Chicago Motor Show

2011 Chicago Auto Show: 2012 Camaro ZL1 Revealed

Image: © GM Corp.

After months of speculation, the new uber-Camaro was revealed today at the Chicago Auto Show. To the surprise of many, the car didn’t carry the expected Z/28 nameplate; instead, Chevy opted to label the car the Camaro ZL1. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the significance of that name, since it was used only once, as an internal order code for an aluminum-block racing engine option on the 1969 Camaro. Only 69 were ever built with the ZL1 order code, and their performance and value is the stuff of legend. What better way to honor the name than by building the most powerful and most capable Camaro in Chevrolet’s history?

Image: © GM Corp.

As rumored, the ZL1 gets powered by the LSA, 6.2 liter supercharged V8 from the Cadillac CTS-V. The ZL1 loses a few ponies in the translation, since the CTS-V is a Cadillac and the Camaro is a Chevy. If you want specifics, the ZL1 gets rated at 550 horsepower versus the Caddy’s 556, while torque drops to 550 ft lb from the CTS-V’s 551. It’s academic, really, and I suspect that both cars would put out nearly identical numbers on a dyno. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that the ZL1 has a similar zero to sixty time (3.9 seconds for the Caddy), but Chevy isn’t publishing those numbers just yet. Read more…