Fancy a Camaro but not willing to tolerate the inconvenience of driving around in a left hooker in a country that drives on the "right" side of the road? A solution can now be found in Australia. Aussie car conversion specialist Performax International recently launched the world's first right hand drive Chevy Camaro.
There have been reports and even confirmation from GM that limited numbers of RHD Camaros will be exported to Europe, with a mix of convertible and coupe body types. But the plan have since been put on the back burner given the current state of GM's balance sheets. So for the moment, if you want a right hook Chevy Camaro - you have to import it from Australia. Performax sells the flagship V8-powered SS variant retails for AUD 139,000 but a cheaper V6 version is also available for AUD 129,000.
The conversion job is far from being a dubious effort of any backlane garage. Performax claims that the conversion complies to the stringent Australian Design Rules (ADR) regulation and is road legal on all Aussie states, although official ADR certification papers is still being processed. But it needs to be pointed out that the ADR rules that are applied here are slightly different from those applied to mainstream high volume vehicles. Being a niche market car, the Aussie government provides some exemptions to the ADR regulation under a "Low Volume New System" scheme.
Computer-aided design and plastic injection-moulding technology were used to recreate the fascia, door panels, centre console, ventilation ducts, wiper cowl and other parts of the vehicle. General Manager of Performax International Performax Nicholas Vandenberg assures the public that the converted car drives just like it does when it first rolled out from GM's plant in Oshawa, Canada. That's right the Camaro is made in Canada.
What many do not know is that the underneath the Camaro's sheet metal skin, it has more Aussie lineage than American. See, the Camaro is built on GM's new Zeta platform, or more commonly referred to as GM's Global RWD architecture. Development work on the Zeta platform was commissioned to GM's Holden division in Australia and the first result of this was seen in the Holden VE Commodore. Thus it is very ironic that Australian petrolheads were denied of the chance to own a Camaro, despite that the fact that the car's underpinnings originated from Down Under.
So despite the American image, the Camaro is actually underpinned by Aussies and put together by Canadians.
Eventually, grey importers in the region are bound to get their hands on a couple of these units. The sight of an edgy yellow Camaro in full Bumble Bee livery cruising to a halt for the many red lights along Orchard Road of Singapore will surely cause a stir. Not even an Audi R8 is able to hold that kind of attention. Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis don't seem to have quite the wow factor anymore. The Camaro is probably the only model within GM that is selling very well. Dealers simply can't keep enough stock to meet demands.
Peformax International also offers right hand drive conversion for various American domestic market SUVs and trucks, i.e. Chevy Silverados, Corvettes, Suburbans.
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