With Holden set to be killed off before 2021, General Motors‘ involvement in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship remains a bit foggy. The brand previously signed on to stay in the series until the end of 2021, a commitment it plans to honor despite the coming departure of Holden, but GM’s future in the sport from 2022 onward is less clear.
There’s still a glimmer of hope for Australian race fans, though. According to Aussie publication Car Advice, GM is currently involved in discussions with the Supercars Championship over its upcoming Generation 3 car and is interested in fielding the Chevrolet Camaro from 2022 onward, when the Gen 3 rules will be implemented.
Car Advice says the proposal to sell niche American models in Australia under the General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) banner could open up the door for the Camaro to race in the Supercars Championship. If approved, GMSV will ship vehicles from America to Australia, such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, which will then be converted to right-hand-drive by longtime Holden specialists Walkinshaw and sold locally. GMSV would also handle sales of the right-hand-drive Corvette C8, which Chevrolet still plans to sell in the country to satisfy the plethora of GM performance enthusiasts there.
This is essentially the same process in which the Chevrolet Silverado HD and Chevrolet Camaro are sold in Australia, both of which are built in North America before being shipped to Australia and converted to RHD by Walkinshaw.
GM Australia said previously that it did not want to field the Camaro in the Supercars Championship as the Chevrolet brand is not officially sold in the country. With Holden set to be killed off though, GMSV could be the only presence GM has left in Australia, leaving Chevrolet as the only viable brand for it to enter in Supercars competition.
The new Camaro Supercars race car, if it comes to fruition, would be completely unrelated to the previous proposal for the muscle car to enter the series, which is pictured in this article. That car was being explored by Walkinshaw Performance, but the company ultimately gave up after finding it too difficult to properly adapt the low-slung Camaro body to the series’ sedan-shaped control chassis. This would not be a problem for the Gen 3-based car, though, as GM would be involved in helping to shape the rules to better meet its criteria.
Holden teams will continue to race the Holden Commodore ZB in the Supercars Championship until the end of the 2021 season.
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Source: CarAdvice
Comments
CT5 would be a better fit
This is my dream car in the future I will buy this.