Chevrolet will be happy to sell you a new, sixth-generation Camaro in the United Kingdom despite the lack of right-hand drive support. And now, Chevrolet has priced the American sports car for the market.
The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro will start at £32,500 for the 2.0-liter LTG turbo model, paired exclusively to the eight-speed automatic, according to AutoCar. The 2016 Camaro SS will also be available, with V8 power coming in at £37,000 with the six-speed manual gearbox.
The eight-speed auto is also available with the 6.2-liter LT1 V8 at a cost of £1,460.
Chevrolet will also provide a suite of options and packages such as stripe packages, convenience and lighting and magnetic ride control for the SS.
Only one dealer in the UK will be distributing the Camaro, with only 15 coupes and three convertibles heading to the region.
Even though the Ford Mustang will be offered for the first time locally in right-hand drive, Chevrolet and the Camaro team will hold tight on any reengineering, and be watching the Mustang’s demand curve very carefully.
Comments
Another case of GM waiting to see what happens versus taking a risk on making a right had drive model.
They could sell the right hand drive model also in the Australian, Japanese, Indian and South African markets.
The fact GM was coming out of bankruptcy had GM with a lot of other things and issues to worry about than the small number of sales in England and Japan.
Also bear in mind that Holden was not yet shutting down RWD platforms at this time either.
Hind site makes for 20/20 to the casual web CEO but when you are the real thing there are many other major issues that come into play and some that just play themselves not as you expected.
Jam just how many cars so you thing England, India and Japan and S Africa would account for anyways?
Australia is the game changer here and it was not in the mix at the time. Now it is and the refresh will bring the other side wheel.
Scott3…The article is about the Camaro but it is built on the Alpha platform and that is where the real missed opportunity lies. Yes the Japanese market is a very tough nut to crack especially for regular American brands but I think a luxury brand like Cadillac has a better chance. The Indian car market may be the last great untapped market left in the world with about 1 billion people and a burgeoning middle class.
The Alpha platform vehicles would have been a good spearhead for Cadillac all over the world.
In the markets you named the best an Alpha would have done outside Austraila is a few thousand units at best..
Might note India did not have a strong GM grip till the Chinese got involved with GM. Their rebuilding in this market came well after start of the Alpha platform.
You have to judge this on where GM was globally and a lot changed..
Cadillac is not yet even ready for global sales yet as they have yet to even get to where they want to be here.
I know you think it is easy but it really is not. If you had to play by the real numbers and situations you would realize this fast.
As for Japan I have many unsold Toyota RHD Cavaliers I can make you a deal on. God they lost their shirt on these accept for the ones they were able to sell to rural postal delivery people.
You have to look at Alpha as the initial offering, tip of the spear kind of thing. It would be a building block to get the Cadillac name out there. You are right that going into any new market will take commitment and patience but I do believe that Cadillac would have a better chance of success than Chevrolet did in a market like Japan.
At even a few thousand more annual sales it would be worth it to develop those markets for future models.
Here is the deal.
GM at the time the work started on the Alpha they had many things that needed work.
They needed several new FWD platforms
They needed new truck lines
They needed more CUV models.
There was only so much money and so much time and staff to make all of these things happen. You have to put these resources to the things that will give you the greatest return.
Then factor in Chevy was going to Europe. That has now changed.
Holden was still building RWD cars and that has now changed
The Opel has been given a new task that was not in play when Alpha was in line.
Cadillac has changed management several times and has yet gotten to where they are fully ready to go to Europe let alone anywhere with RHD.
Japan is one of the last markets GM is worried about as there are so many rules, regulations and lack of interest for so little return there until they improve in many more areas.
Now today with Holden now in need the business case is there to make a RHD Alpha. This will open the door to the other very small markets to the point they might make some money now. I expect a refresh Alpha to appear in 2018 and we will see changes in the steering option and maybe even more weight removed.
Your line of thinking is fine but in the real world you can flap your arms all you like but you will never fly.
Development cost, time, ability to engineer so many models at one time. etc. It all comes down that you can only so much at one time and you have much more that needs to be done. You pick and choose those programs with the least risk and greatest returns.
Have any evidence, rumors, articles, links, unnamed GM staff hints or other confirmations that an Alpha revision is coming in 2018? 😉