Bob Lutz, the man behind--among so many things--the recent Converj production snafu, is talking today about a Holden Commodore-based four-door Corvette for the U.S. We're not holding our breath, but it's an interesting idea.
The four-door Corvette was proposed as an evolution of the Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle--once that car is in production and the next-generation Commodore follows it as another police vehicle, Lutz says GM would want a civilian version to market as a high-end Chevrolet. Why? According to Lutz, "Because when you get down to it the thrill of high performance driving is unmatched by anything that doesn't have rear-wheel drive, bags of torque and a nice transmission." The four-door Corvette appellation isn't just frosting, by the way. The Aussies have already done what amounts to the same thing: the HSV W427, powered by the same 7-liter stomper found in the Corvette Z06.
But just like Converj, the whole prognostication is based on a series of highly contingent developments. If the Caprice PPV is a hit and if the Commodore PPV succeeds it, GM might want a high-performance version to call its own. Sometime, down the road, in the indeterminate future.
Another, even more far-fetched possibility is that Holden would develop another Zeta-platformed vehicle specifically for the Chevy four-door 'Vette idea, with unique Chevrolet body work.
The development costs alone seem prohibitive, but woven through this whole Aussie import idea is the possibility of selling the Camaro down under as a sort of trade. From Australia, it would make sense to continue to roll out the right-hand drive version to other markets as well.
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