Photos: The 2010 Chevy Camaro.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

General Motors may be busy charting a future full of subcompacts and electric cars, but that doesn’t mean it’s forgotten how to have fun.

Monday's introduction of the highly anticipated 2010 Chevy Camaro was surrounded by the kind of excitement normally reserved for new iPods and Hollywood blockbusters featuring superheroes and aliens. It’s not coincidence that a concept version of the car had a starring role as Bumblebee in the 2007 cars-to-robots film "Transformers."

Based on the 2007 Camaro Concept, the car is a modern design, but it harkens back to the Camaros of the late Sixties. Chevy is looking to tap into the retro sentiment that’s proven so successful for the cars it will be competing with in the marketplace, the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger. Production begins on Feb. 16, 2009.

Offered with a choice of either a 296 horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 or a big, honking 416 horsepower 6.2-liter version of the V-8 found in the Chevy Corvette, it isn’t exactly an economy car. That said, the V-8 is able to turn itself into a four-cylinder when you’re just cruising down the highway. Chevy claims it’ll get more than 30 mpg in this mode, though the EPA rating will likely be quite a bit lower than that.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,387724,00.html

[leeroysphitz]

1. Somebody over there gets it. Finally. n/t

[SeattleGirl]

2. Nice car, but I'd get it in black. n/t

[guitar man]

3. cool!

that 296hp v-6 sounds like a great option and I bet it will get decent mileage for a pony car. My '95 lincoln mark viii with a 290hp v8 wil get 26-27mpg on the highway, and that's a 13 year old car, so I bet the V6 will turn into the 30s easy on the highway with plenty of punch ;)

Now, if they would just do this Pontiac version, in black and gold, they would have me hooked :evilgrin:

[originalpckelly]

4. AWESOME!

:P

[sniffa]

5. That's not a Camaro

Ok, it is, but it's not bitchin'

[MullenBank]

6. That gives me

a raging clue.

[Schema Thing]

7. Hahah, it's a Fordge Chargtang

[Taverner]

8. They did to the Camaro what Ford did to the new Mustangs.

Right on!

Now if they can make that baby get 50+MPG I'm game!

[Bombero1956]

9. is it me or does it look like it got hit in the rear end

Not bad for a Chevy. Judging from the pictures of the interior the steering wheel has lots of buttons and allot of gauges in the center, not the kind of thing you want when you're trying to keep your eyes on the road. I may get flamed for this but I have to say that Ford was on the cutting edge with their retro design on the Mustang and GM just copied them.

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. I was thinking that, too

It's pretty high-assed. That's gotta make rear visibility pretty crappy, especially with that short glass.

You're right about Ford, though — they set the retro standard with the new Mustang. It seems everyone else has been leaning more "new" in their blends, and they're using that blocky, smashed-in-face look that Chrysler started. I don't care for that at all.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. I like the gauges on the console — and I don't

That's a throwback to a Chevelle SS package in the mid-'60s, which is cool as hell, but it's not a safe place for 'em. They should be at eye level.

Hmmm — just saw a close-up photo of the gauges: volts and oil pressure, which you'd expect; oil temperature, which is nice; and... torque? That's a vanity gauge. Why not water temp?

The car has the appearance of being chopped three inches, too, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I know it's aerodynamic and all, but chopping a Camaro...? (It's only 54 inches high, which means guys like me would groan a bit when getting in and out.)

The louvers for the rear brakes look cosmetic. Maybe that's just the lighting, though.

The main thing I don't like about modern car design is all the edges. Maybe aerodynamics are involved in that, too, and maybe it's also partly the lighting — but, cripes, can't they roll 'em just a tad so the cars don't look so blocky?

Here're the specs (.pdf): http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro/pdf/2010+Camaro+Specifications.pdf The V-6 puts out 300 HP, which is nasty from 217 cubic inches — though you might expect it with dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and an 11.3:1 compression ratio.

You won't stay in first very long with a clutch in the V-6; it has a 4.48:1 ratio.

No performance specs listed. :(

[Bombero1956]

12. 300 HP for a V-6?

Of course 300 HP is their marketing number. My Stang is rated at 300 HP but actually makes 279 at the rear wheels.

[Bombero1956]

13. this is the 2010 Mustang

Rumor has it that the 2010 V-6 Mustang will be a twin turbo.