It’s interesting to contrast the Big Three American auto manufacturers’ approach to their pony cars.
Ford invented the segment with the Mustang and stuck with it throughout the years. It was adapted to changing markets, and there were definitely some growing pains (looking at you, the Pinto-based MkII), but they have generally stood by the idea of keeping a rear-drive coupe in their line-up.
Dodge, in their bumbling, neanderthalic way, were the last to the party with the Challenger. As if recognizing they were a few years behind the curve, the first-gen Challengers seem more perfunctory than performance-engineered. Big engine? Yup. Solid cornering? Who cares! Does it make the driver look like an asshole? Oh yeah!
Then there’s the Chevrolet Camaro. It debuted three years after the Mustang and three years before the Challenger and had one purpose: beat Ford at their own game.
They never quite did that. What they did do, however, was maintain a multi-decade competition that saw the two brands benchmarking each other with each iteration. And while Camaro was never able to lodge itself in the public consciousness the way the Mustang has, they were able to equal it both on the road and track*.
Or at least they did up until 2002. At that point, GM ceased production after four generations of F-body muscle car. At that point, it had sacrificed its back-heavy design for something so blandly inoffensive that it actually became offensive again.
And that was it for the General’s entry in the pony car race.
That is until the Mustang MkIV made a splash with its “retro-futuristic” design. Decades of watered-down muscle cars were suddenly forgotten as the Blue Oval reintroduced the appeal of the sports coupe, US-style. It was as if, four years removed from 9/11, people longed for a simpler, dumber time.
And though it took them another half-decade (Dodge actually beat them back to the market by again dropping a massive crate under the hood of an otherwise low-effort car and calling it a Challenger), the Camaro was reborn. And, following Ford’s lead yet again, retro-futuristic.
However, Chevy engineers were determined to do things differently this time. This was a muscle car that could actually outturn, outrace, and overall outperform both a Porsche 911 and Nissan GT-R.
For real.
By every metric, it was a class-leading sport coupe. A marriage of modern engineering and classic design.
Well, mostly.
While they nailed the engineering part, they just can’t seem to find a face for it. And while it would still take on a Mustang any day of the week at the track, it couldn’t compete in the market. Worse yet, the Challenger has actually surpassed it in sales for second-place.
What’s a Bowtie to do? If you guessed “try a new grill” than Chevy have some engineers interested in hearing your ideas.
Anyway, here it is. The (for now) new face of the Camaro. And if you don’t like it, wait. There’s sure to be another in a year or two.
* Hey, that’d be a good name for a magazine