Thursday 24th June 2010

Chevy Corvette And Camaro Go 'Official' In The UK

Chevrolet will name UK dealers for 'Vette and Camaro SS models

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Get a 'Vette this year...

Iconic Corvette and Camaro models will soon be available through Chevrolet's UK dealer network, giving owners the added bonus of a full factory warranty.

The full Chevrolet Corvette line-up including the 638hp ZR1 will be available from a single official UK dealer, the name of which is expected to be revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week. In recent years the ZR1 has been available through an officially-sanctioned importer, but no longer, we're told. The top Vette's £106,660 price is unlikely tochange when sales begin through the new official distributor next month, while prices for Z06, Grand Sport and basic models have yet to be finalised.

...or a Camaro SS next year

The Camaro will only be available in the UK in SS guise, offering 426hp from its 6.2 litre LS3 V8 - an engine that also appears in the Corvette. Unlike the Corvette, the plan is to offer the Camaro SS through a greater number of Chevy's existing 96 UK dealerships, but we don't know which ones yet.

Sales of the Camaro are due to commence next May, with pricing in the £30-35k bracket, and no, they won't be coming with right-hand drive.

Both Chevrolet models will be appearing at Goodwood next week, running in the event's Moving Motor Show on Thursday July 1, and in the supercar run up the famous hillclimb circuit on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Also flying the Chevy flag will be Jason Plato and Alex MacDowall in their Cruze Touring Cars.

[booner]

/waits patiently for approved used........

:O)

[BlueEyedBoy]

I am guessing that they are still LHD though Although that seems a good saving to importing one. The big shame for me, is that it didn't look like the car in Transformers, when it went into production. Looks boring in comparison.



so much better

Edited by BlueEyedBoy on Thursday 24th June 13:16

[timewatch]

Good news for Chevy owners, brilliant cars...

Cadillac are you listening???? Your UK service outlets are non existent and abysmal!!!!

Exception of Baur & Millet Manchester!


TW>>>

[slackalice]

Such a shame they are only going to be in left hookers, I do think that if they were serious about the sales to countries that drive on the left, then put the wheel on the right side! With all that said I will go along to my GM supplier and see what deal is available.

[seefarr]

300bhp/ton in 3..2..

[AV12]

Where is 300 on this one then?

[rutthenut]

Like the Camaro.

Wonder if it'll have the multi-year Daewoo warranty with it?

[AcidReflux]

Wait... so they're selling 648hp supercars alongside the Chevrolet Matiz?

Just who at Chevrolet is in charge of this shambolic marketing exercise?

At least when imports were handled by people like Bauer-Millett you knew they had experience of dealing with niche American cars. Chevrolet's existing dealers are rebadged from Daewoo. What the hell do they know about these machines?

Bizarre.

[ewenm]

I saw a Camaro in Bath (Lansdown Hill) on Monday and it looked great. I don't think LHD is a problem in the UK unless you use a LOT of toll roads and barrier-controlled car parks. I'd rather they kept the costs down than re-tooled for RHD versions that are then more expensive.

[psymonr]

BlueEyedBoy said:

I am guessing that they are still LHD though

Article said:

and no, they won't be coming with right-hand drive

Although that seems a good saving to importing one. The big shame for me, is that it didn't look like the car in Transformers, when it went into production. Looks boring in comparison.



so much better

Edited by BlueEyedBoy on Thursday 24th June 13:16

Really? I think this is one of the closest to 'concept' cars that have ever made production, usually they are completely watered down, not so in this case (IMO), I think it looks great,

[homerjay]

no RHD???

whats the point then?

[ewenm]

homerjay said:

no RHD???

whats the point then?

I think the point is that people can now have factory warranties and support. I've not found LHD to be a problem in the UK. Yes, it will limit their market but they aren't trying to achieve BMW/Audi/Merc sales levels.

[willisit]

homerjay said:

no RHD???

whats the point then?

RHD was planned but when GM asked RHD countries what their projected sales would be, they were so small, GM canned the idea. So you want to blame anyone, blame us! :P

Personally I don't care either way - I like the Camaro and can't wait to test one out.

[DavidHM]

AcidReflux said:

Wait... so they're selling 648hp supercars alongside the Chevrolet Matiz?

Just who at Chevrolet is in charge of this shambolic marketing exercise?

Depends if you think the Matiz is the bathwater and the Camaro is the baby, or the other way round.

It's a terrible way to sell supercars, but it could be a great way of shifting a lot of otherwise fairly uninspiring metal with an even worse image.

[ViperDave]

ewenm said:

homerjay said:

no RHD???

whats the point then?

I think the point is that people can now have factory warranties and support. I've not found LHD to be a problem in the UK. Yes, it will limit their market but they aren't trying to achieve BMW/Audi/Merc sales levels.

yeah just like they did on the previous two attempts by GM to sell vettes and camaros which have been a shambles. couldn’t even get basic stuff like coolant from the last dealer network.

[V88Dicky]

willisit said:

homerjay said:

no RHD???

whats the point then?

RHD was planned but when GM asked RHD countries what their projected sales would be, they were so small, GM canned the idea. So you want to blame anyone, blame us! :P

Personally I don't care either way - I like the Camaro and can't wait to test one out.

Built on a modified VE Commodore platform from Holden. Don't think it would've cost that much more to build in RHD. But like already said, GM thinks it wouldn't have been profitable so ho hum.

[vetteheadracer]

This is the third time in the last 10 years that this has been "news".

If they don't use the £1 = $1 exchange rate for pricing they might find they actually sell some cars this time, but looking at the ZR-1 pricing obviously they are

[300bhp/ton]

AV12 said:

Where is 300 on this one then?

Buy an import. It'll be a better deal longer run. Ive got got a Euro/UK spec 4th gen Camaro. And the EU type approved parts are the only bits which are a pain to fix or source. GM UK are pretty rubbish too and they didn't do the recalls on Euro models. So apart from a warranty (you can get 3rd party ones anyway) there is little reason to buy an official one unless they make the price appealing and massively under cut grey imports. Glad there's no RHD option though.

[Mitchmachine]

Uh oh 300bhp will be along to knock out a 5 roper to how good the American muscle cars are.

Saying that, fair point this time. Loving the Camaro.

[daz4m]

Mitchmachine said:

Uh oh 300bhp will be along to knock out a 5 roper to how good the American muscle cars are.

Saying that, fair point this time. Loving the Camaro.

He's already been and gone. Loving both of these. Well done Chevy.

Edited by daz4m on Thursday 24th June 14:12