DETROIT -- A Chevrolet Camaro for the 21st century rolled up "Main Street" at the General Motors Corp. display yesterday to cheers and roars, but it carried some baggage the world's largest auto maker probably hadn't thought of when it developed the concept muscle car.
The Camaro was last assembled at GM's now-closed assembly plant in Quebec, and Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove thinks GM should build it in that province again.
GM chairman Rick Wagoner said he was pleased with the reaction to the Camaro when it was introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, but he cautioned that talking about assembling the Camaro at all is getting ahead of the game.
"I don't believe that we've announced that we're building it anywhere, first of all, and we certainly haven't announced -- if we are -- where we're going to build it," he told a small group of reporters late yesterday.
More Report on Business Stories
"Maybe we should all just keep our powder dry," he added.
The Camaro showed up in a glitzy presentation at GM's display here, where reporters and auto enthusiasts lined what the company calls its Main Street.
The concept car was preceded by a high-school marching band from Saginaw, Mich., and a line of Camaros from the glory days of the muscle car in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Camaro -- and its Pontiac twin, the Firebird -- went out of production when the Ste-Thérèse, Que., assembly plant, which employed 1,400, was closed in 2002.
The cars became victims of soaring insurance rates and changing consumer tastes as younger buyers began snapping up sport utility vehicles in the 1990s.
But interest in the segment has revived in recent years in part because of the success of the Ford Mustang, whose sales rose 24 per cent last year while much of the North American industry struggled. The original success of that sports car in the 1960s led to GM introducing the Camaro for Chevrolet and the Firebird for Pontiac.
The appearance yesterday of the concept Camaro followed the resurrection by the Chrysler group of a muscle car of its own, the Dodge Challenger. It was also introduced as a concept, although industry analysts believe that car will go into production in a few years.
Auto makers introduce concept cars for several reasons, including to gauge reaction among consumers to new vehicles or trends.
GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz said he would lobby Mr. Wagoner to put the vehicle into production.
"I think they have a moral obligation to do it in Canada," Mr. Hargrove said yesterday, after hearing GM reintroduced the muscle car and is at least thinking of turning it back into a Chevrolet mainstay.
If it goes into production and GM targets 60,000 to 100,000 vehicles a year, the auto maker could assemble the Camaro at the also-shuttered Hyundai Motors Corp. plant in Bromont, Que., south of Montreal, Mr. Hargrove said. "I'd love to see it go into Quebec."
Mr. Hargrove said that if GM planned to produce only 30,000 or 40,000 of the cars, that wouldn't be much of a boost for the auto maker's Oshawa, Ont., No. 2 plant, which is scheduled to close in 2008. He said the union will lobby GM to make the vehicle in Canada.
"I'm sure the next time I see Buzz, I'll hear about it," Mr. Wagoner said.
87