s all within the bounds of what the architecture will deliver. So you’ve got the same sort of stuff here.”
While the next Monaro could be built in the United States rather than Australia using the VE’s new Holden-developed global architecture formerly known as Zeta, the coupe will not be a version of the Zeta-based Chevrolet Camaro concept unveiled at the Detroit motor show earlier this year.
The Camaro has been touted as a possible successor for the Monaro-based Pontiac GTO. But Mr Simcoe, who is responsible for the design of future Pontiac cars (as well as those from Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Saturn), was adamant that despite sharing a common platform, the two vehicles did not have a common destiny. “The Chev Camaro is not a Monaro,” he said.
GM Holden chairman and managing director Denny Mooney also hosed down speculation about the next Monaro being derived from the Camaro: “I wouldn’t re-skin a Camaro – a Camaro is a Camaro.”
Mr Simcoe (left) said the Zeta architecture was flexible enough to allow Holden to build several model variants, including a station wagon, single-cab and dual-cab ute and four-wheel drive passenger cars and wagons.
Of these, only the single-cab ute is a certainty to join the sedan, in around 12 months from now - though a VE Commodore wagon is expected to be approved for production from around March 2008.
“There was a coupe in the offing early on (but) there’s any number of alternatives being thought about and being designed – and they have not necessarily all come to fruition,” he said.
“One of the things that we were able to do because we were designing from the ground up is the sort of flexibility we’re working into the plant in Adelaide and the sort of thinking that generated things like the Crewman, traditional utes and wagons and all the rest of it.
“This architecture was designed in a modular fashion so it is fairly easy to do – what we call flexible architecture. If it costs a lot to change, you’re not going to do much change.
“It’s designed to allow us to get more vehicles out of it. That’s down to not necessarily sharing panels but sharing the base architecture and positioning of wheels and tyres and cowl and all that sort of stuff.”
What’s coming from Holden
VE Commodore sedan - August 2006
HSV E-Series sedan - Late August 2006
WM Statesman/Caprice sedan - September 2006
VE Commodore utility - October 2007
VE Commodore wagon - March 2008
VE Monaro coupe - Late 2008
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December 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I hate to burst bubbles.
http://www.scn.net.au/VEMonaro.jpg
This would appear to be a VE Monaro wouldnt it? Picture came from this site too!
- Just to clear up any confusion about weather or not there will be a VE monaro and if its goign to completely look like a normal commodore, obviously its not and obviously with holden announcing not long ago that they will not produce any more monaro’s i think it answers that question aswell. My guess is they will make 3 or 4 monaros, give them to the CEO and his buddies and call them a prototype.
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December 15th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
[…] Read the rest of this great post here […]
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