Mustang Is Now Ford’s Best Argument For Why GM Should Bring The Camaro Back
Tony Roma, GM’s Executive Chief Engineer for Corvette and Performance Cars, just handed Camaro fans the clearest look yet at why the nameplate is still sitting on the sidelines. In an exclusive interview with The Drive published October 14, Roma said the Camaro is “currently on” another hiatus, and that bringing it back hinges on whether a gas-powered, rear-drive coupe can still turn a profit in 2026.
The twist is who’s doing the proving. Roma pointed straight at Ford. “I think Ford proves there’s still a market for a car called the Mustang,” he told The Drive, before adding that Dodge’s recent moves with the Charger are also worth watching. In other words, Mustang’s solo run in the segment is functioning as GM’s test case for a car it isn’t building.
Roma Says It Comes Down To A Very Large Check
Roma didn’t dress up the real obstacle: money. “The part that nobody wants to think about is the very, very large check that has a lot of zeros on it that has to go upfront, and that has to compete with resources against every other project in the building,” he said. He was blunt that the decision isn’t really about whether GM could build another Camaro, but whether it’s the highest priority use of the funding compared to everything else fighting for the same approval.
Asked why the fifth-generation Camaro’s run ended in 2023, Roma kept it simple: “It just didn’t make good business sense to keep going with where we were with the last gen.” He still owns a Camaro himself and worked on the fifth-gen ZL1, calling those cars “iconic,” but he stopped short of promising anything beyond the nameplate returning “when it makes sense.”
Mustang And Charger Sixpack Are Becoming The Proof Points
Ford has kept the Mustang as the only mainstream two-door gas coupe left standing in the segment, and Roma’s comments suggest GM’s leadership is watching that bet closely. He also referenced Dodge’s push with the Charger, which has seen its six-cylinder Sixpack models post steep sales gains in 2026 after the Daytona EV cooled off. Dodge sold 3,446 Sixpack units in the third quarter alone, up from 238 a year earlier, with the lower-priced gas Charger pulling in buyers the all-electric version couldn’t hold onto.
Roma stopped short of saying that growth alone would greenlight a Camaro, but he framed it as part of the same evidence pile: if both Ford and Dodge can show a market for affordable rear-drive gas coupes still exists in volume, the business case GM needs becomes easier to build internally.
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