Camaro Comeback!

It appears the rumors are more than just that. The Camaro is coming back!

Sources within GM have leaked news that suppliers are are preparing for it. Apparently, it will be spun off the so-called Alpha 2 platform that will serve as the basis for a new Buick sedan – more good news! – which will be built at GM’s Grand River Assembly facility in Michigan alongside the new/next-generation (2027) CT5 sedan and the next-generation Camaro.

This next generation Camaro will – hopefully – be different than the last generation Camaro that GM retired after the end of the 2024 model year. That car, which GM brought back in 2010 after a previous cancellation (in 2002) wasn’t as successful as GM hoped and arguably for the following reasons:

First, it was styled to recall the first generation Camaros that were made back in 1967-1969. While these cars are considered classics today and sold well when they were new, they were also made for only three years and during the late 1960s, which is now going on 60 years ago. While Boomers and GenX’ers remember them with fondness, they are not remembered as well by the succeeding generations that for the most part never saw them actually driving around, with people their age – when they were young, I mean – driving them. Older first generation Camaros were a common sight in high school parking lots back in the late ’70s and into the ’80s because back then, they were just old cars and teenaged kids could – and did – drive them. Thirty years later, those kids had grown up and their nostalgia for their youth appreciated the revived Camaro GM introduced in 2010 because it reminded them of their high school days.

But ’90s-era and older high school kids didn’t have the same memories. They probably have better memories of the second-generation Camaros that were made between 1970 and 1981 as well as the third generation Camaros that debuted in 1982 and were made through 1992. Those Camaros had a much longer production run, obviously – and for that reason, they were “on stage” for much longer than the 1967-1969 first generation cars. There were also many more of them available as cheap used cars back in the mid-late 1980s through the mid-late ’90s.

It was common for even high school-aged kids to be driving second and third-generation Camaros (and their Pontiac Firebird analogs) during those years.

The affection – and nostalgia – for those cars is a huge, untapped reservoir for a new Camaro that revives memories of the Camaros of those years. Perhaps even more important, the kids of the ’80s and ’90s are still relatively young and that is a big deal for a car like Camaro. There are fewer and fewer Boomer-age people – literally, as that generation is beginning to die off – and a car such as a Camaro is not exactly the kind of car older people tend to want to drive as Camaros are not known for their comfortable ride, nor are they easy for people with arthritic knees and hips to get in and out of.

A new Camaro more like the wildly successful second and third generation Camaro seems like the right way to go. Almost everyone who likes cars like the Camaro loved the 1970-1981 cars, as well as the 1982-1992 cars. It is worth recalling that both sold hugely when they were new. The hatchback layout of the ’82-’92 cars was genius on GM’s part because it not only looked good, it made what had never previously been an even remotely practical car exactly that. You could put a lot in the cargo area of an ’82-’92 Camaro.

At least, a lot more than you could put in the tiny trunk of a ’70-81 Camaro.

These cars also had great outward visibility, which the ’67-69-inspired reboot that appeared in 2010 badly lacked. The latter cars also had low-cut roofs and slit-side glass which – combined with the gigantic B pillars required for compliance with federal rollover/roof-crush standards – made driving a 2010-2024 Camaro feel something like driving a tank. These cars also had seats even less usable than a ’70-81 Camaro’s – and less cargo-carrying capacity than a Corvette.

The other thing about those second and third generation cars that was lost sometime after they were replaced was the mass market iterations of both models. The performance models – the Z28 – got the coverage but it was the inexpensive, four and six-cylinder-versions of the earlier cars that made them mass-market rather than exclusive cars.

In 1978, for instance, the Camaro’s base price was $4,414.

That’s about $23k today. The most-recently available Camaro – back in 2024 – stickered for $30,900 to start (just shy of $33k in 2026). The base ’78 Camaro was much more affordable than the base ’26 Camaro, a huge factor for the young people who are interested in a car like Camaro. The goods – i.e., the power/performance –  are important but also irrelevant if you can’t afford them. But if the car looks great and is inexpensive, it will still sell. The ’82 third gen cars were like that as well. They were the first Camaros that came standard with a four cylinder engine and they still sold very well. Especially since you could upgrade to a decently powerful V6 that cost a lot less than a Z28.

And the Z28 didn’t cost that much back then, either. In 1984, you could buy one – with the optional High Output (L69) V8 – for about $11k.

That’s about what it cost to buy a base V6 Camaro in 2024.

GM could – and should – also take a cue from Ford, which sold a Mustang LX 5.0 back in the ’80s that was stripped of everything that added cost but came with all the essential performance upgrades that made a Mustang a GT. If GM offers something like that come 2027 – alongside a base Camaro that costs around $25k – GM might not have to cancel the next Camaro.

 . . .

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.