Is Holden planning to lasso Ford's Mustang with a right-hand drive Camaro?
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Is Holden planning to lasso Ford's Mustang with a right-hand drive Camaro?

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By DanGoAuto - 19 June 2015

HOLDEN should be trembling in its boots.

Both the lion badge and its arch rival Ford are formulating strategies to maintain the loyal following of customers it already has, whilst attracting new faces to the brands, when the end comes for local manufacturing in 2017.

The tactical approach adopted by both car-makers is to delve into their respective rich international model pools with the blue oval scouring the globe with its One Ford campaign, while Holden is looking to its parent company and the General Motors portfolio.

Not all product lines have been confirmed by either company, but in one critical segment – the high-performance sports Coupe – Ford has already shown its hand with the delicious Mustang, and as yet, Holden is yet to announce a rival.

In the absence of any obvious right-hand drive candidates, what is a lion to do? Is the all-new Chevrolet Camaro a possibility?

The Camaro stance is unmistakable despite the sixth-generation model not sharing a single mechanical component with the previous version.

Revealed before hundreds of Camaro owners, fans and journalists at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park, Chevrolet says the new car carries over just two components from the previous version – the Swiss cross and SS badges.

Now in its sixth-generation, Chevrolet’s latest incarnation of the iconic car is faster and lighter than ever, with 90kg of fat trimmed away and a shrinking of almost all dimensions when compared with the fifth-gen car.

Power comes from a choice of a 205kW/400Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, all-new 250kW/385Nm 3.6-litre V6 and range-topping 339kW/617Nm LT1 6.2-litre V8.

Just a handful of the Camaro's biggest fans were at the official unveiling at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park last month.

Does that sound familiar to you? The Camaro shares almost identical powertrain options with its chief rival Mustang, but while the Ford out-guns the Camaro turbo donk with an extra 0.3-litres the 6.2-litre Chevy V8 has 33kW more than Ford’s thanks to 1.2-litres of extra displacement.

Chevrolet has not revealed any performance figures at this stage but has said the entry level four-cylinder version could achieve a sub-6.0-second dash to 100km/h, putting it in similar territory to Ford’s four-cylinder EcoBoost Mustang.

Like Ford's Mustang, the new Camaro will have a choice of either turbocharged four-cylinder power or naturally aspirated V6 and V8 engines.

A majority of the weight saving is thanks to a heavily modified version of the company’s new aluminium-intensive Alpha platform first employed by Cadillac, and brings 28 per cent more body rigidity as well.

With fewer kilos to drag around, the new Camaro is not only quicker in a straight line but also eats up the track faster too. “Immediately, you will notice how much lighter and more nimble the Camaro feels,” says Camaro lead development engineer Aaron Link.

“That feeling increases when you drive the Camaro harder – it brakes more powerfully, dives into corners quicker, and accelerates faster than ever.”

With less weight and smaller dimensions than the previous version, the 2015 Camaro promises to hit the track and the road even harder.

Handling and feel is further refined by a multi-link MacPherson strut front suspension with a double-pivot design. At the back, a five-link independent suspension is said to deliver outstanding wheel control and reduce “squat” during acceleration. It is 12kg lighter than before, too.

Magnetic ride control becomes standard on SS for the first time, along with beefier Brembo brakes on all variants.

It is hard to believe the new verison is so fundamentally different when looking at its unmistakable styling. There is no doubt this car is a Camaro and Chevrolet design director Tom Peters described the amplified look, “like a T-shirt on a muscular physique”.

Chevrolet's design director said the new Camaro's styling is “like a T-shirt on a muscular physique”.

New for the 2016 model is a multiple driving mode system with settings for snow/ice, touring, sport and – on the SS – track.

Inside, the new-look interior design incorporates a segment-first ambient lighting system with a choice of 24 effects on the dash, door panels and centre console.

So would all that refinement make the new Camaro a worthy adversary to Ford’s golden-child Mustang on Australian roads?

Notice the family resemblance? While the 6.2-litre V8 version is the current performance flagship, it is likely Chevrolet will follow it with a feistier version similar to the outgoing 2014 Z/28.

While some publications are reporting the car is definitely not pegged for right-hand drive production and a Down Under debut, Holden has not closed the door.

“The Chevrolet Camaro is an iconic product and the sixth generation all-new vehicle will offer even higher levels of performance, technology and refinement,” said Holden product communications senior manager Kate Lonsdale.

“However, a RHD variant is not in the current plan. If this was to change, Holden would of course take a very close look at this exciting car.”

With another six months to wait for the Ford Mustang, 2000 fans have already placed cold hard cash deposits for the first right-hook pony car. Clearly there is a demand for brutish and iconic muscle cars in Australia so why wouldn’t Chevrolet make the switch for its hardcore coupe?

The one to beat. Ford enjoys a massive global following of its Mustang, and the first right-hand drive version is already causing a storm in Australia six months out from launch.

With significant interest in Ford’s offering, can Holden afford to let a significant piece of sportscar action slide to its main rival?

Daniel Gardner GoAuto.com.au

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