Could This Be the All-New 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1?

These are happy days to be a performance car fan. On Monday night, Chevrolet uploaded a clandestine 15 second clip onto its YouTube channel, and already it’s getting quite a lot of fan attention. 

The clip—titled “Are you ready?”—shows a Chevrolet Camaro roaring onto a track, and the footage appears to be shot from behind the pony car’s “Flowtie” grille. While that “Flowtie” detail may suggest a new Camaro Z/28 has arrived (it was an addition to the last-gen Z/28), it’s the engine note that tells a different story. That whine sounds suspiciously like a supercharger.

Oh yes. This might just be the all-new 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Take a peek below, turn up those speakers, and get excited.

Admittedly, we still won’t know for sure until Wednesday March 16th, when Chevrolet says it will unmask the raspy star of this viral video. Nevertheless, a 2017 Camaro ZL1 would seem the likely culprit, especially with the New York International Auto Show kicking off later this month.

One common sentiment from fan comments suggests it’s “too soon” for a new ZL1, the likely reason being that it took two years for the last supercharged ZL1 to appear, following the Camaro’s 2010 return.

While that may be, the product planners at Chevrolet are likely thinking otherwise. Currently there are no factory-built supercharged Mustangs over at cross-town rival Ford, which could make this pony car segment ripe for the picking. One could argue the ‘charged Dodge Challenger Hellcat is more “muscle car” than true “pony car.”

Further, the lightning-quick gear shifts heard also suggest there’s an 8-speed automatic in play here, which likely rules out this beast as a new Z/28. The new track-happy 1LE performance package has just arrived for the 2017 Camaro anyway.

Given that the 2016 Camaro shares its platform with the Cadillac CTS, it’s likely that any future Camaro ZL1 will adopt a version of the supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8 that underpins the new CTS-V (and Corvette Z06). To be certain however we’ll have to wait for the official word from Chevy. Try to contain your excitement.