15,000 queue for Camaro in US

GENERAL Motors’ all-too-gloomy existence has received one rare ray of sunshine in the form of buyer demand for the new Chevrolet Camaro in North America.

While most GM plants gather cobwebs for up to nine weeks as the beleaguered company tries to clear excess stocks and resuscitate its fortunes, GM of Canada’s Oshawa Car Assembly factory in Ontario is working overtime to meet demand for the Australian-engineered rear-drive muscle car.

Chevrolet says it has dealer orders for more than 15,000 Camaros built at the Canadian facility, which would otherwise be struggling to stay open on the strength of other models built there – the Chevrolet Impala and Buick Allure.

GM said it sold 614 Camaros in April following the car’s launch in March, but that volume is expected to pick up as stocks reach more dealers.

Some buyers in the US say they have been told they will be waiting for weeks or even months for cars they have ordered – a situation that GM is only too happy to try to rectify by adding extra volume to the manufacturing schedule.

However, it was not all good news: 300 early-build V8 Camaros have been recalled to replace a faulty battery cable that can cause a car to stall.

The Camaro, which is now unlikely to come to Australia after right-hand-drive versions were reportedly killed due to the financial crisis, is built on the Holden-developed Zeta rear-drive platform that also spawned the Commodore.

In North America, the Camaro is available with GM’s 3.6-litre V6 or, on the Camaro SS, the LS3 V8, with a choice of manual or automatic six-speed transmissions.

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