The sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro will officially shuffle off its mortal coil in 2024, marking a total of nine years on the market. With the lack of an immediate successor generation, this could mean it’s the last Camaro for a while. Special editions to send out the generation with a bang are nice and all, but this generation of Camaro was perpetually behind not only other American muscle cars, but other Chevys as well, throughout just about all of the generation’s history.

Why The Sixth-Gen Camaro Never Reached True Muscle Car Status

The sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro will officially shuffle off its mortal coil in 2024, marking a total of nine years on the market. With the lack of an immediate successor generation, this could mean it’s the last Camaro for a while. Special editions to send out the generation with a bang are nice and all, but this generation of Camaro was perpetually behind not only other American muscle cars, but other Chevys as well, throughout just about all of the generation’s history.

To understand how exactly the sixth generation Camaro fell short, you have to compare it to itself during prior generations, other contemporary models from Chevrolet and General Motors, and finally other muscle cars that out-Camaro’d the Camaro. With the Camaro’s future in limbo and Stellantis phasing out the Challenger with a seemingly a dozen different special editions, the “winner” is really the Corvette — which Chevy continues to innovate on — and the Ford Mustang which will seemingly only leave Ford’s lineup after the heat death of the universe.

The Camaro vs. itselfChevroletThe Camaro itself has been a hit or miss affair over all six of its generations since 1967, when the car first rolled off the line. The very first Camaro was aggressive looking, had a big V8, and looked like it actually had a shot at defeating its arch-nemesis the Mustang at pony car supremacy. For the second generation, Chevy completely reinvented the Camaro with a radically different front grille, fewer engine choices, and that’s about it. As time went on and economic times worsened, the Camaro got worse and worse with every model year throughout the 1970s.

2019 Chevrolet Camaro Turbo 1LE first drive review: Marathoner’s muscles in a wide receiver’s body

The Camaro languished around until the 1980s, before GM decided to breathe some life back into the nameplate with the boxier third generation. The fourth generation gained the famed LT1 V8 from the Corvette and was actually a competently performing car, except the fact that it looked like a fiberglass catfish and the front grille was a permanent pained rictus grin of half-remembered drag races from the 1960s.

GM mercifully sent the Camaro into the wild blue yonder in 2002, only to resurrect it in 2010 for the fifth and penultimate generation. Despite starring as Bumblebee in the oppressive Michael Bay Transformers movies, GM actually successfully reinvented the Camaro for the 21st century. It had a new, powerful (and optional supercharged) V8, and looked modern enough to compete with the best. The sixth generation was not as lucky. GM failed to make it look too much different (some would say it looked worse) and none of the available engine choices really lit the world on fire. No one is going to get excited for a 2-liter four cylinder engine in a supposed muscle car.

Official CRUSH ORANGE 6th Gen Camaro Thread – Page 18 – CAMARO6

Why The Sixth-Gen Camaro Never Reached True Muscle Car Status

The sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro will officially shuffle off its mortal coil in 2024, marking a total of nine years on the market. With the lack of an immediate successor generation, this could mean it’s the last Camaro for a while. Special editions to send out the generation with a bang are nice and all, but this generation of Camaro was perpetually behind not only other American muscle cars, but other Chevys as well, throughout just about all of the generation’s history.

To understand how exactly the sixth generation Camaro fell short, you have to compare it to itself during prior generations, other contemporary models from Chevrolet and General Motors, and finally other muscle cars that out-Camaro’d the Camaro. With the Camaro’s future in limbo and Stellantis phasing out the Challenger with a seemingly a dozen different special editions, the “winner” is really the Corvette — which Chevy continues to innovate on — and the Ford Mustang which will seemingly only leave Ford’s lineup after the heat death of the universe.

The Camaro vs. itselfChevroletThe Camaro itself has been a hit or miss affair over all six of its generations since 1967, when the car first rolled off the line. The very first Camaro was aggressive looking, had a big V8, and looked like it actually had a shot at defeating its arch-nemesis the Mustang at pony car supremacy. For the second generation, Chevy completely reinvented the Camaro with a radically different front grille, fewer engine choices, and that’s about it. As time went on and economic times worsened, the Camaro got worse and worse with every model year throughout the 1970s.

Orange 6th Gen? – CAMARO6

The Camaro languished around until the 1980s, before GM decided to breathe some life back into the nameplate with the boxier third generation. The fourth generation gained the famed LT1 V8 from the Corvette and was actually a competently performing car, except the fact that it looked like a fiberglass catfish and the front grille was a permanent pained rictus grin of half-remembered drag races from the 1960s.

GM mercifully sent the Camaro into the wild blue yonder in 2002, only to resurrect it in 2010 for the fifth and penultimate generation. Despite starring as Bumblebee in the oppressive Michael Bay Transformers movies, GM actually successfully reinvented the Camaro for the 21st century. It had a new, powerful (and optional supercharged) V8, and looked modern enough to compete with the best. The sixth generation was not as lucky. GM failed to make it look too much different (some would say it looked worse) and none of the available engine choices really lit the world on fire. No one is going to get excited for a 2-liter four cylinder engine in a supposed muscle car.

The Camaro vs. machine

The sixth generation Camaro really falls apart when it’s compared to competing cars, because even the worst vehicles can sound competent in a vacuum. On paper, the ultimate version of the Camaro, the ZL1 LE, looks menacing, despite having a name like a microwave. It has a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that makes 650 horsepower. Not bad. But it also made 650 horsepower six years ago.