The battle that has been raging since the late 1960s is still alive, and probably always will be. Despite the Camaro’s absence for a few years, Mark Reuss, VP of Global Product Development at GM, feels that the Camaro is coming back bolder and stronger for the 2016 model year and has what it takes to win back the pony wars.
With Ford revealing the details on the upcoming Mustangs, the still-secretive Camaro has a few of its own tricks to compare to the Mustang. Using aluminum components for the dashboard frame and suspension, as well as using lighter materials throughout the car, the 2016 Camaro went on a bit of a diet shedding about 200 pounds. That puts the Camaro in the same weight range as the Mustang, and leaves the Challenger on its own.
Under the hood, a normally aspirated V6 and a turbocharged 4-cylinder are available powerplants, while a 460hp 6.2L LT1 V8 puts the Camaro up against the Mustang’s 5.0 Coyote V8 with 435hp. The Camaro borrows its V8 motivation from the Corvette Stingray, and the platform from the Cadillac ATS Coupe. The ATS Coupe debuted with a 455hp twin-turbo V6 at the LA Auto Show last fall, leaving us to wonder if the Camaro will get a similarly optioned V6.
This news, of course, doesn’t address the question on everyone’s mind about the Z/28 or ZL1 options and what Chevrolet has planned for those versions, where horsepower and handling are expected to best the standard V8 model Camaros. Will GM provide us with a boosted version for 2016 V8s?
Only time will tell, but it seems that Ruess is very confident for now, and that’s always a good sign. The new Mustang GT350 boasts the flat plane V8 with over 500hp, so we’re excited to see how the Camaro will answer that call of the wild.