When the Chevrolet Camaro was axed in 2023, General Motors teased the long-running Ford Mustang rival’s story wasn’t over. It turns out the American automaker wasn’t just blowing smoke.
GM Authority reports the Camaro is indeed returning, with sources familiar with the matter confirming that it’s scheduled to enter production in late 2027.
It will reportedly be produced at the same facility – the Lansing Grand River plant in the US state of Michigan – as the sixth-generation Camaro.
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If you were worried Chevrolet would put the storied badge on something like an electric crossover – as had previously been rumoured – you can breathe a sigh of relief.
The seventh-generation Camaro will reportedly be based on the Alpha II rear-wheel drive platform that underpinned the last Camaro, as well as the outgoing Cadillac CT4 and CT5.
This platform supports four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines, including the supercharged 6.2-litre ‘LT4’ V8 of the CT5-V Blackwing and Camaro ZL1, though no Alpha II-based vehicle has ever used a hybrid or electric powertrain.
However, GM Authority cryptically says “the Chevy Camaro replacement we’re discussing here might not be exactly what you would expect”, and has teased it will publish more intel shortly.
It’s unclear what the website is referring to, though one possibility is the introduction of a sedan body style. This is something the Camaro has never offered, though the Dodge Charger nameplate moved to a sedan just over two decades ago and Ford is reportedly working on a sedan version of its Mustang.
GM sources have previously told GM Authority a seventh-generation Camaro would need to be “affordable and attainable”.
The last Camaro rolled off the production line in December 2023, so this means the nameplate will return after a four-year absence – a much shorter gap than that between the fourth and fifth generations of the Camaro, which was around seven years.
While the Cadillac CT4 is being retired, there’ll reportedly be another sedan based on the Alpha II platform: a new, as-yet unnamed Buick.
Buick hasn’t offered a passenger car in the US market since 2020, the last year of the Regal (aka the Opel Insignia and Holden ZB Commodore).
However, it has continued to offer passenger cars in its largest market, China, including a new generation of the LaCrosse which was retired in the US after the 2019 model year.
A rear-wheel drive sedan is quite a departure for Buick. It hasn’t offered one since the Park Avenue, a rebadged Holden Caprice sold in China until 2012. In the US market, it last sold one in 1996 with the old-school, body-on-frame Roadmaster.
The new Buick sedan will likely be a different and significantly smaller beast, and it’s unclear what name it’ll wear.
Buick now has a lineup consisting entirely of plush, premium crossover SUVs, so the return of the iconic Grand National nameplate seems unlikely even if the Alpha II platform has been critically acclaimed for its dynamics and vehicles underpinned by it have been offered with hot V8 and turbo V6 engines.
The brand could re-use the Regal nameplate, which is still in use in China on a facelifted version of the defunct Insignia/Commodore/US-market Regal. There’s plenty of precedent for sporty Regals, with Buick’s mid-sizer having been offered with turbo V6 power in the past – including under the Grand National nameplate.
Automotive News reports word from a supplier that GM expects to produce 60-70,000 CT5 and Camaro vehicles annually at the plant, which indicates the automaker is expecting an uplift in sales for these two nameplates.
The sixth-generation Camaro’s US sales dropped steadily from 72,705 in its first year (2016) to 21,893 in 2021, before rising again.
The CT5 peaked in 2023 with 18,593 sales in the US, though it has always sold significantly better in China where it’s also produced.
The sixth-generation Camaro was officially sold in Australia between 2018 and 2020, with right-hand drive conversion work done by Holden Special Vehicles and a total of 1550 vehicles sold in that period.
Only coupes were offered locally, not convertibles, and only V8-powered SS and ZL1 variants were available, with the naturally aspirated V6 and turbocharged four-cylinder engines not making the trip.
When it was new in 2018, the Camaro 2SS with a 6.2-litre V8 and eight-speed auto had a starting price of almost $86,000 before on-road costs.
That put it at a severe disadvantage to the first global Mustang, which was factory-produced in right-hand drive and available here with V8 power for around $20,000 less. And the Camaro ZL1 was priced at $160,000 plus on-roads when it was sold exclusively between 2019 and 2020.
The Camaro was the only Alpha II-based GM product ever sold here.
While the previous fifth-generation Camaro used the Australian-developed Zeta platform, shared with the Holden VE and VF Commodores, it was never sold here.
MORE: A look back at the Chevrolet Camaro, the Ford Mustang’s nemesis