The last Camaros will roll off the line in January, Chevy He said Wed, though He raised the prospect of a remake later, with Scott Bell, global vice president of Chevrolet, adding, “This isn’t the end of the Camaro story.”
Chevy spokesman Trevor Tompkins said the company was “keeping hope alive” for a new generation, but declined to say whether any new versions would be gas, hybrid or all-electric.
General Motors, like other legacy automakers, is phasing out gas-powered vehicles. And it has pledged to do so by 2035, an endeavor backed by a $35 billion investment and upgrades to manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan.
The move to electric vehicles has left an uncertain future for longtime fans of the company’s gas-powered cars. The muscle car, in particular, is known for its distinctive engine noise. Engines, usually six or eight cylinders, came to embody speed and power.
Dodge, which is phasing out its powerful Challenger and Charger sedans this year, opted for an all-electric launch with the Charger SRT, which repackages the engine’s roar into an all-electric form.
Alton Freeman, curator of the Wellborn Musclecar Museum in Alexandria, Ala., expects Chevy to follow Dodge’s lead and reshape its muscle car.
“I think they’ll take that Camaro and turn it into an electric car, that’s what it’s all going to do,” said Freeman, who sees it as a tactic to force longtime muscle car enthusiasts into buying an electric car.
But he said the experience is not the same.
“With a powerful car, you like to get in there, hear the engine and feel all that power,” Freeman said. “You get in there in an electric car, all you feel is nothing.”
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