2014 Chevy Camaro Z/28: How'd it become a reality?

The 2014 Camaro Z/28 project, dubbed code-word ''HP'' inside of General Motors Co., was created by a team, but one executive literally drove home the argument for its production.Watch video

DETROIT- The debut of the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 last week in New York City was the talk of the town.

But how’d the vehicle come to fruition?

The project, dubbed code-word “HP” inside of General Motors Co., was created by a team, but one executive literally drove home the argument for its production.

GM North American President Mark Reuss said he took three unnamed board members and his boss, GM CEO and Chairman Dan Akerson, for rides in a prototype vehicle to get the go-ahead for production.

“We built a ‘mule’ two years ago in our shops in Milford,” Reuss told reporters following the vehicle’s surprise debut Wednesday at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. “I took my boss for a ride in the car and I said, 'We want this car badly, I want this car badly' … He said, 'You got to give the board members a ride in this car,' so we gave the board members a ride in this car.”

According to Reuss, the drives went "really good" and now there's a new Camaro Z/28 on its way.

Reuss, who was visibly excited about the vehicle, appears to be the Detroit-based automaker’s most-prominent “car guy.” Earlier this year, he also introduced the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette coupe in Detroit and the Chevrolet SS performance sedan in Daytona.

The Z/28, which GM will begin building this fall for testing, expected to generate about 500 horsepower and get 470 foot-pounds of torque thanks to its LS7 engine, which is used in the C6 Corvette Z06

Reuss said the “sound of an unrestricted LS7 is pretty musical.”

To bring out the full potential of the vehicle, GM reduced weight by about 300 pounds compared to a supercharged Camaro ZL1. To do that, GM took out the trunk carpet and insulation, installed thinner glass for the rear window, made air conditioning optional and removed all but one speaker to bring the vehicle's weight down

"This won't be the highest-volume car we do obviously," Reuss said. "But these kind of cars, you have to be able to be a car company that can do a few of these here and there to make sure everybody knows what this brand is, and that it's alive and well."

So why does GM want to produce a low-volume vehicle?

It’s simple. Vehicles such as the Z/28 are usually very profitable for an automaker, according to analysts.

“The price premium they charge for it is proportionally high; therefore even though those vehicles are low in value, they’re very high in profitability," said Jesse Toprak, TrueCar.com senior analyst. Torpak said the vehicle is a “halo car” for not only the brand, but the automaker. It should bring prospective buyers into dealerships and even if they don’t leave with a Z/28, they may leave with a less expensive Camaro or other vehicle.

GM did not announce pricing, but Reuss said it will be the most expensive Camaro offered. The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1– the brand’s current most expensive Camaro -- starts at about $55,000.

Reuss said GM will begin building the Z/28 this fall for testing. The vehicle will be produced at GM’s Oshawa assembly plant in Ontario, Canada.

“This is absolutely everything that we wanted to do, and we haven’t been able to do it in a long time,” Reuss said.

When the first Camaro Z/28 was introduced in 1967, it was not available with an automatic transmission or air conditioning. The 2014 Z/28, according to GM, will also only be offered with a manual transmission and optional air conditioning.

The Z/28 was unveiled alongside the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS. The 2014 Camaros will arguably join the strongest of lineup of Chevrolet performance vehicles in decades.

The refreshed sports car and the new Z/28 will join the newly unveiled 2014 Corvette Stingray convertible, 2014 SS sedan and 2014 Corvette Stingray coupe to round out the brand’s performance lineup.