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More than 5,500 people tried to get the 2016 Chevy COPO Camaro

It's stating the obvious, but the 2016 Chevy COPO Camaro is popular with enthusiasts. So much so, it's attracted more than 5,500 hand raisers, General Motors said Tuesday at an event to show off the company's new Performance and Racing Center in Pontiac, MI. Unfortunately for drag racing fans, Chevy will only sell 69 of them, as it has for the last four years. The COPO Camaro can be configured for the NHRA Stock and Super Stock classes. It comes with racing-tuned chassis pieces and a solid rear axle. Power choices include 5.7-, 6.2- and 7.0-liter V8 engines. About half of COPO Camaro owners race their cars, and the rest keep them as collectibles. Jim Campbell, GM vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, wouldn't say if the COPO is a profitable venture, but noted the fire-breathing dragster raises the image of Chevy and Camaro. "It makes sense for our business from a number of perspectives," he said. The first COPO Camaro, a Courtney Force-styled racecar that was revealed in November at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, hammered for $300,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auction last month. The proceeds went to the United Way. Campbell said low COPO production keeps interest high. Enthusiasts can also build their own COPOs by buying a rolling chassis and a crate motor, though those are not viewed by collectors in the same manner as GM factory-built creations. The COPO Camaro's V8 is one of several competition engines designed, built, and validated at the GM Performance and Racing Center. The Corvette C7R's 5.5-liter V8 and the Cadillac ATSV.R's 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 are two more. Chevy calibrates and conducts dynamometer testing on its 2.2-liter V6 for IndyCar and performs design work on its NASCAR V8 at the facility, which existed previously at another location in Michigan. Related Video:

Deep discounts — $12K, $13K, $16K — are fueling a pickup price war

Heavy discounts of up to $16,000 per vehicle are fueling a "truck war" among full-size pickups sold in the United States by the Detroit Three, a Reuters analysis shows. Strong U.S. sales this year of the highly profitable big trucks have helped offset lagging passenger car sales. But it is not clear how much of the truck demand is linked directly to ample factory incentives and dealer discounts, or how far sales might decline without those subsidies. A Reuters survey of Ford, General Motors Co's Chevrolet and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles's Ram truck dealers across the United States indicates stores are offering deep discounts the country's bestselling full-size pickup trucks. "The walls are not crashing down on full-size trucks," said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. Detroit-based automakers want to keep cranking out their high-margin trucks, he added, and "giving up a little of the profit is the cheapest way to do it." Stores are offering discounts of up to $12,000 on the 2018 Ford F-150, which remains the best-selling vehicle in the country, recording more than 80,000 sales in May. Discounts run up to $13,000 on the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado and as high as $16,000 on the Ram 1500. Average transaction prices for full-size pick-ups range from around $42,000 to $45,000, industry analysts and automakers say. All three companies are spending furiously - GM and Fiat Chrysler to help sell off carryover 2018 trucks to prepare for redesigned 2019 models, and Ford to sustain its long-held sales crown. A supplier fire that temporarily shut down production of the F-150 last month "changed the game," said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive in Troy, Michigan said. The supply halt nudged Ford's crosstown rivals "to ratchet up incentives on the current models to go after weakness at Ford," he said. Deals advertised on the companies' official websites range from rebates and low-interest loans to ultra-cheap lease rates, but they are not telling the whole story. Ford, for instance, advertises a $2,000 rebate and a $500 financing credit on sales of certain F-150 models. But James Collins Ford in Louisville, Kentucky, is offering discounts of up to $12,215 on the 2018 F-150 XLT SuperCrew 4x4. The price cuts are even steeper at a number of GM and Fiat Chrysler dealers. Quirk Chevrolet is selling the 2018 Silverado 1500 Double Cab at $13,000 off sticker.

GM follows Ford and Honda in skipping SEMA

The list of automakers skipping SEMA has become longer. First reported by Muscle Cars and Trucks, and confirmed to us by a company representative, General Motors will not have an official presence at the aftermarket show. It joins Ford and Honda in leaving the show. It will be a large hole in the show, with the GM brands typically filling a significant swath of available show space in one of the main halls. GM hasn't provided much explanation for the move, either. The GM representative provided Autoblog with the same statement that Muscle Cars and Trucks got: "GM has made the decision not to participate in the 2022 SEMA Show. The SEMA show has always inspired us, and accessories and performance parts remain an important part of our business." We also asked if we would see any sort of announcements around the time of the show — Ford said it has plans to share some things around that time — however, the GM representative said that the company has no immediate plans for announcements. Certainly things could change between now and the November show, though. SEMA had previously noted that other exhibitors would help fill in some of the space vacated by these major OEMs. Another OEM, Volkswagen, is returning to the show after an absence, which will also help with the display deficit. Related Video: