In response to the huge global success achieved by the sixth-generation Ford Mustang, General Motors’ Australian Holden branch is developing right-hand-drive Chevrolet Camaros for sale in 2018.
According to Australia’s News, the beleaguered Holden brand will benefit from the launch of a market-specific Camaro next year thanks to conversion work done by Holden Special Vehicles.
General Motors is no doubt privy to news that the Ford Mustang became a global hit when the sixth iteration launched with independent rear suspension and right-hand-drive availability. The Mustang arrived in the United Kingdom in late 2015, for instance, and quickly outsold all other sporting coupes, earning the bulk of its sales from V8 versions. And in Australia, where Ford originally anticipated 1,000 annual Mustang sales, the Blue Oval is running at a roughly 10,000-unit annual pace.
Selling far fewer Camaros in its home market than it used to, Chevrolet could certainly use a global boost for its high-performance coupe. But the sales boost may be modest, as Australia’s Camaro is destined to be far more costly than the Mustang.
The cost of total Camaro renovation will likely drive the Camaro SS’s price up to AUD $80,000-$90,000, about $30,000 more than the basic Mustang and $20,000 more than the Mustang GT. Price is only one factor that will result in few Camaro sales down under. HSV will likely only be able to build 1,000 of the cars annually, although Holden’s employee count is likely to tick up by 150 to 200 workers.
Until Holden readies the first right-hand-drive Camaros for sale in Australia, the company will suffer a six-month gap without a V8-engined performance car. Holden has typically been able to sell 3,000 V8-engined vehicles annually.
Back on this side of the Pacific, Camaro sales are off 2016’s pace by 4 percent through the first two-thirds of 2017, setting the stage for the lowest-volume year of U.S. Camaro sales since the nameplate was brought back from the grave in 2009. With 46,297 sales so far this year, the Camaro trails the Mustang by 10,000 units and the Dodge Challenger by 1,200.
[Images: General Motors, Ford]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.
I’m really bothered that Ford didn’t switch the volume and tune knobs for right-hand models. I use the volume knob often, and find that the farther tuning knob is too far away, so I usually use the buttons.
Doesn’t it have steering wheel controls?
I prefer the tactile feel of the knobs. And the tuning controls on the wheel only go through presets, not channel to channel.
What I found on a friends truck that I was moving for him that if you never set any presets the tune button will just move on to the next good station. The problem is that the stations must have never ever been reset because Ford stores the presets in non-volatile memory so they persist after a battery disconnect.
Finally a replacement for Mad Max’s destroyed car.
I know there are people that are die-hard GM fans that would never put a Ford in their driveway, but are those people really numerous enough to make this project worth it with that price bump?
“Holden has typically been able to sell 3,000 V8-engined vehicles annually.”
The article seems to say it’s Holden’s tuner arm HSV that sells 3000 V8s annually. I’d imagine Holden itself sells significantly more.
I gather from the image that Holden is going to produce an upside down version too.
…wow, looking at that image upside-down really emphasises how ridiculously-high the camaro’s beltline sits above the ground…
Tim,
3 000 annually? WTF?
I thought roughly 1 in 3 were Vs.
HSV might have sold 3 000 annually.
V8s
Is the skywalker Camaro picture intentional, or is it just coincidence that for the third time this has accidently happened, and just on articles about the land Down Under?
(Or is a spy shot of the ultra-secret Flying Chevrolet mule, being tested over a placid and colorful lake?)
This is ultimately a fail. The reason why the Mustang sells is that its a Mustang, and its priced well.
The Camaro doesnt have such a following and unless is priced toe to the toe, then… why?
Of course the Camaro has all the usual issue the Mustang is just plain better at.
The ZL1 and 1LE version are probably the cars worth converting since they offer some serious performance on par with more expensive cars making the pricey conversion less of a hard pill to swallow.