It's a fact that the Ford Mustang is still the king of the pony car market - but GM's is far from giving up and leaving the entire market to Ford.

A few weeks back we reported that the Camaro and Firebird were to both be discontinued. We based that statement from the fact that both the Camaro and Firebird were not listed on a GM CD-ROM detailing some of GM's models through 2004, along with media reports - which were all incorrect.

Smile because the Mustang will still have an adversary. BlueOvalNews was invited to GM's Technical Center in Warren, Michigan on Sunday and told that both the Camaro and Firebird models would continue in GM's lineup. GM did hint that while the Camaro/Firebird would not be killed off, it's possible that both models would skip a model year of production (like the Thunderbird).

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the next generation Camaro/Firebird's new body style; however, they did have a test mule based on a 1998 Firebird. The Firebird was said to incorporate an optional heads up display - but we didn't see it function so we cannot validate that.

But the great news for Camaro/Firebird fans and POSSIBLE bad news for Mustang fans was under the Firebird's hood. Pop the hood on the new Camaro/Firebird, in this case a Firebird, and you won't see any powertrain at all. Immediately under the Firebird's hood was a molded plastic cover with the Firebird logo embossed into it. You have to lift this cover up to see the engine bay. We couldn't get confirmation if this was for camouflage or if it would be on the production model.

Once the plastic cover is released, it folds up into the hood nice and neatly. While that's all dress - the new powerplant wasn't.

We were told that the next generation's Camaro/Firebirds hottest models would continue to use a 350 cubic inch engine. . .but not the typical GM pushrod V-8. In fact it won't have pushrods at all. That's right - it's an overhead cam V-8 engine displacing the familiar 350 Cubic Inch's. Both the Cobra and GT Mustangs use a 4.6 V-8 engine.

We were told that GM plans to increase the power output of the Corvette in order to raise the levels of both the Camaro/Firebird. The engines being tested were still in the developmental stage but GM is said to be targeting both Camaro/Firebird models to produce within 25 horsepower of the Corvette. The Corvette currently produces 345 horsepower. We'd guess that the Corvette would get a bump to 360 horsepower and the Camaro would be adjusted accordingly from there.

Our guide made it clear that these new models would not be like the Cobra or Cobra R - GM would produce as many as customer's demanded and make them more affordable than the Mustang. . .which we question because the Mustang is pretty affordable.

But the Cobra R really can't be compared to a regular production Camaro/Firebird since the R will sell for at least $40,000 and production will be strictly limited. Our GM guide basically said that GM plans to offer a Camaro with more power than a Mustang GT for less. Our GM guide also said that GM plans to offer a regular production Camaro with cubic inch's and the power to beat up on the few hundred Cobra R's that Ford will be offering. I think he meant that the new Camaro/Firebird will beat the Cobra R at least in price and bang for the buck.

But will the Camaro and Firebird ever pick up the kind of sales that make the Mustang the world's best selling sports car? It's a question we always love to drop on GM fans. Our GM tour guide assured us that the next Camaro/Firebird would be THE car to fight the Mustang for sales. . .but Mustang Fans have heard that before.

We'll keep in touch with our GM contact - in the mean time you might see some pictures of the Camaro/Firebird's engine bay floating around. . .we're told someone snapped some good ones ;)

BlueOvalNews.com