2009 Chevrolet Camaro hitting the road Down Under
First prototypes finished before Christmas
By Joshua Dowling
Sharp-eyed Australians will see the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro before Americans. Engineers and designers working at GM's Holden headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, finished the first handbuilt Camaro prototypes just before Christmas. Some were due to be tested on Australian roads before the festive season.
Holden boss Denny Mooney told local media in late November: "We're building prototype Camaros right now. We should see some on the roads before Christmas." The Holden-based team has been given the responsibility of leading the final design, engineering, and development of the Camaro and the Detroit show star Camaro convertible, which use the same rear-drive Zeta vehicle architecture as the recently released Holden Commodore.
Highly regarded Korean-born U.S. designer Sang Yup has been working alongside Holden designers in Melbourne to do the final work on transforming the car from concept to reality. At this stage, there are plans to build the Camaro only in left-hand-drive for the U.S. and Canadian markets, but Mooney is on the record saying he'd like to sell the car in Australia.
Zeta came into being to support Holden's home-grown Commodore family of vehicles, which form the mainstay of GM sales in Australia. Aussies like roomy, rear drive sedans, and when Detroit went front drive in the 70s, the Holden engineers had no choice but to continue to do their own thing. Lucky for GM that they did, because without Holden, there's no way The General would be looking at producing a Camaro - and a rear drive Chevy Impala - by the end of the decade.
Zeta is a very versatile architecture. The front axle centerline on the Camaro is about 50mm further forward than it is on the Holden Commodore (and therefore the Pontiac G8, the lightly made-over Commodore sedan that will debut at the Chicago Show next month). The reason for this expensive change is that it allows the Camaro - and the Impala - to run 20-inch wheels without compromising steering lock. In fact, says one Holden source, 24s will fit.
Both the Camaro coupe and convertible concept are therefore very close to the production versions, say GM insiders. The roof of the coupe will be raised about 15mm for production, and the bodysides will be pulled in 5-10mm. But that's about it. What you see here at Detroit is basically what you're going to get in Chevy showrooms in 2009. 
Cost has been a major issue for Camaro. But GM sources say entry level versions will retail from about $21,000. That's because they will use the cheap-to-build pushrod 3.9-liter V-6 as the entry level engine. Insiders say Tom Stephens' team at GM Powertrain has been working flat out to improve the refinement of the 3.9. Mated with the six speed - manual or automatic - it should be a much smoother package than the truck-like 4.0-liter V-6 that powers base Mustangs.