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The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under
the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car12 and some versions also as a
muscle car.34 It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and
was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang. The car shared its
platform and major components with the Pontiac Firebird, also introduced for
1967.
Four distinct generations of the Camaro were developed before
production ended in 2002. The nameplate was revived on a concept car that
evolved into the fifth-generation Camaro; production started on March 16, 2009.
Before any official announcement, reports began running during April 1965 within
the automotive press that Chevrolet was preparing a competitor to the Ford
Mustang, code-named Panther.6 On June 21, 1966, around 200 automotive
journalists received a telegram from General Motors stating, "...Please save
noon of June 28 for important SEPAW meeting. Hope you can be on hand to help
scratch a cat. Details will follow...(signed) John L. Cutter ¨C Chevrolet Public
Relations ¨C SEPAW Secretary." The following day, the same journalists received
another General Motors telegram stating, "Society for the Eradication of
Panthers from the Automotive World will hold first and last meeting on June
28...(signed) John L. Cutter ¨C Chevrolet Public Relations SEPAW Secretary."
These telegrams puzzled the automotive journalists.
On June 28, 1966, General
Motors held a live press conference in DetroitĄ¯s Statler-Hilton Hotel. It would
be the first time in history that 14 cities were hooked up in real time for a
press conference via telephone lines. Chevrolet General Manager Pete Estes
started the news conference stating that all attendees of the conference were
charter members of the Society for the Elimination of Panthers from the
Automotive World and that this would be the first and last meeting of SEPAW.
Estes then announced a new car line, project designation XP-836, with a name
that Chevrolet chose in keeping with other car names beginning with the letter C
such as the Corvair, Chevelle, Chevy II, and Corvette. He claimed the name,
"suggests the comradeship of good friends as a personal car should be to its
owner" and that "to us, the name means just what we think the car will do...
Go!" The new Camaro name was then unveiled. Automotive press asked Chevrolet
product managers, "What is a Camaro?" and were told it was "a small, vicious
animal that eats Mustangs."7
The Camaro was first shown at a press preview in
Detroit, Michigan, on September 12, 1966, and then later in Los Angeles,
California, on September 19, 1966. Public introduction of the new model was on
September 26, 1966.8 The Camaro officially went on sale in dealerships on
September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year.
General Motors has made product
placement, or embedded marketing, deals for the Chevrolet Camaro in numerous
media.2829
The vehicle mode of the fictional character Bumblebee in the 2007
film, Transformers, is first depicted as a 1974 Camaro30 and later a
fifth-generation concept variant. A modified fifth-generation Camaro reprises
the role of Bumblebee in the sequels, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and
Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
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