The big news in muscle-car land is the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro which was unveiled in Detroit. But within the hoopla of its new design and technical details, there’s a larger story.
For the first time since the late 1980’s, the Chevrolet Camaro will be built in the United States at GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant. For the last near 30 years, the Camaro has been built exclusively in Canadian plants.
The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro will join the Cadillac ATS on the Lansing production line they share GM’s newest compact rear-wheel drive Alpha platform architecture. The Cadillac CTS models are also built at Lansing.
While the line was already flexible, the plant received new paint shop expansions to allow some of the Camaro’s new colors and new robotic framing systems will allow more dimensional quality to the structures.
A second shift will also be added this summer to bolster production which will add some 500 jobs at Lansing Grand River, making it one of the company’s most production dense plants.
The new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro is lighter than its predecessor by up to 200 pounds, offers more power choices including a new turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and promises to have better handling than before.
With production now in the United States, this leaves the Dodge Challenger the last of the American pony cars to still be built over the border.
