It’s time to pour one out for another classic muscle car name, if you have any left to pour. Chevrolet has announced that the current sixth-generation Camaro will be retired at the end of model year 2024.
“The final sixth generation Camaros will come off the assembly line at the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan in January 2024,” a spokesperson tells us.
“This Is Not The End”
That may not, however, be the end of the line. “While we are not announcing an immediate successor today,” we’re told, “rest assured, this is not the end of Camaro’s story.”
The Camaro name has been retired once before.
The first-generation Camaro appeared for the 1967 model year. The car went through four iterations, evolving from a classic muscle car to a curvy sports car before retiring after 2002.
Chevrolet brought the Camaro name back for model year 2010, with a big bruiser modeled on the lines of the original muscle car. The current model dates to a redesign for 2016. It’s known for a stellar engine lineup, ranging from a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that punches above its weight (putting out a V6-like 275 horsepower) to a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 making 650 horsepower and a noise that will redefine your priorities.
It’s also known, however, for poor visibility and flagging sales.
Rumors of a Much Larger Revival
What could be the next chapter of the Camaro’s story? Last December, reports emerged that General Motors was considering launching an entire Camaro sub-brand. Car and Driver reported that the brand could include three models — a successor to the muscle car classic, a crossover with similar styling, and a sports car based on the Corvette platform but with more linear Camaro styling. All three would be electric.
Gas-Powered Muscle Cars Driving Into the Sunset One by One
We’ve heard nothing else on the rumor since December. But it’s not hard to imagine Chevrolet following Dodge’s lead into the electric muscle car business.
Speaking of Dodge, the company that calls its buyers the “brotherhood of muscle” has announced the retirement of its own gas-powered muscle car. The last Challenger will roll out factory doors at the end of the 2023 model year.
And what a last car it is — Dodge is sending the Challenger off with a series of special editions, including one with 1,025 horsepower.
Chevrolet says a goodbye edition of the Camaro is on the way, too. “The 2024 Camaro Collector’s Edition is a limited-edition package that pays homage to Camaro history, resurfacing the Panther name used during the development of the first generation of Camaro,” a spokesperson tells us.
Chevrolet dropped the Panther name before production because — legend has it — it was too close to the Mercury Cougar name. The word “Camaro” had no meaning Chevy was aware of. But then-Chevrolet General Manager Pete Estes told the press it was the name of “a small vicious animal that eats Mustangs.”
We’ll bring details on the Camaro Panther model when we have them.
With Chevrolet and Dodge bowing out, the gas-powered muscle car isn’t quite dead. Ford plans a seventh-generation Mustang for 2024. But that car, it appears, will be the last of its kind. The list of mainstream V8-equipped, rear-wheel-drive muscle cars still for sale will fall to one sometime next year.
