General Motors showed its new muscle car at the 2008 Beijing Auto Show, and this time, the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro was decked out in yellow paint.

Having already debuted officially at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show, the Camaro has already been the subject of numerous spy photos. But this is the first time the new Camaro has been seen in a color other than silver or black.

Official specifications for the production car have not yet been released, but the Camaro concept used a 400-horsepower all-aluminum 6.0-liter V8 mated to a six-speed manual transmission, plus an independent rear suspension.

The Chinese get a look as the U.S. market continues to salivate in anticipation of the production car.

From Australia to the U.S., prototypes for the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro have been spied in varying colors and levels of camouflage, but this is the first time the Camaro has been spotted near the famed Nürburgring race circuit.

This latest Camaro prototype arrived at GM’s Nürburgring workshop outfitted in bright red Brembo brakes, which can only mean one thing: GM is getting serious about its new Chevy’s performance applications.

Although we don’t yet know what speeds the Camaro will be able to achieve on the ‘Ring, we do know the original Camaro concept was outfitted with a 400-horsepower all-aluminum 6.0-liter V8 mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and an independent rear suspension.

Not the Same Old SS
The only hard visual evidence that we’re driving a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS is a set of new 18-by-7.5-inch wheels (0.5 inch wider than before).

Of course, then we go poking around under the Cobalt’s hood and find the turbocharger that engineers from the GM Performance Division (GMPD) have secreted away in the back, which replaces the supercharger that used to be under the SS’s hood. In addition, the 2.0-liter Ecotec four-cylinder gets continuously variable timing for its intake and exhaust valves this year. This turbocharged, intercooled Ecotec with direct fuel injection is the same engine introduced by the 2008 Chevy HHR SS. Read more » »

Reeling from years of auto production cuts, Michigan’s place as the center of automotive design also now faces a flattening world.

The trend was clear at the state’s premier automobile exposition.

Last year’s North American International Auto Show sensation, the Chevrolet Volt concept, was designed in part in the United Kingdom.

Toyota’s Venza production crossover design introduced in Detroit this year came from its California design studio. The Verve subcompact came from Ford’s European designers.

Even GM’s reborn Buick Riviera was designed in cooperation with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.
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