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Chevrolet Camaro future up in the air

Reports from the USA claim the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro due in 2023 has been put on hold to prioritise utes, SUVs and the rollout of electric cars.


However, the iconic muscle car is understood to be safe for the remainder of its current model life – including in Australia, where it is converted to right-hand drive and sold locally by Holden Special Vehicles.

According to a report in Muscle Cars & Trucks, multiple sources within General Motors claim the seventh-generation Camaro has been "suspended, and the nameplate will likely be shelved once again after 2023".

The Camaro may, however, return at a later date. It was last suspended between 2002 and 2010.

North American sales of the Camaro dropped 25 per cent in 2018 to 50,963 deliveries, and the broader muscle car category is struggling. The Ford Mustang is still American's best-selling muscle car, but its sales were down 7.8 per cent over the same period.

The current-generation Camaro has been on sale in the USA since 2016, but the model only arrived in Australia last year courtesy of a right-hand drive conversion by HSV. Having launched as a pre-facelift 2SS, the muscle car is now offered as a 'base' 2SS and supercharged ZL1 variant.

A spokesperson for HSV declined to outline the Camaro's future in Australia, but said the company is "excited by the strong market feedback we’ve received to the recent launch of both the upgraded 2SS and the ZL1 supercar".

Chevrolet told US media it "will not engage in speculation" about the Camaro's future, highlighting the changes it made to the line-up as part of an emergency facelift in May.

"All of our updates are customer-driven to improve the car and its driving experience,” the company said in a media statement.

The current Camaro is built on the GM Alpha platform, shared with the now-discontinued Cadillac ATS mid-sized sedan/coupe and CTS large sedan.

The Cadillac replacements are built on GM's updated A2XX architecture, but GM has reportedly postponed the original plans to build a next-generation Camaro on the same chassis.

Along with declining sales, the report says muscle cars are at odds with GM's new "zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion" mantra, and claims key members of the Camaro team have been reassigned within the company.

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