The All New Camaro V-8 Revealed

The new Camaro comes with a powerful V-8, but in a nod to fuel efficiency it also is available with a V-6.

The name meant squealing tires, a wide rear-end and a Ford-eating grill to any male old enough to put on a Chevy T-shirt in the late 1960s.

But the people trying to sell Camaros today, as General Motors struggles to survive a near-fatal obsession with gas guzzlers, are giving barely a nod to the car's muscle-car heritage.

"There's some of the old, 'I remember when I was kid kind of thing,'" acknowledges Mike Howell, Chevrolet sales manager for Tampa Bay. "But more than half the people coming in have been away from Chevrolet for a while or have never purchased one."
Instead, Chevy dealers are emphasizing pleasing lines, new technology, the 21st Century sports car.

Today is the day dealers nationwide show off the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, a once-legendary American car that ended its 35-year run for lack of interest in 2002.

The interest is back, Howell said. More than 14,000 advance orders were taken nationwide, and many of the cars are already on the road.

Tampa Bay's 22 Chevrolet dealers each have at least one Camaro on the lot, and half of those have two, said Jim Gurley, zone manager for Chevrolet in Tampa Bay. Some dealers in Florida don't have any yet.

Special "reveal" events were planned today at Chevy dealers including Stingray in Plant City, Castriota in Hudson, Crystal in Homosassa, and Ferman in Tarpon Springs.

So why now for the Camaro?

After all, Chevy's parent, General Motors, is pledging practicality and new fuel efficiencies in a desperate bid to appease its new partner, the U.S. government. What's more, as part of its restructuring, GM is eliminating Pontiac, maker of the car widely credited with launching the classic muscle car genre in 1964 with its GTO.

Howell said he can't comment on that, but he did note that two-door sports cars in the Camaro's class, foreign and domestic, have carved out a market. These include Audi TT, Nissan 350Z and the other remade muscle cars: the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger.

The Camaro is late to the game today as it was then, debuting in 1967, but like the new versions of those classic muscle cars it bears some resemblance to the originals in design and a throaty exhaust.

Most Camaro demand today is for the powerful V-8 options, but Howell said Chevrolet expects in the long run to sell more of the fuel-efficient V-6s.

Most models come with a standard six-speed manual transmission, a nod to that heritage. A six-speed automatic is an option.

The new Camaro gets praise in the auto press for pep -- even its V-6 -- and criticism for emphasizing form over function with visibility that is somewhat limited.

But there are no clear winners yet among the critics. Edmunds.com, for example, favors the Camaro while the Los Angeles Times declares the Mustang superior.

Chevrolet is holding out hope it will emerge the winner where it counts. Howell said the carmaker sees the new Camaro drawing customers to the entire Chevy line.

"It's nice to have a look and to remember where it came from," he said. "But the vision is to know the future."