Chevrolet Camaro Deliveries Begin In United Kingdom In September, All 15 Of Them
Anticipating virtually nonexistent demand, General Motors will ship 15 copies of the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro coupe to the United Kingdom for deliveries in September. Another three Camaro convertibles are expected to find homes one month later.
Chevrolet, which concluded a decade-long full-line foray into Europe last year, will sell the Camaro through only one UK dealer, Ian Allan Motors in Virginia Water, Surrey. You may recall hearing that Virginia Water was the first UK locale outside London in which the average price of a new home crested £1,000,000.
British buyers heading to Virginia Water in search of a new Camaro will certainly need to have access to more funds than buyers who are keen on a new Ford Mustang. Given the blame we cast for poor U.S. Camaro sales on a pricing scheme that presents the Camaro as a premium pony car, it’s not surprising to see that Camaro pricing in the UK would be similarly lofty.
But there’s one key difference.
Pricing for the Camaro with the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder — the V6 is unavailable — begins at £31,755, £760 higher than for the Mustang EcoBoost. A jump to the far more desirable V8-engined Camaro, however, requires a big leap to £37,020, a £2,025 increase compared with the Ford Mustang GT. £2,025 equals roughly $2,600 USD.
The U.S. price spread between the pair is actually greater, but money isn’t the only factor: Ford decided to make the sixth-generation Mustang a global force, catering to the right-hand-drive needs of a few right-hand-drive nations. As a result of a global effort, Ford claims that the Mustang is the planet’s top-selling sports car, with help from more than 3,500 sales in the UK in 2015.
General Motors, on the other hand, didn’t make the same commitment. Chevrolet UK is attempting to sell left-hand-drive Camaros at a price premium.
Pay more, the company seems to be saying, to drive a car out of which you can’t see, and on the wrong side of the road to boot.
[Images: Chevrolet UK & Ford]
More by Timothy Cain
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15 sounds like about the right number that will sell. It will only sell to those who want to be different, no matter what the item is. They will also have another RHD car for the daily drive. I've driven quite a bit in the UK, and I sure wouldn't want a Camaro, it's too wide and visibility too poor. Going through roundabouts would be real challenge in this, and overtaking on a single carriageway (2 lane road) impossible. In the rear world, it's inherent limitations would make it a slow car to drive. I could drive a diesel Range Rover much faster.
The reality is the Comaro is not a replacement for the current HSV Sedans sold by Vauxhall. I wonder how well Comaros will sell in the UK, unless they are really cheap. I don't know if Holden would sell Comaros here. The Mustang is a much better vehicle to look at. I'm seeing a few around.