Chevrolet Camaro EV sedan takes shape: Would this be a suitable electric replacement for the Holden Commodore SS?

A few weeks ago, we reported on General Motors’ plans to turn the Chevrolet Camaro into an all-electric sports sedan by the middle of the decade.

Now we’ve got our first glimpse of what it could look like thanks to the team at GM Authority, who have created the renders you see here.

The computer-generated images blend elements of the current Camaro with an EV twist and even appear to be sitting on Audi e-tron wheels, for an even more electric touch.

Read More About Chevrolet Camaro

Is this the long-awaited spiritual successor to Holden Commodore SS? Chevrolet to replace Camaro with new electric sports sedan: report Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 axed! Supercharged V8 muscle car gone as HSV ends local conversion program Camaro news and reviews

At the front, the famous Chevy ‘bow tie’ sits proudly in the centre of an aerodynamically shaped bumper. The large air intake of the current car wouldn’t be required for an EV, but the com-gen imagines that a similar styling element to the lower half of the bumper would remain to create character.

The front doors have been shortened to allow for an extra set of doors at the back, while the rear end is very similar to the current coupe minus the exhaust pipes.

This electric sports sedan could become a replacement for the Holden Commodore if it comes to production and General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) can get its hands on it locally.

While GM and Chevrolet are keeping mum, all reports from the US indicate that the current two-door, petrol-powered Camaro doesn’t have much longer left to run. According to GM Authority, production will either stop at the end of the 2023 model year or could be stretched until 2026, but either way, Chevrolet is not investing in a new model.

Instead, GM’s focus is on transferring as many models to its new Ultium EV platform, which has debuted underneath the GMC Hummer but is modular enough to fit underneath a range of GM vehicles.

GM president (and former Holden chairman) Mark Reuss has said that even though Ultium will primarily be used in pick-ups and SUVs, it’s able to be packaged into a low-line sedan. GM has already demonstrated the potential of a sedan-based Ultium model with the Cadillac Celestiq concept unveiled at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show. 

In an April interview with Fox News, Mr Reuss explained: “What we’ve done with those [battery] modules and cells is we’re able to flip those on their sides to get the [hip] point down and to get the roofline down in the car. And so that car is a very low-roof car, and that sort of sets up that variant of the Ultium platform.”

Mr Reuss wouldn’t give any details of what models will come and when, but he made it clear that Ultium will be flexible enough for every type of future GM vehicle.

“Lots of things being looked at, studied, designed, engineered,” he said. “But I can tell you that the platform is absolutely capable of doing just about everything we want in our portfolio across every segment.”

GM is focusing on transferring as many models to its new Ultium EV platform. (Image credit: GM Authority)

It’s believed both the Celestiq and the Camaro-replacing sports sedan will be built on GM’s new ‘BEV3’ platform, which is capable of having front-, rear- or all-wheel-drive applications. This would allow the Camaro-inspired sports sedan to retain rear-wheel drive for a sportier driving experience, or even offer all-wheel drive for the first time to improve performance.

GM is spending $US35 billion (approx. $AU48b) on its EV investment on at least 20 new models launched by 2025. That’s the timeframe for this new battery-powered sports sedan to arrive, which would mean it could either act as a direct replacement for the Camaro coupe or the two models may overlap for a year or two.

As we reported earlier, the Camaro sedan would likely become Chevrolet’s only four-door sedan, with the current Malibu set to be discontinued as buyers abandon traditional cars in favour of SUVs.

Locally the addition of a high-performance electric sports sedan around the middle of the decade would be a timely addition to the GMSV line-up. It would sit alongside a likely expanded Corvette range and the Silverado pick-up, appealing to a market with fond memories of the Holden Commodore SS, but so far without a suitable replacement.