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Chevy donates first 2015 COPO Camaro for wounded vets

Want to get your hands on a new COPO Camaro? Only 69 will be made this year before it's phased out ahead of the next Camaro's arrival. And the very first one will be auctioned off this weekend in Palm Beach. That's where Barrett-Jackson will be selling the hand-built drag-racer with the serial number 2015COPO001. The vehicle is being donated by Chevy, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, a charitable organization that helps disabled athletes, especially veterans of the armed services. Introduced last fall at SEMA, the 2015 COPO Camaro is built specifically for drag racing with a 350-cubic-inch LSX racing engine with a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger. It's got 555 horsepower, a three-speed automatic transmission (it's a drag machine, not a circuit racer after all), all the requisite safety equipment, special suspension setup, unique livery and a quarter-mile time in the mid-eights. Look for this unique example to cross the auction block at around 5 PM on Friday, April 18, when we hope it will raise a princely sum for a good cause. 2015 COPO Camaro No. 1 Sale to Benefit Disabled Veterans Top bid from Barrett-Jackson goes to Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans DETROIT – Chevrolet is selling the first 2015 COPO Camaro race car to raise money for Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, which helps wounded veterans participate in marathons and share their success within a supportive community including their families. The hand-built car carries serial number 2015COPO001. It will be sold on Saturday, April 18, at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction, with 100 percent of the winning bid going to Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, a non-profit organization that helps disabled athletes, including veterans, gain access to races, equipment, and training dedicated to improve their physical abilities. "This sale gives the highest bidder the opportunity to buy the first of only 69 factory-assembled 2015 COPO Camaro race cars, the final year of the fifth-generation Camaro," said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. "Chevrolet is excited to offer this milestone Camaro to help a very worthy organization." Chevrolet introduced 2015 COPO Camaro No. 001 last fall at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and it has been featured in Chevrolet Performance advertising and other marketing initiatives.

GM won't really kill off the Chevy Volt and Cadillac CT6, will it?

General Motors is apparently considering killing off six slow-selling models by 2020, according to Reuters. But is that really likely? The news is mentioned in a story where UAW president Dennis Williams notes that slumping US car sales could threaten jobs at low-volume factories. Still, we're skeptical that GM is really serious about killing those cars. Reuters specifically calls out the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Sonic, and the Chevrolet Volt. Most of these have been redesigned or refreshed within the past few model years. Four - the LaCrosse, Impala, CT6, and Volt - are built in the Hamtramck factory in Detroit. That plant has made only 35,000 cars this year - down 32 percent from 2016. A typical GM plant builds 200,000-300,000 vehicles a year. Of all the cars Williams listed, killing the XTS, Impala, and Sonic make the most sense. They're older and don't sell particularly well. On the other hand, axing the other three seems like an odd move. It would leave Buick and Cadillac without flagship sedans, at least until the rumored Cadillac CT8 arrives. The CT6 was a big investment for GM and backing out after just a few years would be a huge loss. It also uses GM's latest and best materials and technology, making us even more skeptical. The Volt is a hugely important car for Chevrolet, and supplementing it with a crossover makes more sense than replacing it with one. Offering one model with a range of powertrain variants like the Hyundai Ioniq and Toyota Prius might be another route GM could take. All six of these vehicles are sedans, Yes, crossover sales are booming, but there's still a huge market for cars. Backing away from these would be essentially giving up sales to competitors from around the globe. The UAW might simply be publicly pushing GM to move crossover production to Hamtramck to avoid closing the plant and laying off workers. Sales of passenger cars are down across both GM and the industry. Consolidating production in other plants and closing Hamtramck rather than having a single facility focus on sedans might make more sense from a business perspective. GM is also trying to reduce its unsold inventory, meaning current production may be slowed or halted while current cars move into customer hands. There's a lot of politics that goes into building a car. GM wants to do what makes the most sense from a business perspective, while the UAW doesn't workers to lose their jobs when a factory closes.

First privately owned Corvette Stingray blitzes 1/4 mile in 12.23 at 114.88 mph

Chevrolet's latest road rocket, the Corvette Stingray, is a very quick car. If one needs further proof of that, we recommend they take a look at this video from Hennessey of what is claimed to be the first privately owned C7 Corvette to make a pass down the quarter mile. Not just any quarter mile, mind, this black C7 blitzed its way down the tuner's primary testing dragstrip. The Chevrolet ran the quarter in just 12.23 seconds at 114.88 miles per hour. That is a very quick time for a stock car.
Equipped with the Z51 package and a six-speed automatic transmission, not only does the C7 run a solid time, but it does so with little to no drama. That won't last though, as Hennessey will likely return it to its owner with far more power - we just hope they show a drag run of the completed product. Take a look below to watch the C7's 12.23-second run on video.