The last Camaros will roll off the line in January, Chevy said on Wednesday teased the possibility of a new version being introduced later, with Global Chevrolet Vice President Scott Bell adding, “This isn’t the end of Camaro’s story.”
Chevy spokesman Trevor Thompkins said the company is “keeping hope alive” for a new generation, but declined to say whether new releases would be gas, hybrid or all-electric.
General Motors, like other older automakers, is stopping phasing out gas-powered vehicles. It pledged to do so by 2035, an effort backed by a planned $35 billion investment and upgrades to manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan.
The transition to electric vehicles has left an uncertain future for longtime fans of the company’s gas-powered cars. The muscle car in particular is known for the distinctive roar of its engines. The engines, usually with six or eight cylinders, have become the personification of speed and power.
Dodge, whose Challenger and Charger muscle cars are being phased out this year, opted for an all-electric release with the Charger SRT, which repackages the engine’s roar in an all-electric format.
Alton Freeman, curator of the Wellborn Musclecar Museum in Alexandria City, Ala., expects Chevy to follow Dodge’s lead and reprise its muscle car.
“I think they’re going to take that Camaro and turn it into an electric vehicle, that’s where everything is going,” said Freeman, who sees it as a tactic to force longtime muscle car enthusiasts to buy an electric vehicle .
But the experience is not the same, he said.
“With a muscle car, you like to get in, hear the engine and feel all that power,” said Freeman. “You get in there with an electric car, the only thing you feel is nothing.”
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