GM's President Shared Some Thoughts On a Next-Gen Camaro

by Chris Teague

Published: July 17th, 2025

gm president shared some thoughts on a next gen camaro

The Chevrolet Camaro left the market (again) after the 2024 model year, leaving many to wonder if we’ll see another one, and what kind of propulsion system it would have if we did. GM’s President, Mark Reuss, recently shared some of the automaker’s thoughts with The Detroit News , saying that any revival of the car would have to be done just right.

“I think that formula of beauty – and a little bit of functionality and fun – all of that is important. If we were getting back into Camaro, that piece of it is really important,” he said. Rumors had pointed to an electrified Camaro, and while he didn’t confirm it, Reuss did note that Ford sells more Mustang Mach-Es than traditional Mustangs.

Reuss has a great deal of nostalgia for the Camaro, saying his first car was a 1967 model that he purchased with his father for $1,300. “It was high school, I was 16, and it brought so much joy to me. Not because I was racing the car, but because it was a really pretty car.”

An electrified or electric Camaro likely wouldn’t land with the most anticipation from enthusiasts, but it could be a way for GM to continue offering gas variants of the car. Stellantis quickly figured out that buyers really wanted a gas-powered Challenger after moving it to an EV-only format, so GM may have to take a similar approach.

[Images: General Motors]

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Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

More by Chris Teague

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7 of 30 comments

1995 SC on Jul 17, 2025

Gen X still drives and enjoys cars. They have disposable income. Which gen Camaro are they most likely to have any sort of emotion about? You guys all want a car that people who have already purchased their last car most likely would have liked 20-30 years ago. I am not about retro. Build an affordable, fun pony car. But if you must play the retro game, the people that are actually likely to buy this as a response are likely far more about the Gen2 and 3 cars. I hate the whole "Boomer" thing, but pretty much everyone wanting yet another retro Camaro is proposing one that would apeal most to 80 year olds. I don't care about the back seat comfort. Ever sat in the back of any Camaro? Nobody has ever cared. I do care about being able to see out of the car. Start there. But IMHO, retro was done a decade ago, but if you were going to try to sell me a pony car based on such, it had better make me think of a Third Gen or Fox Body. If you want to sell my Dad one by all means make it look like a first gen but I doubt you'll get him out of his Venza.

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- SCE to AUX on Jul 17, 2025
  
  ^^ This. Retro has run its course.
  
  Like
- Ajla on Jul 17, 2025
  
  "I am not about retro."
  Make it look like a 2nd or 3rd gen car but I am 100% in the "I want retro design cues" in my pony/muscle car.
  (I'm also a Millennial FWIW)
  
  1
- Jeff on Jul 18, 2025
  
  You could design a Camaro that is still more modern but has slight design hints of the Camaros of the past but make it smaller. Agree that if this Camaro was built it should appeal to a younger generation and not to the baby boomers. Affordability is key which is why there should be a base model with a more affordable engine like the 2.7 turbo but offer a smaller V-8 as an option. I just don't see GM doing a pony car but if they do they should not do what Dodge did to the new Charger which is bigger and more expensive anchored to dealer lots. I like the looks of the new Charger but it is too big and too expensive. Dodge should have designed a smaller more affordable pony car a newer slightly smaller Challenger with a lower price. We will see what happens but I just don't see a big enough market for a new GM pony car.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Jul 18, 2025
  
  "Build an affordable, fun pony car."
  Well affordable aside, they did attempt that with the six generation on Alpha - the issue was GM was involved with the design process instead of just assembly, bean-counting, and distribution. I do not believe GM is capable of designing a successful pony car in part because of the Corvette curse but also their complete ineptitude since 2010ish. Farming out design and then applying what they do well (bean-counting, distribution/sales) would be the only way to find some level of success IMO.
  Since Corvette went in the direction it did with C9, in hindsight it probably would have been a good idea to have kept Alpha going in convertible only form and have positioned it in the phantom MSRP range of 60-70K base C9 was originally supposed to occupy. But then again planning isn't a strong suit of RenCen.
  
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28-Cars-Later on Jul 18, 2025

"Reuss did note that Ford sells more Not Mustang Mach-Es than Mustangs."

I guess numbers aren't his strong suit.

From the fan boys:

In the first quarter, Ford's electrified vehicles represented 15% of total sales - up 3 percentage points over the same period last year.

Mustang Mach-E is off to a [dismal] record start on sales of 11,607 electric faux SUVs, despite limited inventory. The 2025 model year Mustang Mach-E SUVs are now in transit and will make their way to dealer lots in April.

Assuming Q1 sales for the whole year, that's 46,428 for 2025 (and last year total it moved 51,745). Guess what? The niche PLC model of the then grandparents majority marque Buick sold 41,422 units of Riviera in 1995. Hell the real Bronco sold 32,595 units in Q1 25 and combined with the fake "Bronco" Escape it was 65,958. Despite being sold by a mainline brand with 2840 dealerships this thing is not a success and apparently never will be. I really hope for RenCen's sake Mr. Reuss is not thinking, well Ford stumbled but we can fall even harder (though given GM since about 2010, I would expect nothing less than abject failure and eventual second bankruptcy, hopefully permanent this time).

Oh and I bet this will boost sales /s.

1 Reply
- See 1 previous
- Bouzouki on Jul 18, 2025
  
  PR and image are Reuss strong suit. He is "such an enthusiast!", yet are GM's "enthusiast car" anything to get enthused about? The Corvette C8 is certainly a superb driver (so, they say), but that middle console... The Alpha-platform Camaro was an excellent driver, but impossible to see out of, useless trunk (the opening is an oversize mail slot), and ingress-egress is pretty challenging for the 60-something loyalists. The ATS/CT4--great ride and handling, but overpriced at launch, and that instrument panel at launch...now, they have hideous rear quarters and no manual. Too bad. Ironically, PRE-bankruptcy GM was getting better, and using relatively "conventional" engineering, produced the Cobalt SS Supercharged, and later Turbocharged. These cars "out-GTIed" a VW GTI, they were not overly pricey, and they had a modicum of practicality. They were a blast to drive, and even driven sedately, they were rewarding cars. GM could have SSed the original Cruze (which had Cobalt/Astra underpinnings), and the original Cruze is also a good car (I know many of you are laughing, but if you rented or drive a Cruze 1.8, even with automatic, I think you would agree with me about car's innate goodness), but GM was too stingy. Reuss talks a great game in person, but the proof is in the product--in this case, it's not there. Sorry. As to the Camaro, I think the market and world has moved on. The end of the manual transmission, even the end of the AVAILABILITY of a manual transmission, and the drive to make cars large smartphones with 4-wheels where computers control or "assist" and the ride is monetized, all of this is totally antithetical to the idea of "enthusiast cars". It's over. Get your nice older "fun car" while they are available, and preserve it for weekends and nice days, while you can drive it without the nanny state. And don't pay much attention to the automakers....even Toyota, comes up with a nice Corolla hatch, but it's THREE cylinders and grossly overpriced, and infested with all the electronics. No thanks. Not even from Toyota.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Jul 18, 2025
  
  Agreed, "Maximum" Bob Lutz chose decent products which happened to mostly debut right when GM went insolvent. Everything since with rare exception has been inferior to the mid to late 00s product.
  
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