The "generalmotorsdesign" page on Instagram is home to some exciting official renderings, some purely conceptual and others based on actual products GM is selling. The latest design exercise falls somewhere in the middle as while it's not an over-the-top design you usually see at an auto show and then never hear about again, it's also not a production car either.
What is it? A hardcore Camaro, of course. However, it's none of the spicy derivatives you'll find in a Chevy showroom. The massive (and presumably carbon fiber) vented hood, air intakes, look-at-me front splitter suggest it's a track-oriented flavor of the muscle car, one that sadly only exists in the virtual realm. Is it the allegedly canned Z/28? Maybe.
The Meaner Camaro That Never Happened:
While it would be quite easy to speculate that we are indeed looking at the stillborn Z/28, GM isn't sharing any details about the identity of this menacing Camaro with its carbon roof and giant rear wing. Granted, the rendering does look like something you'd find in an official photo gallery right next to images of an actual car as it's usually the case when a vehicle debuts.
As you may recall, rumors about the Camaro Z/28 getting the proverbial axe have been swirling around the Internet since July 2019, and as far as we know, it's still not happening. The latest gossip dates from a few months ago, talking about how the car would have used a pushrod 6.6-liter V8 with over 500 horsepower and a 7,000 rpm redline.
Allegedly dubbed the LT3, the naturally aspirated engine would've been complemented by various weight-saving measures to improve the power-to-weight ratio. Muscle Cars and Trucks believes the Z/28 was supposed to have less noise insulation, thinner glass, and no rear seats. The draconian diet might have taken out air conditioning and the sound system as well to create a truly hardcore Camaro only purists would appreciate and learn to live without these creature comforts.
While it's disappointing to see the Z/28 is unlikely to happen, we can't really blame Chevy since the business case seems rather weak given dwindling sales. Deliveries fell by 38.3 percent in 2020 compared to the year before, with only 29,775 units shipped to customers. The silver lining is a new juicy rumor talks about a ZL1 with the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 from the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing as the Camaro's last hurrah.
It's said to arrive for the 2023MY and come bundled with other goodies inherited from the high-performance luxury sedan for a life cycle of just two model years. Details about how much power it will offer are not known, but the engine generates a massive 668 hp (498 kW) and 659 lb-ft (893 Nm) in the CT5-V Blackwing. Talk about going out with a bang…
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