New Chevrolet Camaro SS Won't be Last of the Great V-8s
Just a few days ago, General Motors announced a $257 million investment to update the plants that will be building the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu. It's an important move, as the current Malibu is a top competitor in the mid-size sedan segment, which is expected to see significant future growth as more and more customers look for fuel-efficient cars that still offer at least a modicum of passenger space. But if spending money on the new Malibu shows how GM is staying ahead of ye olde curve, what should we make of the company more than tripling that quarter-billion-dollar investment to support the kind of small-block V-8s that power the Chevrolet Camaro SS?
That's right, GM followed up the Malibu investment with news that it would spend $890 million, across five different plants, to build its next wave of "fuel-efficient" V-8s.
Now, on the one hand, this certainly seems to be a bit of a different tack from most of the other mainstream automakers. Hyundai, for one, is making a pretty big deal out of dropping six-cylinder engines from products like the Hyundai Tucson and Hyundai Sonata, relying on turbocharging for higher performance numbers.
And in perhaps a more direct comparison, Ford is using its EcoBoost V-6 in a wide range of vehicles that would likely have holstered V-8s in the pre-meltdown era. Top-level models of the new Ford Taurus and Ford Flex, together with their luxury counterparts the Lincoln MKS and Lincoln MKT, all would have rocked V-8s back in the day; today, they rely on the EcoBoost.
As for tomorrow, well, we know the upcoming 2011 Ford Explorer will offer the engine'”but no V-8'”and an EcoBoost V-6 also will become an option on the Ford F-150 before the year is out.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that, except for the up-level models of the Ford Mustang and F-150, the Blue Oval will be V-8-free in a few years.
So, getting back to the other hand, GM's V-8s could become a strong differentiator in the marketplace, especially for its non-luxury brands. The big engines are likely to stick around in the premium segments in general'”Sonata aside, the coming Hyundai Equus sedan will have one'”and that's likely the key to what's going on here.
I'm sure that GM believes it absolutely must offer V-8s on certain key halo products, even if just to keep up with the competition. For the time being, eight cylinders is the price of admission to the super-car club, so the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and ZR1 will need big engines to keep their membership. Likewise, until/unless we start seeing V-6-powered M cars from BMW, the Cadillac CTS-V range will need eight cylinders, too. And if even the Equus comes with a V-8'”never mind cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class'”you can be sure Cadillac's future flagship will hoist one as well.
It's also worth pointing out that GM remains committed to building full-size, body-on-frame trucks like the Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Sierra. And a case can be made that at least some of these trucks will actually need V-8s to meet customer needs.
Once you start building V-8s for all these vehicles, spreading the engines even further throughout your lineup starts making economic sense, since more V-8-engined products provide more opportunities to recoup your investment. Which returns us to the Chevrolet Camaro SS.
While I know the purists would include the hi-po Camaro as one of GM's V-8 halo cars, I'm not so sure it would otherwise get one if it weren't for the Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac CTS'”and the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger.
And the chances of either of the latter two dropping V-8s entirely is about as tiny as the cars' 0-60 times. With the demise of the Ford GT, the Mustang Shelby GT500 is essentially Ford's Corvette: It's the king of the company's performance hill and, for now at least, it therefore still needs to wear a V-8-shaped crown.
For the Challenger, it's the beneficiary of Chrysler's longtime investment in the whole HEMI business. Sure, there's a lot of positive buzz about the automaker's new Pentastar V-6, but key new products being counted on to raise Chrysler from the ashes'”like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and next-gen Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger'”have already been developed with a HEMI option in mind.
Needless to say, if the Challenger SRT8 and Shelby GT500 have V-8s, trying to sell a Camaro SS without one would be like trying to sell a full-size Buick LaCrosse with a four-cylinder engine.
Oh, wait a minute ...