Goodbye to the Chevrolet Camaro? GM announces it will stop producing the popular car in 2024

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The Chevrolet Camaro, for decades the dream car of many teenage boys in the United States,

.

General Motors, the company that sells the "muscle car" (for its engine power), said it would stop producing the car early next year.

The future of the Camaro, which competes in NASCAR and other auto racing circuits, is a bit dark.

According to GM, a new generation of the car could be in the works.

The Chevrolet Camaro debuted in 1966 and its production already has six generations of models.AP

"While we are not announcing a successor immediately, rest assured this is not the end of the Camaro story," Scott Bell, Chevrolet vice president, said in a statement.

declining sales

The current generation of the Camaro – he has owned six already – made its debut in 2016.

Although it has done well on the race tracks, sales of the car have been declining in recent years.

In 2016 Chevrolet sold 72,705 Camaros, but by the end of 2021 that number had fallen 70% to 21,893.

The numbers recovered a bit last year, to 24,652.

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According to GM,

2024 vehicles will roll off the assembly line in Lansiong, Michigan, in January.

Spokesman Trevor Thompkins said he couldn't say more about the Camaro's future.

"We're not going to say anything specific right now," he said.

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A possible electric Camaro

If GM does revive the Camaro, it will almost certainly be electric, said Stephanie Brinley, an associate director at S&P Global Mobility.

"It's going to be very unlikely to see another internal combustion engine vehicle," she stressed.

GM has said it plans to sell only electric passenger cars worldwide by 2035.

Brinley said the push to sell more electric cars makes it possible for all future muscle cars to be powered by batteries.

But if there were a mix of electric and internal combustion engine cars for sale in 2030 or 2040, some gasoline muscle cars might survive.

Thompkins said GM has an understanding with auto racing organizations to keep the sixth-generation Camaro racing.

, he said.

Camaro cars compete in NASCAR.Getty Images / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

NASCAR explained that because the sixth-generation Camaro was in production when GM received permission to race, the car can enter NASCAR CUP and NASCAR Xfinity competition.

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GM will sell a collector's edition of its 20224 Camaro RS and SS in North America and a limited number of high-performance ZL-1 Camaros.

The collector's edition will have ties to the first-generation Camaro from the 1960s and the codename GM gave it: Pantera, the company said without elaborating.

The future is green

GM's decision comes at a time when gasoline-powered muscle cars are beginning to disappear due to stricter government regulations on fuel consumption, concerns about climate change and an accelerating move toward electric vehicles.

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Stellantis will stop making internal combustion versions of its Dodge Challenger, Charger and Chrysler 300 by the end of the year.

The company plans to introduce an electric Charger sometime in 2024.

Electric cars, with their instantaneous torque and low center of gravity, are often faster and less driveable than internal combustion cars.

Stellantis, a company formed in 2021 from the combination of Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA Peugeot, earlier this week announced the latest special edition of its muscle cars: the 1,025-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170.

The company reported that the car can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in 1.66 seconds, making it the fastest car in production.

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In addition, Ford introduced a new version of the Mustang sports car in September.

The Camaro

, two years after Ford's popular Mustang.

GM retired the Camaro in 2002, but revived it as a new model in 2010 in the hope that it would appeal to muscle car enthusiasts and young buyers.

The 2010 version was similar to its predecessors, with a frontal mask and "gills" reminiscent of the original, though overall with a modern design.