The Chevrolet faithful, muscle car enthusiasts, and otherwise vested automotive die-hards have been extremely vocal over the front-end design of the 2019 Camaro SS. A 455 horsepower pony car that’s received no shortage of praise for its performance and driving dynamics. Despite being able to dogfight cars twice or even three times its price on the road course, sales have contracted since the launch of the sixth-generation Camaro, and the design refresh has reportedly done little to change things, say dealers.
2019 Camaro SS models have made their way onto lots over the past month or so, but the take rate and interest in the vehicle has said to have dropped. Hence the snap decision to introduce a “concept” fascia design for the car during next week’s 2018 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. It’s said that the look, which colorizes the cross bar in the center fascia and moves the bowtie logo to the upper grille opening, is being fast-tracked for production, and replace the 2019 Camaro SS fascia as it stands. The original fascia is pictured below, while the “concept” fascia is featured above. Both are official Chevrolet photos.
By putting the bowtie logo in the cross-bar between the two grille inlets, the design was said to have been approved based on a “uniform look” between the 2019 Camaro SS and other Chevrolet passenger cars. We understand that this is all stranger than fiction, but there hasn’t been a brand out there without questionable calls.
Sure, the 2019 Cruze, 2019 Malibu, and other updated passenger cars from the Chevrolet lineup may have a centered Chevy bowtie, but none of them had a blacked-out center fascia that made the bowtie logo appear to be floating in a void of darkness and confusion, which could also be taken metaphorically. Since we highlighted the concept fascia on the Shock Yellow 2019 Camaro SS SEMA show car, readership feedback has been largely well-received, which suggests to us that fast-tracking this revised fascia design to production was a positive move.
About Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a family of sports cars that includes a two-door coupe and two-door soft-top convertible as well as various performance variants such as SS, 1LE, ZL1 and ZL1 1LE. The legendary nameplate was first introduced in 1966 and went out of production in 2002, when the model was in its fourth generation. The Camaro was re-introduced in 2009 as an all-new fifth-generation model based on the GM Zeta platform.
The Camaro is currently Chevrolet’s most affordable sports car, slotting below the Chevrolet Corvette. The current model was introduced for the 2016 model year and represents the sixth generation of the Camaro nameplate. The model rides on the GM Alpha platform shared with the Cadillac ATS and Cadillac CTS, though the majority of the architecture underpinning the Camaro are unique to it.
The 2018 Chevy Camaro represents the third model year of the sixth-gen Camaro that deleted the Camaro 50th Anniversary Edition and the Krypton Green exterior color, while adding the ZL1 1LE Extreme Track Performance Package. There’s also an expanded availability of the SS 1LE Track Performance Package, which is now available on the 2SS Coupe, as well as the addition of a washer fluid level sensor.
A midcycle refresh arrives for the 2019 model year that introduces new, model-specific front and rear styling, a new trim level structure for LT models that adds a new 3LT trim, and a new 1LE track performance package for the 2.0L Turbo LTG engine. The 2019 Camaro also brings the new GM 10-speed automatic transmission for SS models, the Rear Camera Mirror, third-generation infotainment systems, and various other enhancements.
The gen six Chevy Camaro is assembled for all markets by GM USA at the GM Lansing Grand River plant in Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Related News & Info
- GM news
- Chevrolet news
- Chevrolet Camaro news
- Chevrolet news
- GM forums
- Running GM sales results
- Running Chevrolet sales results
- Running Chevrolet Camaro sales numbers
- Running Chevrolet sales results
- Chevy Camaro information
[nggallery id=956]
Comments
It’s a very slight improvement that doesn’t really move the needle. The current Camaro is simply not a good looking car. It was a disappointment in 2016 and it got worse for 2019. I hope the successor is being styled be a completely different team. Anyone who contributed to the new Silverado or Camaro just doesn’t get it. Clean, purposeful lines age well; finicky, busy, pointless creases and angles and whatever the”air fences”/centurion earflaps are supposed to be, will not. The visibility from the cabin is also an issue that absolutley needs to be addressed in the successor. People want a thoughtfully-engineered vehicle, not a cartoon. This must be frustrating for the chassis engineers, who by all accounts did a exceptional job with the Alpha platform. The CT5 Coupe design that was leaked from the patent office was far and away the best design that GM has produced in years. Give that guy a call.
This gen Camaro is fugly as hell. But an MCE improved it a lil bit. Non MCE version is a nightmare.
Silverado still looks much better than a Fugly-150
The 2016 looks amazing. I do take slight issue with the rear end, the SS spoiler and the crease below the tail lights but the SS real look a little busy. But the ZL1 1LE higher wing looks amazing and fixes that issue. That car is stunning. Doing that spoiler or a regular dovetail on the SS fixes it very well.
So GM is finally admitting is SCREWED UP big time on the newer versions of the Camaro? They, and the lead designer, made enough excuses about the current mess and told us we would just get used to it…Well, obviously people didn’t.
It still amazes me that a company like GM can still throw out stuff from time to time that people don’t want. You would think they would have things locked down at this point. They seem to miss the whole refinement and advancing the design part of the process every time they have a success…
Is visibility complaint just needs to stop! Theres is zero problems with sight lines.
Thank you, GM!
GM needs different talent working on the Camaro
I WISH THEY’D HIRE ME TO DO IT. THE CAMARO WOULD BE AWESOME!
BUT THEN AGAIN, IF I WERE THERE, GM WOULD HAVE A SERIOUSLY DIFFERENT LINEUP! FROM CHEVY UP TO CADILLAC. AND TRUST ME CUSTOMERS, INVESTORS, THE BOARD AND THE EPA PEOPLE WOULD BE HAPPY.
Do you have a portfolio of conceptual renderings prepared? GM, like every other automaker, doesn’t let unknown people come in off the street and dictate how their cars are designed.
I think if a person could draw stick people they could do better than this hot mess. Clearly the GM exec’s in charge are not capable of telling what is, or is not, and attractive vehicle. Taking someone off the street would be an improvement
I’m reminded of Bob Lutz in a recent interview talking of how Dodge went from nill to 1/3 market share in the span of a few years with a bizarre polarizing design on their trucks back in the 90’s. His relations to GM made me think, that sentiment must still be rattling around in the heads of GM’s execs, that sentiment does not work, good design always wins out
We get cars like the ZL1 1LE and you think that there needs to be a personnel change?
Visibility is awful and so is the interior room. It’s impossible to convince a normal sized human that this car is spacious or easy to drive compared to its rivals. These are being purchased as daily drivers, mostly. They need to be able to accommodate people in a way that promotes their everyday practicality as well as their amazing performance.
I never had a problem with the new SS front end. I actually liked it seeing it in person.
Look much better than the photos let on.
Get a 2019 SS with the bumper no one likes and it will be worth much more years to come since it will be a low production run. A Collectible it will be.
I can’t wait until the next generation 15 passenger Camaro debuts with its Popemobile roofline………
Much better than the huge black hole that pretended to be a front clip.
Concept Fascia On 2019 Camaro SS SEMA Car is going into production for one reason, it gives the appearance of being more aerodynamic and uniform appearance which Chevrolet hopes will appeal to consumers.
Just a new coke old coke situation.
I enjoy that the top grille is wide to match the headlights again like the 5th gen before refresh and of course the old school muscle cars. In the 2014 refresh they pinched it in the middle and that stayed with the 6th gen in 2016. I like the 6th gen and think the pinch looks cool… but I always longed for the classic look with the new headlights. And now it is here and looks badass with the colored center part.
I have always been a fan of the Camaro. I am happy that they are attempting to fix that “acquired taste” front end but that does little to address what the sales problem really is. For the first time in my life, if given the choice I would choose to buy a mustang over a Camaro because of design. The mustang has a more aggressive design than the Camaro. The guys at chevy had a big chance to change things up when production was moved to Michigan but they elected to re-create the same car in a smaller package saying that a near identical design is what people wanted. People got tired of it and now its again the same car with different nose. The public is yearning for something fresh, not refreshed. Open your ears GM.
Not really much of an improvement in my opinion. The Camaro is a design failure and needs a full redesign into an adult sports car. A modern sophisticated design that matches the sophistication and agility of its chassis.
Tom Peters is the chief designer for the Camaro. His record is mixed going back to the Aztek. He also led the teams for the 5th gen Camaro, the latest trucks, and the C7 Corvette, but for the C7 he relied on someone else’s concept. He’s doing the same for the C8, so maybe it won’t be a disaster.
His dominance at GM’s design studio says a lot about GM’s management. They clearly have no taste, no ability to discern good design from bad. At a healthy auto company Peters would have been shown the door after the Aztek debacle.
Chevrolet continues to let us down! Painting the black cross bar and moving the flow tie aren’t going to change the ugly design of the Camaro front end. You need to fire your design engineers and hire some new ones. While you’re at it, you may as well fire the senior leaders who approved the final drawings for the 2019 Camaro. Come on, you’re trying to compete with Mustang and Challenger. To do so, the Camaro has to look like a muscle car and not like a Cavalier! When designing the front end of a muscle car, the acid test is to place the muscle car behind your personal vehicle. If the appearance of the front end of the muscle car in your rear view mirror scares you and leaves you wanting to get the hell out of his way–well then you’ve done your job right. And if the front end looks weak, like the 2019 Camaro, then you need to go back to the drawing board today and fix it by tomorrow (not next year). You might want to start testing your designs with the many Camaro Clubs in the Country as I’m sure you’ll get better guidance from them than you’re getting from within Chevrolet! Keeping your designs a secret definitely isn’t working for you!
“By putting the bowtie logo in the cross-bar between the two grille inlets, the design was said to have been approved based on a “uniform look” between the 2019 Camaro SS and other Chevrolet passenger cars.”
GM: a collection of the best engineers in the world managed by a bureaucracy of boobs and ass clowns.