At first, the only 2010 Camaros...
At first, the only 2010 Camaros you'll see at Chevy dealerships will be the 3.6-liter V-6 version (shown). Your best bet for a V-8 Camaro SS is to order one, and wait.
www.camaros.net
2010 Camaro News & Rumors
As we approach the much anticipated release of the 2010 Camaro, the plot thickens. On a recent trip to Camaros.net, we discovered some interesting tidbits--some rumors, and some verified facts. First fact: It appears that GM is suing one of its suppliers, Cadence Innovation LLC, for holding hostage some parts and tooling required to build the new Camaro. The thread was bolstered by a story from the Detroit News that ran on December 27. In that story, it was reported that back in 2006, Cadence garnered GM's prestigious "Supplier Of The Year" award, but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August. Cadence manufactures door panels, airbag covers, and consoles for GM, Ford, and Chrysler.
On a related issue, it was announced by GM that the pro duction start date for the Camaro has been rolled back one month, to March 16--that's a fact, too. The delay is not linked to the Cadence supplier issue, according to Manager of Chevrolet Shows & Exhibits Scott Settlemire, the unofficial GM spokesperson for the 2010 Camaro. In the days before the Detroit Auto Show, Settlemire addressed Camaro customers by posting this: "The one-month delay is to bring you the best possible Camaro ever. Let me assure you that the easy thing to do would be to build the car, get your money, and then have you bring the cars back for little dissatisfiers, which in reality would be upsetting to most people, and we are not willing to do that. Believe me, no one wants to delay a start-up, but we are doing this in your interest as well as ours."
Mopar guys: Your worst nightmare...
Mopar guys: Your worst nightmare has come true, but could get worse. Fiat now has a 35 percent cut of Chryco. The upshot: They paid nothing for it, and they could end up with as much as 55 percent.
So far, the V-8 Camaro SS has outnumbered V-6 variants in prepaid customer orders by a ratio of four to one--also a fact. The entry-level V-8 Camaro SS has an MSRP of $30,995, including a $750 destination charge. Nevertheless, if you've put actual cash down on a special-order V-8 Camaro, maintains Greg Sanders of EVS Chevrolet in Wisconsin, don't count on getting it in a timely fashion, if at all. (Hmmm, may not be a fact, since it comes from a car salesman and not Chevy, but still plausible.) In a Google video clip link at Camaros.net that contained clips of a closed-circuit dealer meeting on the Camaro roll-out, Sanders told potential buyers: "If you have an order number, congratulations, you've participated in a marketing program. They collected marketing information based on what you put into your order."
The reason for the constrained V-8 production wasn't made entirely clear, other than to say that V-8s will make up no more than 50 percent of production (orders are running at 80 percent). To its credit, Chevrolet admitted in the closed-circuit TV dealer meeting that it could be as late as October 2009 before all 10,000 existing pre-sold V-8 Camaro orders are filled. In an unusual move, the Camaro will be a controlled allocation vehicle, whereby dealers are allotted a specific number of cars per month. Traditionally, a pre-paid order goes to the front of the line and is built irrespective of allocation for dealer inventory. Under the Camaro policy, if customers place orders that fit the dealer's available allocation (translation: if the customer wants a V-6), the order will be filled. If, however, they put a deposit on a Camaro that doesn't "fit" the allocation, the order will be built later, or delayed until the next model year. We don't know if our understanding of the order process is correct, except to say that Chevy has made ordering a V-8 Camaro very complicated.
In other Camaro news, the convertible model is now slated for the 2011 model year (fact). Also, the initial Camaro launch will consist of 3.6-liter V-6 models (fact).