Reports of the 7th Generation Camaro’s Demise Abound, But Here’s What GM Needs to Do to Make it Work

Photo Credit: GM Design Render of the unborn LT6 Z/28

Perhaps the worst part of General Motors’ re-retirement of the Camaro nameplate is the lingering feeling of unfinished business that long-time fans are left with. In another dimension, just being the best-driving car in the segment might have been enough to earn the Sixth-Generation adequate sales, therefore building a solid financial foundation for an encore to arrive in 2025. Chevy’s Pony Car took massive strides as a driving machine between its fifth and sixth generations, but we can’t help but feel like Al O and Co. were stopped just short of delivering the perfected version of this country’s most bitchin’ four-wheeled icon.

The ho-hum launch of the re-skinned – and newly solo in the niche that it founded in 1964 ½ – S650 Mustang has only deepened this hole in our collective psyche. Judging by how well their nearly-decade-old work still stacks up, we can’t help but believe the disbanded and reassigned Camaro team would have absolutely waxed the floor with the most recent ‘Stang had they been allowed to craft the internal combustion swan song that the Camaro disserved.

Setting the Stage for a Comeback

It’s been a little over a year since the Camaro line went dark, but for long-time fans of the Corvette’s little brother who likes to party, it’s felt like an eternity. They’ve been forced to watch from the sideline as their bitter rival class-jumped into $300k territory and claimed not only the muscle/pony car Nürburgring record that was the sole domain of Camaros since 2012 but also the overall mark for any vehicle from an American manufacturer. To add further insult to injury, the only Camaro notes to hit the news cycle in 2024 had GM talking about making the Camaro a four-door electric golf cart – a move that would go over like a wasabi enema with the nameplate’s loyal following.

But things are suddenly vastly different in the first quarter of 2025. The nation’s idealistic, unattainable, and wildly unpopular EV mandates have been kicked to the curb – a change that isn’t likely to end in the US as intenders in Europe are already positioning themselves to follow as they jockey for political position after overseas plug-in vehicle demand cratered in ’24. And with a gaping sub-$70k hole in its performance lineup, murmurs of a true Camaro revival at Chevrolet have already begun circulating.

What could such a car look like, what would be under the hood? Just the thought is enough for your author to finally work the word “titillating” into an article; it has like-minded people all ready to run through a wall with excitement!

The Seventh-Gen Camaro

As we take things a step further and pin our hopes to paper, we’ll leave styling to each individual reader’s imagination, but we’re personally picturing something forward-looking, in the vein of the second and fourth Camaros, perhaps even a treatment that picks up where the front-engine Corvette left off, and maybe, just maybe, after 14 years of gripes, the Seventh-Gen Cam could do something about the concept car trunk and poor outward visibility of its predecessors – what could the detractors possibly say about it then?

Moving on, we’ll concentrate on mechanical highlights of the lust-worthy V8 portions of the lineup. Even though its current management has a proven willingness to light massive sums of money on fire, we’ll also be looking to save General Motors a few dollars on this niche performance product, so we’ll be taking an S650 approach to this exercise. That starts with recycling the Sixth-Gen’s Alpha II platform that still underpins the excellent – but in need of sales reinforcements – Cadillac Blackwing twins because, really, why mess with perfection? Now, as Russell Wilson was briefly fond of saying, “Let’s Ride!”

We’ll start with the SS and stick with convention by mixing in a dash of base Corvette powerplant. As was the case in the ’16-’24 Sixth-Gen, our SS is getting the ‘Vette motor in its non-Z51 tune, spotting the two-seater a five-horse big brother tax. This still puts the entry-level V8 Camaro within spitting distance of the $60K top of the naturally aspirated Mustang pyramid for $15 or so grand less while piling on nearly 50 extra lb-ft of torque! Fun twist: under the code name “glue factory,” we bet GM engineers could coax an even 500 ponies out of the LT2 as part of an updated ‘Stang slaying 1LE package with the usual upgrades like MagRide, eLSD, Recaros, and a smattering of matte black.

It’s hard not to get romantic when you hear this combination: 670 naturally aspirated HP, 8,600 RPM, manual transmission, Alpha coupe. That fantasy recipe was reportedly under consideration at the RenCen before Camaro sales headed south. A Seventh-Gen could be Oppenheiser’s shot at realizing his (and our) American GT3 dreams by marrying the Z06’s record-breaking flat-plane V8 to the Camaro’s renowned – and three-pedal/DSSV infused – chassis; talk about a hole-in-one!

Using the boosted V8 from the contemporary top-dog ‘Vette is a staple of modern ZL1s, but by taking our Seventh-Gen halo model back to 2019 with the previous ZR1’s blown LT5, our achievements will be four-fold:

1. A supercharged LT5 helps us avoid too much overlap with the C8 Corvette.
2. Keeps the 1,000-horse LT7 exclusive to GM’s Halo car while expanding the scope of the criminally short-lived and under-appreciated LT5.
3. The car’s character would remain true to what ZL1 – and all modern muscle – customers have come to expect since the GT500 hit the scene in 2007.
4. It finally gives a legion of Bow-Tie faithful the 700+ Hellcat-killer that they’ve been waiting on since Dodge unleashed the demonic kitty in 2015.

We are well aware of the LT5’s discontinuation, but our whole premise hinges on rebirth and a “what we’d do if we were in charge at the General” line of thinking, so reigniting the LT5 line like the Great Forge of Erebor, it is! Offering such a Camaro for around $85,000 plus options (like its own big-winged 1LE package) would also make Ford’s “Secretary Car” – that in its current rendition requires over $300k or an outside company if you’re interested one of the big dog trims – look silly in more ways than one, and isn’t that the purpose of the Camaro existing in the first place?

Related:

Chevrolet Offers First Cash Rebate for 2024 Corvette Stingray, But You Must Own This Chevy Model

GM Says the Camaro ‘Could’ Return as an EV. We Say, No Thanks.

Chevrolet is Officially Out of the Attainable Performance Car Game

Subscribe Now: