Chevrolet Bel Air Reviews

Sales figures show our car market is becoming more like the US.

Holden is preparing 24 new models by 2020 as it replaces one of the oldest vehicle line-ups in the Australian car industry.

Korean brands, once scoffed at for their poor quality and reliability, have ranked near the top of the class in a respected US quality survey.

Chevrolet’s all-new Mustang-fighting muscle car has been revealed and promises to be the bow-tie brand’s most capable Camaro yet.Chevy claims that under the skin, the new car is a revolution. Outside however, the design is clearly more of an evolution, with the same retro muscle styling as before.At the front there’s the familiar letter-box grille and bluff nose, while the cabin is set rearwards with a fastback style rear end.The design of the new Camaro is slightly sharper than before with harder and more defined lines than the outgoing model to give a slightly more modern look. While it may appear similar to its predecessor, the new model is vastly different beneath the skin, boasting a new range of engines and a lightweight aluminium architecture.Gone is the Australian-developed Zeta platform shared with the Commodore, replaced by a new lightweight aluminium-intensive Alpha structure also used by the Cadillac ATS and CTS models.This platform makes the new Camaro 28 per cent stiffer than its predecessor while weighing around 90kg less.Bad news is with these new underpinnings the Camaro is even less likely to be sold in Australia this time around because the Alpha platform hasn’t yet been engineered for right-hand drive.While Holden has confirmed it will have a rear-wheel drive sports car in its showrooms post Commodore, at this stage Chevy has ruled out a right-hook Camaro.Currently it seems the next-gen Corvette may be the most likely option.Bad news is with these new underpinnings the Camaro is even less likely to be sold in Australia this time around.Engine options in the new Camaro include a V8, V6 and a turbocharged four-cylinder. The four-cylinder Camaro develops 205kW and 400Nm and can hit 100km/h in less than six seconds.Unsurprisingly, it’s also the most fuel efficient Camaro ever capable of using less than 7.8L/100km.The 3.6-litre V6 model develops 245kW/385Nm, though its fuel economy and performance figures are unconfirmed.The only V8 option for now is the Camaro SS, powered by the 6.2-litre LT1 V8 from the Corvette Stingray developing 340kW/616Nm.More hardcore performance models are due further in the Camaro’s life-cycle including a new hard core Z28 track special and supercharged 492kW ZL1.  Transmission options across all models include a six-speed manual and an eight-speed torque converter automatic with paddle shifters.The SS also boasts a rev-matching auto throttle blip on down shifts with the manual transmission as well as magnetic adjustable dampers, 20-inch alloys and Brembo brakes as standard.The Camaro’s interior has also been thoroughly updated with new higher quality materials and a unique dashboard design with an eight-inch central display supplemented by another eight-inch screen located in the instrument cluster.It also features its electronic park brake and selectable drive mode buttons located on a nice slither of aluminium mounted on the centre console.Further news on whether the steering wheel will be switched to the right-hand side is expected in the next few months.

Australian designers played a starring role in the Motown showcase, with Holden building two concept cars — a limousine for Buick and an electric car for Chevrolet — and a Ford Australia designer penning a reborn GT40 supercar.But in a cruel twist, none of them has any real significance to Australian car buyers.On that score, the show car that could create the most waves Down Under was Hyundai's Santa Cruz ute — or pick-up as the Americans call them.The Santa Cruz is the forerunner to a Hyundai ute that will look to take a slice of the booming Australian ute market, which accounts for one in six new vehicle sales.Elsewhere at the show, it was all glitz and glamour, with Honda revealing a new NSX supercar and Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen unveiling sporty SUVs.Here are CarsGuide's show highlights.After more than three years of very public development work, including a disastrous fire at the Nurburgring, the born-again Honda NSX is ready to roll.Almost exactly 25 years after the birth of the original NSX, the new hybrid supercar has broken cover and is being fast-tracked to Australia.Some of the final detail is missing, including power and performance figures, but the NSX has a twin-turbocharged V6 engine, a double-clutch gearbox and twin electric motors to boost acceleration.The output is believed to be more than 400kW and the engine, which is set north-south behind the two-seater cabin, is believed to be 3.5-litres in capacity.The car has a body that combines lightweight alloys with carbon fibre, a step on from the original all-alloy NSX that was pitched against Ferrari in the 1990s.The price is likely to be more than $250,000 in Australia, but despite the price tag, there is considerable interest in the car in Australia.NSX deliveries in the US will begin later this year, pointing to an on-sale date in Australia in the first half of 2016. Less than 250 of the originals were sold down under, although it was a massive hit with car enthusiasts.Ford's latest Ferrari fighter, the new GT supercar, was designed by Australian Todd Willing, who was seconded from Ford Australia two years ago to work on the top secret project.He has since returned to Ford's design studios in Broadmeadows, where he is now the head of design for Ford in the Asia-Pacific region. How long he stays there is anyone's guess, as the GT40 is an impressive boast on a CV. At Detroit, the chief engineer for the Corvette, Tadje Juechter, the head of Jaguar design Ian Callum and former Volvo chief designer Peter Horbury all queued with the masses to get a closer look at the car.The Ford GT has special significance to Ford, having one the Le Mans 24-hour race four consecutive times from 1966 to 1969.In a controversial move, the latest iteration of the GT40 comes with a twin-turbo V6 rather than a V8, but Ford says it makes more power than its predecessor without burning as much fuel.There are no plans to sell the new Ford GT supercar in Australia because it will not be built in right-hand-drive.The Chevrolet Bolt concept car, which was built in Port Melbourne, can travel 320km on battery power alone and is expected to cost just $US30,000 when it eventually goes on sale.The vehicle was also unveiled by a former Holden boss, Alan Batey, who now runs Chevrolet.Mr Batey would not say when the Chevrolet Bolt would go into production but indications are that it will."We're going to gauge the reaction from today … but we're pretty convinced this is the right vehicle at the right time," said Mr Batey.It may not make it to Australia, though.Just 132 electric cars were sold here last year and Holden is unlikely to take the second generation Volt plug-in hybrid because of slow sales.The Santa Cruz pick-up was Hyundai's hero and it's clearly headed for production, with a timeline that could put it into Australian showrooms within three years (see separate story on page 8).Based on the next-generation ix35 SUV, the Santa Cruz Crossover Truck Concept was styled at Hyundai's design centre in Los Angeles and is aimed in the US at the 20-something "millenials" who are the second-biggest group of car buyers.The Santa Cruz is a four-door five-seater that's smaller than mainstream American pick-ups, which have become true trucks.It has "clamshell" doors and an expandable tray bed, with Tonka-style centre-lock wheels that won't make production.Hyundai says the Santa Cruz is for people who don't need a full-size truck. The company says "towing, payload and ground clearance were not primary goals".The SUV rush continues apace, with Volkswagen taking the covers off yet another softroader concept.This one is a pointer to a seven-seater that in size and philosophy will fit somewhere between the baby Tiguan and the family-sized Touareg. The show car had a plug-in hybrid system (a 3.6-litre V6 paired with two electric motors) but the showroom version is expected to be much more conventional.It is due to go into production in late 2016 ahead of a 2017 showroom arrival.So far it's not confirmed for Australia but Volkswagen locally has expressed interest in the vehicle.The only Chinese car maker at the Detroit show is also coming to Australia.The world debut of the GS4, a compact SUV, is proof that Guangzhou Automobile Group has aspirations beyond China. An Australian import deal for GAC is believed to be in the works at Auto Distributors AsiaPacific, a company established by Ateco boss Neville Crichton and the former head of Fiat Chrysler Australia, Clyde Campbell.Crichton was the first to bring Chinese cars to Australia, with Great Wall and Chery, and has been looking for extra brands to distribute.The big stumbling block at the moment is that GAC's cars are only built in left-hand drive.

The iconic Chevrolet Corvette sports car is heading for Holden showrooms to become the brand’s hero car once manufacturing comes to an end in 2017.The boss of General Motors’ international division, Stefan Jacoby -- the man who in December 2013 made the tough call to close the Elizabeth assembly line -- told Australian media in Detroit that Holden will have a "halo model" after the V8 Commodore dies.Mr Jacoby stopped short of confirming which car it will be, but there are only two V8 performance vehicles in the GM line-up that could possibly fit: the new Chevrolet Camaro or the next version of the Corvette.RELATED: How we broke the Corvette story two years agoHowever the Corvette is tipped to be the favourite given that the new Camaro has not been developed for right-hand-drive, whereas the timing of the Corvette’s model change over works in Australia’s favour. The other option, the Cadillac V8, will not fit a steering wheel on the right-hand-side of the car because the engine is such a tight fit.“We will bring a true sports car to Australia for the brand Holden,” said Mr Jacoby. “It will be something which fulfills the requirement of a true Holden sports car.”Beyond that, Mr Jacoby was coy about giving any further details other than it will be a V8 and arrive in 2018.This means that although V8 versions of the homegrown Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore may be reaching the end of the road forever, both will be replaced by iconic US muscle cars.Ford is due to release the Mustang at the end of this year priced from $50,000 while the Corvette is not due in Australia showrooms until 2018, the year after the Holden factory closes in Elizabeth.There is one catch however. The flagship version of the Corvette will likely have a price close to $100,000 -- the same as a current HSV GTS sedan -- by the time exchange rates and shipping costs are taken into account.Nevertheless, the news will be a relief to rev heads because Holden was facing a future without a V8.The next Commodore is a front-wheel-drive fleet sedan from Germany with a choice of four-cylinder or V6 power -- just like the Toyota Camry.At the unveiling of the current Chevrolet Corvette in Detroit in January 2013, the then boss of General Motors Dan Akerson told News Corp Australia the sports-car would be made in right-hand-drive and would be coming to Australia “soon”.But less than 24 hours later his second-in-command Tim Lee, at the time the head of GM’s international operations, said: “I have no idea what said but we have no plan to put a right-hand-drive under that bonnet. The Corvette is a Chevrolet, it’s not a Holden, it never will be, next question.”When Mr Lee was asked how two senior executives with intimate knowledge of the company could make such a faux-pas about the Corvette, Mr Lee said: “I recognise what my boss said, I recognise what said, I am telling you as the operating guy in charge there is no plan. I respect my boss, I love my boss. But I think he was giving you an exhortation.”When pressed again on how such a senior colleague could get such key facts wrong during a media presentation, Mr Lee said during a roundtable interview: “We can spend the entire 20 minutes talking about this. This is a non-story from my point of view. You can write what you want to write, I really don’t give a shit. But it is not in the mainstream plan.”Mr Lee then repeated his earlier comments: “Currently there is no engineering execution, there is no plan. If the CEO said tomorrow that he wants us to do that it would take us years. Don’t go back and sell that story.”At the Corvette unveiling, when asked if the new model would be made in right-hand drive, the boss of General Motors Dan Akerson told News Corp Australia “yes”. When asked when, he replied “soon”.The chief engineer of the new Corvette, Tadje Juechter, then said: “We want the Corvette to come to Australia. I get letters from Australia all the time. Our primary competition sells left- and right-hand-drive, so that’s what we want to do. Our plan is to make this a truly global car.“But I would say timetable is a little faster than what you’re probably thinking. It’ll be years away .”

The Chevrolet Bolt is General Motors' first pure electric vehicle since the failed EV1 of the 1990s. Now look who's reviving the electric car.

US magazine Car And Driver has landed what will likely go down as the scoop of the year -- just eight days into 2015.The magazine’s spy photographer Chris Doane has caught on camera what appears to be a mid-engined Corvette test mule wearing a Holden Commodore ute body as a disguise.Car And Driver does not say how or where the photos were taken but it appears to be from a drone inside a General Motors test track given the height the shots were taken, and the fact that there are no licence plates on the vehicle.The magazine says it captured 82 seconds worth of images before the engineers testing the vehicle covered it up.The magazine is adamant this is a pointer to the next generation 2017 Corvette, said to be a mid-engined design, with the engine mounted behind the seats (like a Ferrari or Lamborghini) rather than under the bonnet as it is currently.The contraption could also be a flagship model to sit above the Corvette, to rival the Ford GT supercar which is rumoured to break cover at next week’s Detroit motor show.Whatever it is, we just hope that General Motors stands by its promise to make all future cars available in right-hand-drive -- and then put it on a ship to Australia.Whatever it is, we just hope that General Motors stands by its promise to make all future cars available in right-hand-drive -- and then put it on a ship to Australia.At the Detroit show two years ago the then boss of the company Dan Akerson told News Corp Australia, in the media scrum after the latest model was unveiled, that the 2015 Corvette would be coming to Australia “soon”.But less than 24 hours later, his next in command, Tim Lee, said that was not true and the Corvette was not coming to Australia.Mr Lee told Australian reporters at the Detroit motor show the next day: “I have no idea what said but we have no plan to put a right-hand-drive under that bonnet. The Corvette is a Chevrolet, it’s not a Holden, it never will be, next question."When Mr Lee was asked how two senior executives with intimate knowledge of the company could make such a faux-pas, he said: “I recognise what my boss said, I recognise what said, I am telling you as the operating guy in charge there is no plan. I respect my boss, I love my boss. But I think he was giving you an exhortation.”When pressed again on how two of his senior colleagues could get such key facts wrong during a media interview, he said during the roundtable discussion: “We can spend the entire 20 minutes talking about this. This is a non-story from my point of view. You can write what you want to write, I really don’t give a shit. But it is not in the mainstream plan.”Mr Lee then repeated his earlier comments: “Currently there is no engineering execution, there is no plan. If the CEO said tomorrow that he wants us to do that it would take us years. Don’t go back and sell that story.”Here’s hoping this mid-engined monster, whatever it is, stands a better chance of coming to Australia. With or without the Holden Commodore ute body.Read the full story at Car And Driver

Concept cars once provided a window on the future. These days, some are built solely for the virtual highways of computer games.The Chevrolet Chaparral 2X unveiled in Los Angeles this week is a pointer to a car that will compete in the latest Gran Turismo. It follows futuristic gamer cars from a range of makers including Mercedes-Benz.The silliness of the Chaparral runs from a crazy powerplant in the tail to a lay-down driving position.But Chevrolet, which is reviving the name of the Chaparral team that pushed the boundaries in sports car racing in the 1960s, knows it’s all about the performance in the virtual world. How else could it claim a “mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system, which pulses beams of light that focus in a shroud, creating shock waves” using a 671kW laser run by lithium-ion batteries?The car is claimed to have a top speed of 400km/h and a 0-100km/h time of 1.5 seconds. But the true headline number is the 72 million people who have a copy of Gran Turismo 6 and are expected to download the Chaparral 2X as a bonus for the game.

Bound for Russia, Chevrolet's Niva comes from GM's key concept builder: Holden. The original Lada Niva was a donkey. Great for farm chores but not much else. This new one, conceived with help from Australia, is a very different animal. It's the start of a joint program between Chevrolet and AutoVAZ to create a 21st-century SUV suitable for rough-and-tough driving in Russia.The Niva concept is almost certain to go into production, looking just as it did when it emerged from the Holden design studio at Fishermans Bend for its debut at the Moscow motor show.The Niva is the latest in a string of concept cars either influenced or built by the Australian design team, most recently the baby Chevrolet Adra SUV concept for the Dehli show in India earlier this year.“It's a Chevrolet Niva. It's a joint venture between Chevrolet and the owners of the Niva brand," says GM Australia design boss Richard Ferlazzo. Just as importantly, he says the Niva shows the design team at Holden still has a key role to play when local manufacturing ends.“A strong part of our business going forward continues to be building these sort of properties. Sometimes they are internal cars for the US or somewhere else, and sometimes they are public cars for shows and things. There are always one or two going at any time," Ferlazzo says.Holden is not claiming credit for the Niva concept but, he says, local designers were part of the team that did the design work and construction.“Ondrej Koromhaz, one of our Australians on assignment in China, was the lead designer, together with another group in Italy. He had a heavy involvement," Ferlazzo says.“As part of the GM aspect, he got the gig to help out. They wanted a vehicle for the show."“Our job was to fabricate it. (Holden) being the only ones outside of Detroit who can do it, Chevy came to us to build it. It's a nice model. It's part of our business." Ferlazzo says the Fishermans Bend studio has an ongoing role in GM's global design, steered by Mike Simcoe, formerly Holden's chief designer and now GM global design director. 'Under Mike, we mentor the Indian studio and Korea." But it's not just the shapes of the future that are coming from Holden, as the fully equipped studio can handle any work from opening sketches through to final assembly.“There are 15 full-time fabricators. Approximately 20 people worked on the Niva," Ferlazzo says.“It took a number of months. So the team can vary, because it's not a constant thing." He says its rewarding to be working on the future of motoring, even if some of the results never go public.'Sometimes the concepts are precursors and sometimes they are just for internal research."