Change simply for change’s sake can lead to some pretty undesirable results. We’re happy to say that this was not the case for Chevrolet’s recent restyle of the 5^th Gen Camaro. In this video from GM, Mark Dickens, Program Engineering Manager for the 2014 Camaro gives us the rundown of the functionality of some of the changes that were made to the Camaro’s styling.  

The Camaro likes to draw most of it’s air in through the lower grille, so designers made it bigger and “skinnied up” the top grille.

“All the changes were made with performance in mind,” says Dickens. “It’s not just eye candy, it actually performs.” The development of the ZL1 taught the GM engineers that the Camaro was drawing in most of its air through the lower part of the grille, so for the 2014 restyle they decided to take advantage of this and let the car take in more air where it wanted it. The designers opened up the lower grille even more, and in turn they were able to “skinny up” the top grille for a narrower, wider, and more aggressive look. Other functional changes include the heat extractor hood on the SS, and a light-weight aluminum rear deck lid on both the V6 and SS.

Other changes that serve a purpose are the heat extractor hood on the SS, and the aluminum rear deck lid that will now be on both the SS and the V6 models.

Of course, you can’t talk about the 2014 Camaro without mentioning the new Z/28. Dickens says, “The Z/28 was developed with a mindset of track performance at all costs, and the car came out incredible. In driving experience it has absolutely raised the bar in performance again.” All in all, we’re still just very pleased to see so much focus on functionality and performance from our favorite car manufacturer. How about you?

Talk about form and function coming together…