And GM Management actually uses the "C" word....Unfortunately it looks like they're veering away from calling it Camaro?
Automaker works on rear-wheel-drive platform for new generation of vehicles.
By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News
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General Motors Corp. is working on a new rear-wheel-drive platform that could be the basis for a vehicle reminiscent of the departed Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird sport coupes.
"We're going to take another look at high performance rear-wheel drive," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Tuesday at the Society of Automotive Engineers' 2005 World Congress.
In March, GM suspended plans to bring out a new generation of rear-wheel-drive vehicles for the North American market, citing uncompetitive costs.
The new platform -- known internally as Zeta -- served as the underpinnings for the popular Buick Velite concept car that debuted on the 2004 auto show circuit.
Jim Queen, GM vice president of global engineering, told The Detroit News in an interview this week that the automaker is now working on a rear-wheel-drive platform that would be more cost-effective, and could result in a Camaro-like vehicle.
"There's a Camaro hook in all of us," Queen said. "It may not be a Camaro, but there's a lot of us inside our company and outside our company that feel very passionate about it."
Queen said the new platform, or architecture, could be some form of Zeta or the Sigma rear-wheel-drive architecture used by Cadillac's new rear-wheel-drive sedans and crossover.
"It's going to be something I sort of call Zeta-light," Lutz said.
The Camaro and its twin, the Pontiac Firebird, were favorites of young drivers who loved tooling around in a powerful, muscle car at a moderate price.
But the cars fell from favor in the late 1990s as young consumers shifted to sport utility vehicles and front-wheel drive passenger cars and production ended in 2002.
Automaker works on rear-wheel-drive platform for new generation of vehicles.
By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News
Comment on this story
Send this story to a friend
Get Home Delivery
General Motors Corp. is working on a new rear-wheel-drive platform that could be the basis for a vehicle reminiscent of the departed Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird sport coupes.
"We're going to take another look at high performance rear-wheel drive," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Tuesday at the Society of Automotive Engineers' 2005 World Congress.
In March, GM suspended plans to bring out a new generation of rear-wheel-drive vehicles for the North American market, citing uncompetitive costs.
The new platform -- known internally as Zeta -- served as the underpinnings for the popular Buick Velite concept car that debuted on the 2004 auto show circuit.
Jim Queen, GM vice president of global engineering, told The Detroit News in an interview this week that the automaker is now working on a rear-wheel-drive platform that would be more cost-effective, and could result in a Camaro-like vehicle.
"There's a Camaro hook in all of us," Queen said. "It may not be a Camaro, but there's a lot of us inside our company and outside our company that feel very passionate about it."
Queen said the new platform, or architecture, could be some form of Zeta or the Sigma rear-wheel-drive architecture used by Cadillac's new rear-wheel-drive sedans and crossover.
"It's going to be something I sort of call Zeta-light," Lutz said.
The Camaro and its twin, the Pontiac Firebird, were favorites of young drivers who loved tooling around in a powerful, muscle car at a moderate price.
But the cars fell from favor in the late 1990s as young consumers shifted to sport utility vehicles and front-wheel drive passenger cars and production ended in 2002.
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