GM had it's Chevy Camaro concept car on display at the LA Auto Show. Trying to prove to the world that this year GM is all about going green with hybrids and the Volt concept car, the Camaro was tucked away in a quiet corner of the GM booth.

This was my first time seeing the Camaro concept in person and it is one fantastically styled car. In meetings with GM executives, they claimed that the concept car is 90% of what will make production. One GM executive wouldn’t say what elements would or would not make the production car, but did comment that when placed side by side he doubted anyone would be able to see the exterior differences between the concept and the production car.

The hand made concept interior of the Camaro is likely where the majority of the difference in the production car will come in. We should expect to see the large, retro looking analog gauges make the cut, but the other interior features of the concept may or may not make the production vehicle.

GM declined to comment on pricing and when I pressed the issue to find out if GM plans to sell the V8 powered Camaro at a price competitive to its main competitor, the Mustang GT, which can be had in the $26,000 range for a V8 with a manual transmission a bit more information was offered. GM executives said that they intend to price the Camaro competitively to the Mustang. The catch in my mind came quickly after the previous statement when GM executives said plus a premium we feel our brand carries.

I was a big fan of the previous generation Camaro and I firmly believe the biggest fact that led to the demise of the Camaro was that GM priced it out of the hands of the majority of buyers that were interested in the car. If the Camaro comes in at the low $30,000 range, I am not sure the car will be as successful as GM and many enthusiasts hope. It’s hard to justify a $3000 to $4000 price difference for a V8 Camaro over a Mustang GT. Things will only look worse for the Camaro in the eyes of many enthusiasts if the Camaro V6 comes in at a sticker price near that of the V8 Mustang.

GM executives did say that there would initially be at least two versions of the Camaro for sale, a V6 base version and a V8 version of the car. A possible second V8 powered version was mentioned, which would go along with the previous SS version of the Camaro that has been offered in many Camaro iterations since the debut of the car in 1966.