With only five days left for the unveiling of the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro on Saturday, May 16, GM released the most telling teaser shots (compared to what we’ve seen) of the car to date.
The first one shows the sixth-generation model’s evolutionary upper-half profile with muscular rear fenders and the new thinner upper front grille that has the same height as Chevy’s bowtie logo.
Along with the new images, GM talked about the 2016 Camaro’s aerodynamics stating that its engineers spent some 350 hours in wind tunnels to make the car “slip more easily through the wind”.
“The importance of aerodynamics increases exponentially as we increase vehicle performance,” said Kirk Bennion, Exterior Design manager. “As engine output increases, we need more engine cooling. As acceleration and top speeds climb, we need to reduce lift for better high-speed stability. However, we cannot make any changes at the expense of increasing drag, which can hurt fuel economy.”
“To balance these different aerodynamic targets, we tested literally hundreds of changes on the new Camaro, millimeters at a time,” Bennion added.
As an example, GM gives the lower grille bars that were initially set at a 20-degree angle to the horizon, but after testing, the team found that by shifting the angle to 13 degrees improved engine-cooling airflow by 1 percent. The company also mentioned the flush belly pan that stretches from the front grille to the center of the vehicle and the small “spats” ahead of the front tires that both help reduce total lift by 30 percent while reducing aerodynamic drag as well.
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