With the mid-engine Corvette C8 now headed out for deliveries (one owner even put theirs on the dyno!), we can’t help but wonder what other General Motors products might look like with the engine behind the cabin. What if, say, the Chevrolet Camaro got the mid-engine treatment as well? Luckily, we don’t need to wonder, as one intrepid artist rendered up exactly that.
Posted to Instagram by user @gabe.design, the mid-engine Chevrolet Camaro rendering looks low, mean, and hugely aggressive, mixing the familiar Camaro front fascia with more-balanced front-to-rear proportions. Satin black aero bits and a black hood characterize the nose section, while mammoth wheels and ultra-low-profile tires take up the corners. The profile shows off with deep side intakes placed just ahead of the wide rear rubber, taking up a position that’s lower than the side intakes seen on the C8 Corvette. We’re also digging the lack of a rear wing, which keeps the rear haunches looking clean.
Naturally, it’s gotta be said that there ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell GM will ever green-light a mid-engine Chevrolet Camaro. Nevertheless, we think it’s a pretty cool idea, and we think the rendering looks great, too.
While a mid-engine Camaro isn’t in the cards, a Camaro EV might be. As we covered previously, General Motors recently dropped a new teaser image showing off its next-gen BEV3 EV platform, on top of which a variety of different vehicle silhouettes were outlined. One of these silhouettes looked a whole lot like the current Chevrolet Camaro, leading to speculation that an electrified version of the iconic muscle car nameplate was indeed in the works.
What do you think, dear reader? Would you prefer a mid-engine Camaro over a Camaro EV? Or perhaps both are silly ideas? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevrolet Camaro news, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
The Camaro is dead man walking. The current one is the last one, because GM has forgotten how to make cars people want to buy. Camaro outsold Mustang, Ford went to work to improve its’ car and outsold the Camaro. GM responds by quitting the segment. It’s pretty bad when Ford kicks your butt in anything but light trucks.
I see u got more down votes than up votes but I kinda agree with you. There has been way too many times when the competition get too hot GM just quit rather than taking the challenge to make their vehicles better.
GM did not forget. The market has changed and the cost of development has gotten too high.
The Camaro and Mustang original formula was to build a cool looking car with a cheap V8 on a economy car chassis.
Well if you have not noticed the economy cars are now fwd 4 cylinders. So no more cheap chassis. Regulations have driven up V8 cost.
Now they have to use a Cadillac chassis to base on driving up the cost more.
In the mean time all cars cost so much most people look for vehicles that they can afford and have utility to live life with.
Coupes are dying, performance is no longer cheap and the enthusiast is now in the minority.
The people at GM love these cars as much as we do but there just not much money in them anymore.
Stylings not going to fix it, more power is not going to fix it. I am not sure even lower prices are going to fix it anymore.
As for Ford things are not all that great. They are not selling enough Mustangs and it too is at risk. Their trucks sell well they have have hurt profits with the aluminum content as they are more expensive to build now. They are sitting on record low stock prices. Even their electric models are not also not all in-house like GM. They had to buy into another company and even the Mach E was seen at the GM proving ground raising that GM may have helped them.
I get it you are disappointed but you need to be disappointed at the public as a whole as they have lost the love of performance.
I understand what you are saying but I am not just speaking Camaro. I am saying in general GM has been too quick to give up the fight now and in the past. There was a time when the American car company’s dominate pretty much all over the world . Now they are barley competitive in their own country.
I realize there are some thing that happened beyond their Controll that put them in this positions But I cant help but feel they could have done a lot more to better their position. We only truly have two American car company’s left and I am just hoping they don’t become like a whole lot of other American company’s and become Foreign owned, or worse become none existence.
If you speak to those who are in these programs they will tell you the challenges they face. The truth is the challenges are even greater now that there is just no simple formula.
Mix that with reality of just making money is not enough.
Take two programs. One the Camaro and say the Equinox. Both cost about the same to develop.
Now GM looks at which one will hold more return on investment. The Camaro moves 60k units and the Nox moves close to 300k units. To make up for the lack of return they keep raising the prices.
Today while companies are still into cool vehicles their jobs are held to making the most money.
Toyota has gone to the top building highly profitable vehicles that are really boring like it or not.
The old formula as I pointed out is not working. Even when there was a Cobalt SS that was a good car for the money they really sold poorly.
The performance coupes used to sell in multiple hundreds of thousands like the Nox but today it is difficult to present a buisness case for it anymore.
I have know the present and last head of the Camaro program and they clearly express the challenges they face.
I also work in the performance aftermarket and clearly see the changes in the market. Few young people buy Camaro or Mustang parts.
The move is to trucks and Jeeps today as that is were the money is being spent. They are cheaper and easier to buy and fix up. Even women are flocking to the Jeep today.
I go to car shows and cruise in’s and see more canes and walkers than young people, it has turned into a nursing home.
Right now GM is focused on future products that they hope will give them an advantage. Part of that is EV and the other is CUV models.
I am not a EV fan but I also don’t hate them. They in time will be cheaper to build and sell and make GM more profitable in the future, it will also keep the stock up to they remain independent.
Like it or not but the truth is we will have fun cars but they are not going to be a priority for a while till the market changes.
I wish it were different and I want what you want but I understand what they are facing that they really don’t talk about in public.
The Mustang is not going anywhere- it is Ford’s Corvette.
Never say never. The Mustang died once before with the Mustang 2.
Note too I think Ford stock dived to $6 a share last week. How long till the Ford family does something drastic like bail out as only their majority shares keep them from being taken over.
Even now they are so desperate they are calling a electric a CUV a Mustang Mach E. A move as desperate as Olds naming everything Cutlass before the end.
Might note the Corvette died once too. In a rare move it was saved.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a21052428/how-the-chevrolet-corvette-was-saved-from-extinction-twice-feature/
Not many people are willing to kill their career for a car.
Cars are built with great energy and emotion but are sold on pure hard cold financial numbers that rule the industry as a whole anymore.
Times have changed and for those of us Who love cars it may not be the wonderland we once had.
Everyone and everything is expendable today.
The next gen Mustang is far into development near the pilot stage. It is to come out in 2022. Also remember the Mustang name was mortgaged for something like $1billion back in 08.
Remember the Blackwing Twin Turbo was the Future of Cadillac too.
Nothing is untouchable and nothing is sacred.
That Billion in 08 is no where close to that value today.
The only thing Ford has of value is their trucks. Nothing else matters!
The more they use the name on non Mustang like vehicles it will damage the name equity even more.
The bottom line is how long will the Ford family hang on before they cut a deal to sell out to someone who needs a truck line… like someone like VW?
They need to show a viable plan for the future now but I fear they have none. They just can’t afford it.
The Mustang is the only car in America that’s never left the market, so that’s a lie learn what the II stands for before starting roomers. It was based off returning to a smaller model which end up being the 2nd largest selling Pony in Mustangs history, speak Facts not Lies
C8.R: You hit the BALL outta the PARK w/that description! I’m a Chevrolet Enthusiast of the older: 1967-1992 Model camaro’s; Nearly ALL trucks!!……. Same has 2 go towards the Ford’s also! I found out a way 2 restore the expedition’s: self-leveling-air-system! Replace the rubber O-ring’s on the solenoid’s 2 restore air pressure!
@C8.R
You made some very valid points with great perspectives. Things are changing rapidly. GM as well as other manufacturers MUST roll with innovation or get rolled over.
For years now, I’ve watched GM allow the competition jump out first with their new or revised models and then GM comes through and crushes them with a better quality and more dependable product for their segments.
However, as a GM fanatic, I’m aggravated with the fact that sometimes (more often than not) it takes them too long to release their products and they suffer losses in sales.
It really sickens me that FCA (RAM/ Dodge) took the number 2 American manufacturing spot from GM while GM was focused on catching Ford Trucks.
GM still needs to make quality dependable products, but I believe that they need to Get Out of the Past, Vacate the Present, and Reside in the Future. Innovation HAS TO BE CUTTING EDGE in order to finally take away the 40 something years of #1 sales that Ford keeps bragging on year after year (although I believe that Ford IS #1……..in RECALLS).
GM wasted years and Billions with poor management for several decades.
Saturn was a good idea but was criminal how it was managed.
The same for Pontiac as few outside engineering understood the brand.
We now have new people in actually working to move GM forward. They are focused on profits and investment into tech and development.
GM has had one of the best most advanced but often their items were pushed into production long before it was ready. Air bags, infrared cameras variable displacement engines etc.
Today GM is not so focused on being first to market with the EV but they look to be bringing a we’ll sorted product and targeting models that will make money.
Ram is just trying to remain viable as FCA needs a partner and they have tried to join PSA. Out side a Jeep and the trucks they have little to offer a partner. The trouble with the trucks are they have discounted so much that profits have to be marginal.
In today’s market the company sellin the most does not win the one with good volume but highest profits or ROI wins.
GM went broke selling millions of cars but they were not making much money even with record volumes.
It remains to be seen on the EV move but right now it looks promising. Time will tell once the public gets involved. Even once on the market they will have to grow the models.
It seems that you have a great deal of knowledge about the inner workings of GM and the auto industry in general. I am in agreement about most of it but whe it comes to Saturn being a good idea I have to disagree. I think there never should have been a Saturn.
IMO The money it cost to create Saturn could have been better used to improve their existing products. After all the already had several vehicle that competed in the class Saturn was competed in.
The same can be said about the Geo Prizm. With their existing five lines with vehicles competing in that class (;yes Cadillac had a vehicle in that class ) plus the Saturn and he Prizm that equal seven. That is just too many vehicles competing in the same class for one company to handle.
GM did not forget. The market has changed and the cost of development has gotten too high – yeah right?
The Mustang is a one off car on its own platform and the Camaro is the Alpha which supports the Camaro, CT4 and CT5… their economy of scale is better than Ford its just that GM does”t build vehicles people want. I like the Camaro but the Mustang is much better looking and the Challenger tho ancient just keeps getting refined.
IMO coupes aren’t really dying no one builds one that the masses can respond to. The CT6 would have made an awesome coupe but noooooooo…… Give me a Grand Prix or Cutlass Supreme…. when they went FWD they died… IE: GM quit building cars people wanted…
Typhoid Mary is all about EV’s because shes PC and believes in climate change. This company is rudderless and failing in every space save the Vette…. which is kind of its own space….
Sound like another Cop Out to me GM has more resources than Ford when it comes to competing in any market. Ford has more Heart, Loyalty & Dedication to the Mustang moving it forward into the future than Chevrolet has for the Camaro then & now, period. The only reason Chevy rear engine the Corvette is the FORD GT, don’t think for a minute GM is not watching how the Mustang Mach E play out & someone did a rendering of the Mustang off the FORD GT 1st which really look the business. Let’s call it what it is instead of making up excuses…
Great design. Personally, I like it more than the new Corvette design. It could also work as an electric. GM desperately needs designers with your vision.
Get rid of the double grill and IMO that is what the C8 should have looked like.
c8 is already halfway there with the camaro’s rear end.
Oh good a Camaro with even less rear seat and trunk space.
This is a question no one asked.
From everything that we’ve already learned from the C8 Corvette, a mid-engine Camaro would work especially as it would be much more efficient than a front-engine car; a mid-engine Camaro would work in another way, it would allow Cadillac to finally have a platform to bring their Cien concept car to production without going broke.
I like its photo rendering but I don’t think it should be rear engined. Keep the exclusivity to the Corvette when it comes to engine placement.
“More-balanced front-to-rear proportions”
The Camaro is a pony car. The entire point of it is the proportions. Looks too much like a Nisaan.
Love the look! I’d buy the first one off the line.
What’s the point of this? Less practical then the c8? My first thought of an all EV camaro was anger. But if it were built on a sedan EV chassis you Can make a cool gen 2 practical retro camaro
This.
Electrified.
All Wheel Drive.
It should call Covair. GM never intend to built any mid-engine Camaro although Ford did try mid-engine Mustang.
I think the future for cars like the Camaro are electric. With GM’s BEV3 platform it would be easy to create a RWD sports car with performance better than the current Camaro.
So no noise and more expensive? Ai t the point of muscle cars to be for people who can’t buy vetted and Porsches to get their day of noise and burned rubber?
There is a place for EV performance but #1 it is not in the Camaro. #2 it may not be in a two door Coupe.
The Camaro is sacred to those who love ICE as it is the feel, smell and the sound of the car that are part of the experience.
To do a EV performance car properly start with a new name that will make its own place in the market.
Also two doors may be an issue as coupes are just not selling and EV is not going to change that.
Also if you do a EV you make it AWD and RWD so people can choose the price.
I really do expect a performance car but I just pray they make it it’s own thing and not tie the Camaro into it.
i believe there would be a market if they all looked like a ZL! front end, that car has a lustful look, when i saw one at me dealer i wanted it and tryed to figure out how to get it, but it was presold and not another one came in, the clown face front now on camaro’s are hideous and i have no desire to own one, its about desire and beautiful bodys, they have the performance now they need looks again, i have had camaros my whole like and own a 2010 black ss that i love. bring back the look i lust for..!!!!!
simple solution for both Ford and GM, get rid of the Mustang, get rid of the Camaro. The real problem is that both of these companies (along with dodge) are trying to hold on to their glory days from the ’60’s because they’ve forgotten about everything else. I agree, the market has changed but both Ford and GM have jumped the gun so far that they’re tripping themselves up when both of them already have everything that they need to balance themselves and be profitable. Both companies have enough engines beyond V8s to make vehicles that can delight the performance enthusiast out there along with satisfying the electric community, and the basic, mundane and boring commuter community as well. I’m not going to belabor the fact that GM really screwed up by getting rid of Pontiac because there were other things that GM could have done since then to really help them out. Anyone in here old enough to remember the 80’s and 90’s? Although GM did have V8 powered cars, GM also had a bunch of other performance vehicles out there that had less than V8 engines and could outperform alot of V8 powered cars and weren’t terrible on gas mileage (although we didn’t stress too much about that back then) You had cars like the Grand Prix GTP with the supercharged 3800 V6 or even just the regular 3800 V6 was a decent performer for it’s time, You had cars like the Grand National/Regal T-type with turbocharged V6 engines, You had your Z24 and Z34 cars and things like that. Fast forward to the early 2000 era and you had The Cobalt SS both supercharged and turbocharged, the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky, the Monte Carlo SS 3800S/C and a few other non-v8 cars. Ford had the Turbo-coupe and Super-coupe Thunderbird, the SVO mustang, the Taurus SHO and a few SVT cars such as the Focus and the Contour (not that they were great) but they also had other non-V8 performance vehicles out there. Anybody from Australia knows the Falcon with the Inline-6 turbo engines were great performers as well and Europe has had the Ford RS brand since the 70’s with four and six cylinder high performance cars with Ford Cosworth engines. Another problem Ford & Chevy have is that they’ve pigeon holed their performance to cars that only had one body style and were only good for one thing. Even if Ford and Chevy had used the Falcon and the Nova (the cars that created the Mustang & Camaro), both of those cars came in a variety of body styles. The Nova came in coupe, sedan and Wagon while the Falcon came in coupe, sedan, wagon and even a ranchero-styled pickup truck here in the US and actually grew to become a lower budget Torino/Fairlane counterpart before making it’s way to Australia, where it lived on as a Torino sized performance vehicle (also adopting the Fairmont name around the world). Now let’s fast forward to the current day. Ford has the CD6 platform and a plethora of Ecoboost performance engines. GM has the Alpha chassis that can be used for coupes and sedans (and probably an explorer sized SUV) with a longitudinal powertrain with the option of AWD along with a twin turbo 3.0L a twin turbo 3.6L a turbo 2.0L and probably the 2.7L Turbo-4. The current 3.6L Turbo makes more horsepower and nearly the same amount of torque as the Camaro LT1 (455hp/455tq LT1 vs 464hp/445tq from the 3.6L TT), Ford currently has a 3.5L Ecoboost V6 that nearly matches the horsepower of the 5.0 and destroys it in torque (460hp/420tq current spec mustang GT 5.0 vs 450hp/510tq current spec F150 Raptor 3.5L Ecoboost HO) Both companies have 400hp 3.0L twin turbo V6 engines and high powered turbo 4-cylinder engines. Both companies share tech on the 10-speed auto for regular gas cars and I’m sure soon they’ll be sharing tech on the 10-speed hybrid powertrain and 7-speed Tremec transmissions. I haven’t figured out why neither company hasn’t figured this out yet. Both Ford and GM are working on electric platforms with Ford’s new Mach E and GM’s BEV3 platform. I’m pretty sure that when this happens, a family of electric performance vehicles will emerge from both parties and yeah an electric mustang family and an electric camaro and other performance vehicles should be no problem for these companies to make, the problem is, that even when these electric cars come out, not everyone wants an electric vehicle and there is still a market for people who want gasoline performance. Even if it’s not as big as it once was, there is still a market for it and both GM & Ford need to recognize this. Just like they market for the Corvette and don’t produce as many of them as they do other vehicles, the market is still there. Another market that really needs to be addressed is the HD truck market. I think GM is really on to something with this new Hummer and honestly if it can back up those horsepower and torque claims, I think Diesel engines could (and should go to the wayside) as much as I love the thought of rolling coal on Prius owners driving slow in the left lane, that much HP and Torque is enough to pique alot of interests. Ford should definitely take notice. The market out here has absolutely changed and yeah, the one trick pony cars are at the end of their road, but gasoline performance is not. There are alot of Turbo-4 performance vehicles (Civic Type R, STI, Focus RS), V6 turbocharged cars (GTR, Supra, etc) and V6 Turbo-hybrid cars (NSX) out there that are truly amazing and it’s time that we start focusing in on that kind of thinking for performance along with electric performance cars, electric HD trucks and things like that. It’s also time for both Ford and GM to expand beyond the Mustang and Camaro because honestly, they weren’t even the best performance cars either company made, both the Chevelle and the Torino were better cars than the Camaro and Mustang but that ‘s another story for another day. Both companies should bring out more electric vehicles for their commercial vehicles like the transit, transit connect and the City Express, I also think that changing out alot of these small FWD cars to electric vehicles would be a great idea as well seeing that most of the issues and recalls are on small FWD daily driver vehicles anyway. I work in the industry and I see recall after recall day in and day out and it’s usually on some small, FWD mass produced, rushed out commuter car. It is time for American vehicles to change and move to more modern day performance and all of that kinds of stuff, but do so with balance. You still need your regular vehicles, you still need your performance gasoline vehicles, you still need your trucks and you do need your electric vehicles (regular, performance & Heavy Duty) and you still need coupes, sedans, wagons/crossovers, SUVs, small trucks, medium trucks and HD trucks. You figure, cars like the Torino, Aussie falcon, Chevelle SS, GTO Judge, Holden Monaro GTS, Chargers, GTX, Roadrunners, etc were all coupes but they had room and were usable. It’s time to take twin turbo performance and bring back true midsize coupes like the ones and make 2-door and 4-door midsize coupes like the rest of the world does along with wagons (Crossovers) crossover coupes (like the X6M) and other things that Americans actually want and the things that actually do sell over in Europe and other countries, especially since both GM and Ford are trying to go global with their vehicles. Just do it. it will sell and both companies will make more money and vehicles will turn out less expensive because of the fact that they’ll sell in volume.
Is this your manifesto?
I’m sorry, can you say that again….
The only time I’ve heard or seen: Manifesto) was in the movie “Hackers”!
Your just stating your opinion: you are “NOT” a candidate for anything!? If Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge are not the top performance company’s: Who is!? [w/o the “Right Tread design and/or compound” you’ll be hydroplaning on any surface; no matter the automobile brand!
Agreed… do we want the VW GTI to be THE performance vehicle and why does a company like GM ONLY have to make Equinox’s? I mean does everyone have to drive a piece of $%^! like that ?
This design is better than anything Cadillac has put out – how sad.
It is a great looking design. One of the best renderings I have seen in a long time. They wouldn’t devalue the Vette with a midengined Camaro, but I would be in line if they did and it looked like that. The backseat in my ZL1 only needs to hold a gym bag and helmet anyway and they have never complain about how cramped the back seat is.
I apologize folk’s: This rendering is very similar 2 a LAMBORGHINI!……
A large Pontiac Fiero.
IMHO…the new / current Corvette has enough styling “busyness” for-two vehicles.
All of you have good points. But as the old cliche goes, ” it takes money to make money”. Chevy took a chance on the New C8 corvette. Change her completely. That cost the company to do so, but it paid huge dividends. The Camaro, if given the same upgrades and changes, may just return to power. Honestly some of the mid-engine Camaro renderings, in my opinion, looked better than the C8 Corvette, and it would not be so pricey. Unfortunately, Chevy has sealed Camaro’s fate. I would surely purchase one if they gave her the same upgrades as the C8.