http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...OL14/708160413

BY MARK PHELAN

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

It could be the future of cruising, a muscle car for the 21st Century: A Chevrolet Camaro that could approach 40 m.p.g. on the highway and 30 m.p.g. in the city.

It might glide silently through future Woodward Dream Cruises, running on battery power up to 25 m.p.h. but with a beefy V8 engine poised to leap to life for a 0-60 sprint.


This Camaro, wedding Chevrolet's legendary small-block V8 engine to General Motors' advanced new hybrid system, isn't on the drawing board yet, but it is feasible, a knowledgeable GM source told the Free Press. GM has the parts on the shelf to get this dream car cruising. It would combine production-ready hybrid technology that hits the road this fall in some GM vehicles with the celebrated new Camaro that is to go on sale in early 2009.

"The Camaro is Chevrolet and GM's halo car," said Joe Phillippi, principal of AutoTrends Consulting, in Short Hills, N.J. "It projects an image that reflects on the whole corporation. To offer all the performance aspects of a classic Camaro and still be environmentally friendly ... that's a real plus from an image point of view.

"A hybrid Camaro, it could go a long way toward changing the perception of General Motors and Chevrolet," he said, particularly if the car won the seal of approval of Consumer Reports magazine or some other respected third party.

Even Chris Paine, director of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?", which took GM to task for halting the EV1 electric car in the 1990s, would applaud such a move.

"The word hybrid is really starting to mean something at GM; they deserve another look from people," Paine said. "Anything that saves fuel and gives equivalent power is going to be exciting to the consumer."

Because nobody is officially working on a gasoline-electric Camaro hybrid, the fuel economy and performance projections are mine, not GM's. They are based on a reasonable extrapolation of the company's public statements about the Camaro and GM's new hybrid system.

"Every automaker is going to have to have a hybrid version of almost every model they build," said Tony Swan, senior editor at Car and Driver magazine. "It's a smart thing to do for marketing."

That hybrid system is impressive enough that Germany's engineering titans -- BMW and Mercedes-Benz -- jumped at the chance to share it with GM, kicking in cash and engineering talent to develop it.

"The Detroit Three have such a horrible public perception as technology laggards," said Michelle Krebs, editor of AutoObserver.com. "It's critical that they turn that around."

The new hybrid system combines the cylinder deactivation system that helped the Chevrolet Silverado achieve the highest fuel economy rating of any big pickup. It's a system called the "two-mode" hybrid.

It recaptures energy used in braking to charge its batteries and shuts the engine off when the vehicle is idling or puttering along at neighborhood -- or Dream Cruise -- speeds.

The system boosts fuel economy in city driving as much as 45% and improves highway fuel economy by a smaller amount, according to engineers working on the GM-BMW-Mercedes joint development program.

GM has already said a Camaro with a conventional V8 engine will get 30 m.p.g. on the highway.

The V6 Camaro will certainly top that, so it's a not too big a leap to infer eye-popping fuel economy figures for a hybrid version of the reincarnated muscle car.

There's a real question as to whether buyers want a hybrid performance car, though.

Honda failed when it pitched the hybrid Accord as a performance model, and the go-fast hybrid version of Lexus' GS sport sedan has struggled, said Rebecca Lindland, analyst with Global Insight, Lexington, Mass.

"The traditional hybrid buyer is not worried about performance," she said. "That may be changing, but even the slightest hint that it didn't perform as well as the non-hybrid would be death."

Most hybrid systems on the road today have little effect on highway fuel economy, but the two-mode was optimized to improve that number as well by letting the vehicle operate in fuel-saving four-cylinder mode for a longer period and at higher speeds than non-hybrid models.

GM is considering using the new system on other vehicles from the Zeta family of cars that includes the Camaro.

The company hasn't approved any of them for production. GM is weighing the fuel economy and image benefits against the system's very high cost -- considerably more than the less powerful and sophisticated systems used in today's hybrids.

GM has admitted it will lose thousands of dollars on every one of the big Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukons that will offer the system beginning this fall.

The price should fall as production volume rises and the company gets more experience with the system, and GM documents say the company does plan to offer it in rear-wheel-drive cars, though it won't say which ones.

"It looked for years like GM was behind Toyota" in hybrid and alternative-fuel technology, Phillippi said. "Now we're seeing significant movement. With the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids, GM is years ahead."

Contact MARK PHELAN at phelan@freepress.com or 313-222-6731.

 

I thought that was the Corvette.

Now we need more articles and mags to say this...heck GM needs to be saying this to help change perception.


I would consider a Hybrid Camaro like that. A Camaro with some respectable power and great, nay, even better than projected fuel economy...that would awesome. I already get 30 MPG on the highway in my 94. I hope my 2009/10 get as good or better.

 

I would buy one. It would be even better if it had mode switch like the ZR1 (from half to full power) so you could manually lock the car into gas powered only if you wanted to for track stuff. Leave it on "normal" for the two-mode hybrid and then switch to "performance" for track duty with the V8.

 

I could see a hybrid for the V6 almost right out. But I don't think the tech is there for the V8 yet, like the article says "but even the slightest hint that it didn't perform as well as the non-hybrid would be death."

 

smartest thing they can do for the camaro. offer it with a v6.

 

I would be very surprised if they offered a hybrid version. I would predict that we are at least 5-7 years away from seeing one yet if at all.

The hybrid SUVs was a great move for GM though.

 

Could be true, but it sure would make a massive impact to bring a hybrid out within a year or two of the Camaro's debut.

 

Forget me...the wife would buy two.

 

Just throwing more fuel on the greenie fire....

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...014/BUSINESS01

 

Why not? As long as it lives up to the Camaro's name in terms of performance and affordability, then I say go for it.

If an option like this can make money for the car line its sort of a no brainer.

 

Camaro, believe it or not, would be a great candidate as a hybrid and wouldn't be the 1st time it was touted as an enviromentally friendly car.

After the image throwing disaster that was the 4th gen Camaro, it's almost impossible for most to even think of Camaro as anything more than a 300 plus horsepower, 4 passenger Corvette.

Anyone who remembers the 70s (or anyone who looks at the sales figures) remember that Camaro became extremely popular once the oil embargo and resulting fuel shortage of '73 hit. Camaro really didn't have a "performance" version (Z28s still made up a minor section of Camaro sales), and I remember I-6 Camaros and the new small & economical (for it's time) 305 taking up most of it's sales. Discounting the Mass Transit "Car haters", Camaro managed to include the same same customers in the 1970s that might today drive Honda Civic Hybrids.

Personally, I don't see myself buying one, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be one. It would bring Camaro's image back to where it was before the 4th gen.

Any Hybrid powerplant made for the Zeta would also fit in Camaro, so it shouldn't cost a thing.

 

I just think if they offered one right at the start it would garner so much good publicity. It would even make the camaro cool to the goofy kids these days.

 

I would not be suprised if this idea is not already bouncing around at GM.

The publicity and image would and could make the word hyprid cool. The term hybrid is not a bad word it is just mostly applied to boring slow cars and that can and will change int he future.

All GM needs to do is make sure it has performance better economy than the standard car and be reliable. If it works it would be a home run but if it fails it would be a major embaressment.

The bottom line is Chevy could have a chance to lead into the future vs just catching up. Technology in the Volt will expand and become cheaper in the future. What better than applying it to a car that people would want.

I really don't think many people have Prius posters on their walls!

Lets als face the fact that if the Camaro does not embrace future technology it will have a limited life. I also recall it was not too long ago many feared fuel injection, disc brakes and aluminum wheels or other new advances that have been a boon to perfomance.

The best defense to DC is a good offence in Detroit pushing for better economy as it will in the end help save our performance. It is hard to pass laws on companies working hard on the future and showing it on some of their best vehicles.

 

My personal dream car is the Lexus GS450h. Hybrid motor. Fast quiet luxury car. One day I will have one.

If the Camaro follows along the same lines it would kick butt in sales.

 

I would love to see some hybrid models in the lineup as well. Like Guy said, if other Zetas are getting it, it shouldnt be an issue to retrofit some Camaro models with it and it would be a HUGE image booster. Hard to call a car gas-guzzling (perceived anyway) when theres "green" models available