Chevrolet to axe Camaro – for now
After what they describe as nine strong years in the market, Chevrolet will end production of the sixth-generation Camaro coupe and convertible in January, 2024. But they say this won’t be the final chapter for the nameplate that debuted back in 1966.
The announcement, made on 22 March, comes in the wake of steadily falling demand for the Camaro, with the Corvette outselling the pony car for the past two years, despite the ‘Vette being around double the price.
This marks the second time the Camaro has been discontinued; the first coming in 2002 and lasting for eight years. Back then, Chevrolet signed off with a 35th Anniversary Edition.
This time around, there’ll be no farewell model, but a ‘Collector’s Edition’ package will be available on MY24 Camaro RS and SS models, as well as a handful of MY24 Camaro ZL1 variants in North America.
Details on the Collector’s Edition package have yet to be announced, but Chevrolet says it will pay homage to the original Camaro that arrived as a 1967 model and reference the pony car’s development code name of ‘Panther’.
“As we prepare to say goodbye to the current generation Camaro, it is difficult to overstate our gratitude to every Camaro customer, Camaro assembly line employee and race fan,” said Scott Bell, vice president, Global Chevrolet.
“While we are not announcing an immediate successor today, rest assured, this is not the end of Camaro’s story.”
That successor is expected to be an EV, possibly in the same vein as what Dodge has done with reinventing the Charger as a purely electric performance coupe, while some sources claim the Camaro will come back as a four-door sedan. Regardless of how many doors it has, a Camaro EV would be in line with General Motors’ broader goal of going fully electric for all their brands, including Chevrolet, by 2035.
The demise of the Camaro in early 2024 won’t mean the same for the racing versions used in the USA or the Repco Supercars Championship here, with the category confirming that Camaros will remain on the grid until at least the end of 2025.
