GM adds shift at Oshawa to keep up with Camaro demand
Chevy Camaro assembly line - Click above for a high-res image gallery
Might the newly-revived Camaro be the bright shining sales star that General Motors so desperately needs? That remains to be seen, but at least initial reports are favorable. According to The Peterborough Examiner (via The Detroit News), demand for the new-gen. muscle car is high enough that GM has asked workers at the assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, to work through the week of June 29, which had previously been scheduled as mandatory time off. Furthermore, Camaro orders are expected to be strong enough to keep the Oshawa plant's flex line humming along on Saturdays in June, July and August, and that means overtime for the beleaguered auto workers.
Gallery: Pre-production Chevy Camaro assembly
[Source: The Peterborough Examiner via The Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Toledo Guy 2:36PM (5/06/2009)
Smart move, build all you can while demand is high. Once you become Government Motors, your new owners won't allow the free market to work this way. This car just isn't green enough, you'll be forced to produce "Camaro offsets" of some kind.....
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Jared 2:38PM (5/06/2009)
Turbo I4 Camaro offsets?
Mattias 2:54PM (5/06/2009)
Yep, Turbo I4 would be nice. 2.0 or 2.2 liters and 250 to 280hp should be enough. And a modern turbocharged I4 has as much torque as a small naturally aspirated V8. So why not?
Phillip 3:28PM (5/06/2009)
I prefer the term American Leyland myself.
MONTE 3:33PM (5/06/2009)
GM blew it back in the '80s when they let the Buick 3.8L turbo die. Just because granny's Buick was quicker and faster than the Vette they decided to stop all development of forced induction and in my mind that is when they got passed up World Wide. They missed out on 20 years of development, and now we as a Country and World are paying for it. Right now if they did a Turbo TA version of the Camaro then I would consider it, but this Chevy boy would most likely end up with a 2010 Mustang GT if I had to buy a new car today.
Epyx 4:58PM (5/06/2009)
"Turbo I4 would be nice. 2.0 or 2.2 liters and 250 to 280hp"
You put this engine in a car the size of a Camaro and I can GUARANTEE the MPG is worse than the V6.
Please keep stupid ideas in the scope of reality.
JayC 2:37PM (5/06/2009)
Finally some goods news!
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carcomptoy 2:38PM (5/06/2009)
This is definitely some welcome news, I'm sure. Heck, even I'm eying the Camaro, and I'm a sworn import fan!
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Pete 2:41PM (5/06/2009)
Just waiting for them to build mine!
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tuxchown 4:27PM (5/06/2009)
I wish I could afford one. *sigh*
JORDAN 2:42PM (5/06/2009)
If demand is so high why are they dumping nearly 2500 nationwide into Avis and Budget fleet in June? And it's a mix of LT and SS models to boot!
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mapoftazifosho 2:44PM (5/06/2009)
That is great news! I would love to rent a Camaro when I go to Arizona! I'd be MORE than happy to pay the premium!
Erik 2:57PM (5/06/2009)
Not all purchases by rental car companies are picking up the unwanteds at rock bottom prices. Many companies have special "fun" fleets consisting of cars like the Camaro that they rent at premium prices. Who knows, maybe Chevy even struck a deal with them if they agree to take 10,000 crap-box Aveos they would be allowed to purchase 2,500 Camaros. Whatever it is, you can be sure those Camaro purchases were very unlike the standard Elantra or Amanti fleet purchases.
Taglane 4:01PM (5/06/2009)
Avis is buying them. GM isn't "dumping them". It's going under their "special" category or something.
JORDAN 4:47PM (5/06/2009)
200/day for the SS and 100/day for the LT
Big Mola 6:02PM (5/06/2009)
One way for rental companies to recoup money is to buy cars with high resale value. It's possible that Avis & co are betting on that.
katshot 9:41AM (5/07/2009)
Yeah, if demand for their "muscle-car" is so high, how come only 300 of the 1400 V8-powered units built?
katshot 9:44AM (5/07/2009)
Sorry, meant to say:
Yeah, if demand for their "muscle-car" is so high, how come only 300 of the 1400 V8-powered units built, have been sold?
Martman 10:22AM (5/07/2009)
Because peopel will pay huge money to rent them, it was a big hit to do this in the 60's.
Kitko 2:51PM (5/06/2009)
Hopefully they'd be making the post-recall version of the car in this extra shift :-)
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