2007 Chevy Camaro

According to The Car Connection magazine, the new Camaro prototype single-handedly stole the 2006 Detroit Auto Show. The car that has captivated automotive aficionados around the world, and led to endless speculation about whether it might make the leap from prototype to production.

Sitting out on the tarmac, it's easy to understand why there was so much demand for the first spy shots that TheCarConnection's Web servers nearly shut down. The Camaro concept is absolutely stunning.

"I wanted the guys to design the meanest street-fighting dog you can get," recalls Tom Peters, who oversaw the design project. The Camaro's sharp creases and flared wheel wells hint of raw power, yet the brute elements of the concept pony car are softened by its sensuous curves.

The prototype that was unveiled to so much ballyhoo last January almost didn't happen. The original idea, as outlined by GM's Bob Lutz, was to do an absolutely retro remake of the classic '69 Camaro, easily the most popular year in its long and celebrated history. The project was handed to designer Bob Boniface, who went to work out of Studio North, at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Mich.

But early last year, company officials began to have second thoughts. They called in Peters, who had played lead on the latest Corvette, and asked him to consider developing an alternative design, something a little less literal, though equally reverential. Peters quickly pulled a team together, borrowing designers, sculptors and modelers from other GM projects, and set down to work in the top-secret Studio X.

They didn't have a lot of time. The other team's effort was already well underway, and whoever won the eventual shoot-out would have to be in position to pull a running prototype together in time for the January debut in Detroit . Peters preferred working under all that pressure, he recalls, because it left "no time for over-analyzing or analysisparalysis."

What the Studio X crew came up with had many of the classic cues, starting with the cockpit-like cabin sitting atop an aircraft-influenced fuselage. It's the basic pony car formula, says Peters, that made the original Ford Mustang such an icon.

The team borrowed some other design elements from the C6 Corvette, such as the strong fender peaks and dihedral deck lid. There are other "heritage" cues lifted from the '69 Camaro, including the wasp waist and bulging rear wheel wells. But don't call this show car retro, says Peters, who insists his goal was to "take the Camaro into the future."

While Steve Kim, the project's lead designer, knew something special was taking shape in the basement studio, he was nonetheless surprised "by all the fanfare."

There was a time when concept cars were little more than fantasies in chrome. These days, however, most prototypes are little more than thinly-disguised production vehicles, four-wheel billboards declaring, "watch this space." The mandate for the Studio X crew was to come up with the most beautiful, iconic design they could manage. Production wasn't among their goals. Nonetheless, says Kim, "This is not pie-in-the-sky, that's for sure."

This car has a real, working version of the beefy LS2 V-8, all 6.0 liters and 400-some horsepower. But it was designed to simply roll across a show floor, not out on the highway, and its electronic control systems are open to the elements. Only a little water, splashing up from a puddle, would be needed to fry this one-of-a-kind prototype.

It's high-tech meets retro. There's an incredible attention to the subtlest of design features, capped by the copper-acrylic door inserts.

In the current issue of Automotive News, GM Vice Chairman Lutz stressed that for the moment, Camaro is "not an approved program." But don't expect the automaker to dither for long. Peters, the director of design for rear-drive performance vehicles, says the decision has to be made soon, "Probably this year. If we want to get it out when it's still relevant, we have to do it fast."

Considering the automaker would like to bring in a base-model Camaro for somewhere in the low-to-mid-$20,000 range, it won't be easy to make a convincing - read profitable - business case. According to Lutz, that would mean selling at least 100,000 Camaros annually.

There's good reason to believe that's possible. With the launch of its all-new - and unabashedly retro - Mustang, Ford saw sales surge to 160,975 last year, and probably could do more with additional production capacity. Skeptics will note that the Mustang had handily outsold Camaro for years, but that was a Camaro that had grown too aero-slick, almost anesthetically clean for its own good.

If the Camaro concept is any indication, there's plenty of opportunity for GM to re-enter the pony car segment in a big way. Of course, it will require the automaker to stay true to the prototype that millions of fans have fallen in love with, but we can certainly hold out hope.