General Motors has announced that it will “idle” production of the 2021 Chevy Camaro at its Lansing Grand River Assembly plant starting today. It says this will last through the end of this month or possibly longer. The reason given is the chip shortage that has also idled other assembly plants around the world. But might this be the end of Camaro production altogether?

Most companies sacrifice slower-selling vehicles to get chips better-selling models

The chip shortage has been widespread. But most companies sacrifice slower-selling vehicles to get chips to those products that are most popular or profitable. So far GM has idled the Malibu, the Cadillac CT4, and CT5; all of which are built at the Camaro Lansing plant. 

But does it make sense for GM to continue Camaro production with sales being so low while inventories remain high? Right now it looks like Chevy has over 2,500 Camaros sitting on dealer lots. That number represents about a month’s worth of Camaros. 

We know that 2020 was a down year for a lot of manufacturers but generally Camaro sales have slipped every year since 2012. There were over 91,000 sold that year to just under 30,000 sold in 2020. And while both Ford and Stellantis have publicly stated plans for continuing both Mustang and Challenger nameplates, Chevy has been mum about Camaro. 

Some sources say 2023 is the last year for Camaro production

Some sources say 2023 is the last year for Camaro production while a few think 2026 will be the end. That would probably require a facelift sometime between now and 2023. For a car selling under 30,000 that seems highly unlikely. 

Maybe a new Camaro EV might be in the cards but we doubt that too. We know GM plans on being 100% electric by 2035 so there isn’t a lot of life left in almost every internal combustion-engined car. Or much for cars in general with the onslaught of SUVs. It just might be time for GM to put the Camaro out of its misery. 

Camaro is the lowest-selling in a segment that is rapidly shrinking-that being pony or muscle cars. SUVs and EVs are in all manufacturer’s sights for the foreseeable future. The indication of how slow the Camaro sells is that as of this writing there are still at least 125 2020 Camaros sitting on Chevy dealership lots. We’re in the middle of March 2021, and 2021 Camaro production started at the beginning of August. 

Taken altogether, it doesn’t look good for 2021 Chevy Camaro production to come back on after April starts. We’ll have to wait and see how much effort Chevy wants to put into the Camaro brand going forward. So, if you’ve always wanted a new Camaro, it would behoove you to get down to your local Chevy dealer now. Once it is announced that the Camaro went out of production there will be a run on the remaining 2020 and 2021 Camaros.