Our friends at theCarConnection tell us Chevrolet's planning to bring back the Camaro. A concept will be shown at the 2006 Detroit show with launch date slated for sometime in 2009. TCC's Paul Eisenstadt says he seen photos but can't reveal them yet. The suggestion is that it will be built on existing rear-drive architecture with a range of engines all the way up to a Corvette-inspired LT1. So it's the 1960's all over again! Remember? Ford introduced the Mustang, it was a roaring success, GM was forced to rush in with a competitor for Ford's new pony car. The current Mustang's sales figures must have made the product planners at GM very nervous, hence a concept Camaro.

All very nice, except 2009's a long-way off, the world's auto needs are changing fast and a lot could happen in the next three years. Personally I'd rather see GM put its dwindling resources into developing better family automobiles, the bread-and-butter cars that produce large profits. The General's current range of sedans and coupes, with a couple of exceptions, remains a dowdy lot, unexciting and with little innovation; benchmarking Japanese vehicles, only to have them move a generation ahead when GM's product reaches the market. The Cobalt is an example of that. A perfect match-up for the Honda Civic, except now there's a new Civic range and the Cobalt looks like yesterday's car. Do we really need a new Camaro?