Possibility of Camaro Hybrid
The Chevrolet Camaro is one of the most popular vehicles Chevrolet has produced. A report regarding a hybrid Chevrolet Camaro is not impossible according to a GM source. Incorporating 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.
“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 be very please with such a project.
“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.”
“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.”
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 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.