DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 7, 2009) – Daytona International Speedway officials announced the return of the Chevy Camaro as the Official Pace Car of the 51st running of the Daytona 500—the first Camaro to pace the field since 1969.

“Chevy has been a great partner of the Daytona 500 for more than 30 years, and the Camaro is an automotive icon,’” said Speedway President Robin Braig. “This 2010 model will set the tone for a 21st century sports car, and that’s a perfect fit to lead the pack at the ‘Great American Race.’’

The 426-horsepower vehicle, powered by the 6.2-liter all-aluminum Chevy V-8, carries a PPG Cyber Grey paint scheme with a bold accent design befitting “The World Center of Racing.” A Camaro has paced the field just twice in Dayton 500 history, in 1968 and ’69, and this 2010 model is scheduled to hit showroom floors this spring.

Built on GM’s new global rear-wheel drive architecture, the Camaro also will be offered in V-6-powered LS and LT models. Additional specs of the 2010 model pace car include:
All-aluminum 6.2-liter V-8
426 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque
Fully integrated strobe system, including a GM-designed custom light bar utilizing Whelen 500 series linear strobes
27-mpg estimated highway fuel economy
Fuel-saving Tremec 6-speed manual transmission

http://www.michiganclassics.com/images/Camaro/Daytona500-1.jpg

Hi Joe,

Any news if this is going to get an RPO number?

For all you guys that went out and preordered one and are waiting for it to arrive in the next few weeks heres a video telling you exactly why GM is going to go down the tubes soon.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1374053698310378557&hl=en&038;fs=true

GM knows what you want to buy, but they are going to sell you what they want to make.

Linky no workie. Is that Rick and Greg's video? Try that again Mark...

Hi Joe,

Any news if this is going to get an RPO number?

I just heard about this today, if history holds true, you will be able to order a replica, but we'll have to wait and see.

For all you guys that went out and preordered one and are waiting for it to arrive in the next few weeks heres a video telling you exactly why GM is going to go down the tubes soon.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1374053698310378557&hl=en&038;fs=true

GM knows what you want to buy, but they are going to sell you what they want to make.

Saleable cars have already been built, they are in the captured fleet all over the place.
Cars to sell start rolling off March 16th. Please tell us all why 'GM is going to go down the tubes soon', I'm anxious to hear your information...

Link works fine for me, you have to press the play button on the bottom left of the screen to get it to start.

Gm's going down the tubes becasue they still apparently don't get it. The Customer is always right, even when hes wrong. They have over 10000 orders on the books for cars but don't feel its necessary to start delivering those until the 3rd quarter of the year. They are more interested in pumping out 6 cylinder spec cars to the dealers so they can mark them up obscenely before they even think about those preordered cars. Every other company on earth would fill the orders they have on hand before they though about putting their product on the shelf for general consumption by the public.

They've got 3 months production orders on the books from people who already expressed interest in buying the car, and one would imagine that alot of these orders have something to do with a desire to have one of the first cars made. So the mentality of the company appears to be hey we already got the orders for these cars so we'll sit on them for a while and pump out a group of spec cars first and then maybe we'll start building what was ordered. Alot of those orders are going to disappear well before the first one gets built and buyers will flee to the Mustang, or Challenger if they really need a new car in the same class as the Camaro.

Highlights of the video:

1) GM has over 10,000 pre orders on hand enough for more than the 1st 3 months of production time.
2) Production has been "retimed" to start on Mach 16th 2009.
3) Every Chevrolet dealer will receive 2 type LT Camaros within the first 6 months of production. 1 from the estimated production guide number and provided within the first 45 to 60 days of production, the second will not be ordered by the dealership, it will be assigned to the dealership.

Saleable cars have already been built, they are in the captured fleet all over the place.
Cars to sell start rolling off March 16th. Please tell us all why 'GM is going to go down the tubes soon', I'm anxious to hear your information...
The answer is at 3:00 in the video.
"If you have an order number, congratulations, you participated in a marketing program. ha ha ha ha".

I believe what Mark is saying is GM is not listening to customers.
Customers have pre ordered V8's and GM is making V6's and shipping them.
Companies that do not deliver products that customers want go down the tubes.

But maybe there are enough V6 cistomers to buy the early cars and the V8 buyers are willing to wait.

It's a gamble, we'll have to wait and see if it pays off.

V6 Camaros and Mustangs top sellers, they outsell their V8 counterparts. Thankfully the opinions of a few people on internet forums represent the minority car buyer, GM has done a great job with this Camaro program all around we all know no car program will please everyone :cool:

...GM knows what you want to buy, ...AND they ARE going to build it.
They aren't going to build cars that people don't want. They are building V6 cars AND V8 cars, ...most of the ordered cars are most likely V8's, ...so they fit some V6's in the mix, ...and get them to the dealership. Actually I would credit GM in that they plan on getting Camaros to every dealer, ...they're getting the car out there. As OverAnxious said, ...the V6 is the volume car, ...the one they will sell most of.
I surely don't have all the answers, ...but if you're looking for them in this video? ...well, ...I'll leave it at that.
Like I said, ...I don't have all the answers, ...but what I do know is that GM is doing what any reasonable company would be doing to get the car out there and in the hands of those who want one. It surely is no scam or 'marketing program' to take sold orders...

Other forums I have visited about 5th gens are about 60-70% V-8 cars ordered. If that holds true I belive the forums are are showing a 30-40% V-6 order. Times that by the people that don't go to a forum or wanted to pre-order or are just waiting and I bet GM has the volume to justify V-6 production over V-8. The main car they are going after is the Mustang and it's already known that the V-6's out sell the V-8's 2 to 1.

If your in the market for V-8 or if I was and pre-ordered I would be a litle ticked off if it's not going to come until the 3rd 1/4 but then again it is a 2010 and not an 09. Personally I think a pre-order for one would do nothing for anyone other than the customer being able to say they "Ordered" a new 2010 Camaro.........big deal. Anyhow give me a car that has ran after the line has the kinks worked out.

...I thought to repost what Scott Settlemire had previously posted on another Camaro site regarding the video. Hopefully his response will clear the mis-information...

The following was posted by Scott (Settlemire):

Camaro Greg -- Please stop trying to 'interpret'.... While I believe your motives are honest and and well-meaning, you are -- perhaps unintentionally -- misleading people with some of what you are saying. I don't have the time to print off the thread, but there are just too many things that you -- and other people are 'interpreting' and most of it's wrong...............

Thoughts:

1. 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 that they had to take a new car back for service -- .......and we are NOT willing to do that. The Camaro team feels that we need to sweat every detail on this car so that you will be completely satisfied at delivery - but MORE importantly -- you'll still have that grin on your face years after delivery.

BELIEVE ME - no one wants to 'delay' a start-up -- but we are doing this in YOUR interest as well as ours. (.....we could use the money right now....but it isn't worth it to ignore little nuances that need to be addressed.......)

2. We are NOT focusing only on V6s. We understand -- and frankly, are blessed -- that we have so many Camaro enthusiasts that have turned this car into a lifestyle -- (and some might say: addiction!)

Now for a personal comment: whomever feels we don't care about enthusiasts is living in a vacuum.
I could list for hours the things we have done to involve our valued enthusiasts in everything about this car........from electing "the 12 disciples of which there are 15" to sharing information about this car LONNGGGGGGGGGG before we -- or any other manufacturer -- has done ....EVER........

I have personally put in thousands of hours of my own time to keep the community together -- and to try and keep the faith within the community. I don't expect anyone to thank me -- or to 'cowtow' to me -- I chose to do it because, like you, I LOVE THE CAMARO -- and it was -- and is -- the right thing to do.......but when I hear someone say "GM doesn't care about us" I get a *bit upset*......

We ARE going to provide each dealer with a new Camaro -- for many reasons: We want people to come in and sit in the car -- to drive the car -- to fall in love with the car -- and to order the car of their dreams -- and we're doing it with the V6 car because we KNOW that a large percentage of our enthusiasts want a V8 engine -- so rather than build a 'stock' V8 -- we'll build V6s for stock -- and build V8s to get you your 'sold' order as soon as we can.

I know for a fact that many dealers have asked us to build them a 'stock' car so that they can have a "Camaro Celebration" with their local Camaro clubs. And -- it's no surprise that most of these cars will be Silver -- because, you see -- the Silver Concept blew people away --even people who would never normally consider a Camaro as their 'car of choice' -- and the production car is a dead ringer to the concept --......

.....oh - by the way -- CAFE will play a role in future years of the Camaro -- but right now, we're safe.......

We are not **completely stupid** -- we KNOW how badly you want your new Camaros -- and it's our intent to do whatever we can to get them to you ASAP -- BUT - we won't ship cars until we're confident that we've taken care of any outstanding issue.

Now -- I must warn you -- John, Cheryl and I are going to be tied up with NAIAS for the next several days -- so we won't be able to come onto this site at will and answer your questions - and if the thread goes to a couple of hundred posts -- I won't be able to read 'em all.......

What I would simply ask you to do is know that:

>We are BLESSED to have you as a Camaro Enthusiast
>We want your new Camaro to be the best car you've ever owned..
>We only wish we could see the grins on your collective faces the first time you get behind the wheel -- turn the key -- and drive at a *lively pace* out of the dealership.
>We are working long into the night to address any issues that we feel need to be addressed before shipping new Camaros to you.
>We want to sell as many Camaros as possible -- because that allows us to work on a 6th gen........but to do that, we also know that the car has to appeal to more than just enthusiasts -- and that's where the V6 comes into play.......


Thanks for your continued patience -- I think you'll find the wait was more than worthwhile..........

do they have 10,000 order that are paid for or are guaranteed to be paid for?? i thought you only had to put $500 down to mark your place, did these pre-orders have to sign something legally binding them to purchase the car?

do they have 10,000 order that are paid for or are guaranteed to be paid for?? i thought you only had to put $500 down to mark your place, did these pre-orders have to sign something legally binding them to purchase the car?


It's up around 12,000 cars now and there have been contracts loosely written up. I am one of those people and I had to drop $1,000 deposit down to order the car. Some people did not have to put anything down. I really depends on the dealer.

I have not even discussed pricing yet but my bill of sale from the dealer specifies the cars color and all the options I am looking for. Many dealers do not care if someone takes it or not when it arrives because the car will become stock which they will badly need. Dealers will not have more than 2 or 3 on the lot within the next year as I suspect everyone they do get will sell quickly.

Thanks Doc. I was just thinking of that situation in regards to the original poster point about trying to satisfy those that ordered (but arent abligated to actully buy) cars with the first ones off the line.

It's all good, hopefully you guys that ordered them will see them in the garage soon.

Rob