General Motors unveiled the sixth generation of its Camaro series at Bell Isle Park in Detroit. With its lighter and more aerodynamic design, the 2016 Chevy Camaro's debut marked another highlight in the resurgence of Detroit muscle.
Just months after Ford's release of the latest Mustang, General Motors set the stage for the 2016 Chevy Camaro's introduction to the world with a collection of past Camaros before a crowd of enthusiastic onlookers.
The car bears iconic design cues for Camaro enthusiasts, and delivers more in performance than its predecessors, Mark Reuss, executive vice president of Product Development at General Motors, told the crowd.
"For a new generation of buyers, the 2016 Camaro incorporates our most innovative engineering ideas with finely honed performance and leading design," Reuss said.
While it pays homage to its past and tries to recapture enthusiasm for the 1960s, Chevy has redesigned the Camaro bumper to bumper.
About 350 hours of testing in wind tunnels resulted in about a 30 percent reduction in the 2016 Camaro's aerodynamic lift. Aerodynamics become more important as the company builds on performance, said Kirk Bennion, exterior design manager.
"As engine output increases, we need more engine cooling," said Bennion. "As acceleration and top speeds climb, we need to reduce lift for better high-speed stability. However, we cannot make any changes at the expense of increasing drag, which can hurt fuel economy. To balance these different aerodynamic targets, we tested literally hundreds of changes on the new Camaro, millimeters at a time."
The 2016 Chevy Camaro will be offered with powertrain options that include an Ecotec 2.0 liter turbo, a next-generation 3.6 liter V-6 and the LT1 6.2 liter V-8 crate engine.
The Camaro drinks gas at an efficient 30 MPG on the highway, by General Motors' estimate, which makes it the most fuel efficient member of it family line. And the car is very much peppy, able to hit 60 MPH from rest in about six seconds.
The 2016 was designed to be fun and to deliver an engaging experience for drivers, all of which is made possible by its new powertrains, stated Dan Nicholson, General Motors's vice president of Global Powertrain.
"From the first-ever turbocharged engine in a Camaro and an efficient V-6 with more power than many of the V-8s offered in previous generations, to the return of the LT1 small-block V-8, there is a choice to satisfy every taste and performance desire," said Nicholson.
