Dreaming of cruising Woodward Ave in a hybrid Chevy Camaro

As Detroit revs up for the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Phelan has been contemplating the kinds of cars that future editions might feature. Given the almost certainty of at least some degree of increased fuel economy standards over the next decade, the mechanical nature of future iterations of the muscle cars that populate the Dream Cruise is sure to change.

The obvious example such a future cruiser would be the upcoming 2009 Chevrolet Camaro, equipped with GM's Two-Mode hybrid system. When GM had the first media drives for the Two-Mode Tahoe/Yukon last spring, they showed a road-map for future versions of the hybrid powertrain one of which was a smaller RWD version designed for passenger cars. Around the same time GM revealed that plans for future rear wheel drive vehicles based on the Zeta platform that the Camaro is built on would go ahead but with more efficient drivetrains. Here at AutoblogGreen we put two and two together and proposed the idea of hybrid Zeta cars combined with GM's new V-6 and V-8 diesels as a killer high mileage performance combination. The packaging is certainly there, the biggest problem is whether the system can be sold at a price people would pay and GM could make a profit at.

Related:

• GM rear wheel drive programs back on track; Now with more MPG!
• GM announces new light duty 4.5L V-8 diesel for North America
• The GM/DCX/BMW Two-Mode Hybrid collaboration
• ABG First Impressions: Two-Mode hybrid Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon

[Source: Detroit Free Press]