Shocking News: GM's Mark Reuss Expects Camaro Six to Beat Mustang

Before getting into talking about Mark Reuss’ views on the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro relative to the 2015 Ford Mustang, I want to point out that the bit in the title about this news being shocking was a joke. The 6th gen Camaro is a major vehicle debut for General Motors, so of course the company’s Executive Vice President of Global Product Development is going to say that the next Camaro will beat the newest generation Mustang, but it is always nice to hear a high ranking exec – especially one who is so involved with the performance world – talk up their newest muscle car.

The Fox News Discussion
Gary Gastelu of Fox News had a chance to talk to Mark Reuss during the first days of the 2015 New York International Auto Show and even though there was no new Camaro on display – it came up in the discussion with the GM exec. While talking about the various attributes of the new Camaro, including efficiency, handling and overall performance relative to the hot-selling 2015 Mustang, Reuss mentioned that he had driven the new Ford Mustang back to back with the new Camaro. Based on that firsthand experience, Reuss stated that he is “very confident”.

Again, of course a high ranking executive like Mark Reuss is going to view his new muscle car as being better than the competitor’s new muscle car, but in the automotive world, this is very subtle trash talk. Reuss is confident that the 2016 Camaro is going to beat the new Mustang in every area and while that simple comment isn’t “beat them with a bat” trash talk, it continues to build the anticipation for the pending new Camaro –vs – new Mustang battle.

Mustang vs Camaro
The details on the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro are fairly limited, but we know a few things. First, the entire Camaro lineup will be lighter than the outgoing models, and it could be light enough to drop down into the same weight range as the 2015 Mustang. In the past, the Mustang was much lighter than the Camaro, but with the 2015 Mustang gaining weight while the 2016 Camaro loses weight (relative to 2015 models), so there is a good chance that the two muscle cars will have a very similar curb weight. Because of this, the 2016 Camaro could very well be more fuel efficient, even if there isn’t a 4-cylinder option. Also, this lightweight architecture should allow the new Camaro to handle the turns just as well as the new Mustang.

We also know that the 6th gen Camaro SS will feature the new LT1 V8, which offers 460hp in the current Corvette Stingray. Even with a light detune, the Camaro SS LT1 should pack more horsepower and more torque than the 2015 Mustang GT, which has 435hp and 400lb-ft of torque. Provided that the Camaro is lighter than the Mustang, the advantage in power could give the 6th gen GM muscle car a huge performance advantage.

Source: Fox News