December was a sad month for the American automotive market last year – Ford was left alone to keep the banner up for pony and muscle cars as GM and Stellantis ordained for Chevy and Dodge to end production of Camaro, Challenger, and Charger models.
Sadly, the Challenger and Camaro faiths are unknown because Chevrolet may have said the end is not here for the iconic moniker, but they also didn't present us with any successor for the time being. Also, Dodge is keeping mum about the future of the Challenger, but it doesn't look too good since the upcoming 2025 Charger is reverting to a two-door lifestyle like in the good old days.
The latter will soon get unveiled in production form, and we will finally find out if the rumors were true - maybe next to the Banshee EV powertrains, there's also a 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six turbo mill, or two – with 420 and 540 hp versions like in the updated 2025 Ram 1500 lineup. As for GM, unfortunately, there is nothing official after the Camaro Convertible ended production in November, and the coupe was retired from manufacturing in December 2023. Or, at least, not in the real world.
On the other hand, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has found it suitable to keep the spirit of the sixth-generation Camaro alive for a little longer – or at least to try and teach the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato a lesson or two about making a sports car a true off-road adventurer.
The virtual artist tucked behind the Carmstyledesign moniker on social media drops the C8 Chevy Corvette and Ford Mustang restomod shenanigans for a CGI piece of muscular GM action. This unofficial design project is dubbed Chevy Camaro ZL1 4x4 for excellent reasons. It follows the new trend of making sports cars adept at traversing any kind of mild off-road terrain but then dials all the criteria to eleven.
More precisely, the pixel master saw fit to infuse the Camaro ZL1 with his signature digital styling – so we could even say this is a virtual facelift. Secondly, there's lots of black plastic body cladding that enhances both protection and the atmosphere of ruggedness while also serving as aerodynamic attire for the ultra-widebody kit. Thirdly, the wheels seem wider than a tank's tracks, and the muscle car gets double coilover suspension to feel at home both on the range and on mountainous trails.
With the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 under the hood, crazy-looking aftermarket wheels, and humongous brakes, this obviously is no slouch, even on a muddy digital road or when climbing boulders. But wait, as there is more. This is not only a 4x4 muscle car but also a proud hypothetical heir of the Chevy El Camino! Yep, this is a coupe utility truck, and the only thing that bothers us is that maybe it will forever remain just wishful thinking.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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