Production begins for the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Yesterday morning, General Motors’ Camaro Marketing Manager John Fitzpatrick sent a note to Chevrolet dealerships around the country notifying them that production had officially begun for the incredible new 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at their Oshawa production facility – with the first retail units hitting showrooms around the country as soon as March 2012.

The details of production were fairly limited but with Mr. Fitzpatrick’s note to Chevrolet dealerships, it was the first news of production of the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the GM Oshawa Assembly Center. Fitzpatrick went on to explain that production of the Camaro ZL1 would start slowly and then ramp up, with those initial retail production Camaro ZL1 units going through a rigorous quality check before being shipped to dealerships around the US and Canada. General Motors followed a similar slow roll-out process with the first new Chevrolet Camaro Coupes in 2009 and the Camaro Convertibles in 2011 in an effort to make sure that there were no “bugs” with the early production models. Because of this added quality control process, dealerships can expect to face longer than usual delivery times but we can expect that once the initial batch of production ZL1 units has been checked, rechecked and sent to dealerships – the new super-muscle car will begin flowing out of Oshawa fast enough to meet the demand. GM expects that the first ZL1 retail units will hit the dealerships in the middle of March 2012.

In addition to announcing production, John Fitzpatrick also announced that General Motors had opened the third cycle for dealerships to submit orders for the Camaro ZL1 – officially beginning on January 26th, 2012. This means that those of you who are lusting after the awesome new super muscle car can now head to your local Chevrolet dealership for more information on placing your order…although we wouldn’t recommend waiting very long before doing so.

Finally, John Fitzpatrick’s note the Chevrolet dealerships announced that the carbon fiber weave hood insert (RPO:B92) would be available for this next wave of dealership orders for the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the last wave of ordering, General Motors placed a constraint on ordering the carbon fiber weave insert due to an issue with a supplier, allowing dealerships to only order the painted black hood insert but that supplier issue has been resolved and future ZL1 orders can check the box for the carbon fiber weave hood insert. The bad news is that orders already placed with the painted black hood insert are not eligible to make any changes to their build sheet but GM intends to make the carbon fiber insert available through dealerships as an accessory once production volumes have been met.

In short, Fitzpatrick’s note to Chevrolet dealerships suggests that we could be within two months of seeing the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on dealership floors and public roads around the United States. The vehicle that will likely set the new standard for a premium performance American muscle car is about to hit the streets…and racers on the roads and tracks should prepare to take on one of the nastiest muscle cars ever built.

Source: CamaroForums.com