My E-mail has been going crazy recently with quite a few announcements from Chevrolet. Some interesting, some scary, and some useful. You decide what's what:

100 years and chugging

Yes, the company that had brought us the Corvette, Camaro, Cavalier and Chevette among others is celebrating it's 100th birthday soon. November 3rd is Chevy's birthday, and I have no idea what to get it. I'm happy to see Chevrolet still running, especially after that harrowing health scare very few years ago.

So what birthday presents is Chevrolet bringing us in 2012?

The new Chevrolet Colorado

I've asked and it seems like the Ford Ranger will not be coming to North America. Here on the west coast the small pick-up was a byword for those outdoorsy types. Cheap, efficient and with very old technology.

GM however isn't giving up on the small/medium pickup. They're announcing that they are bringing the new Chevrolet Colorado to Canada in 2012, and that's about it. When shown to the world in Thailand Chevy confirmed two diesel engines for the Colorado. Though that would be great, I doubt we'll see them. Still as much as I don't like Pickups I am happy that there is still interest in giving us smaller ones.

The New Camaro ZL1

This is the top dog of the Camaro line up. Coming out in both Convertible and Coupe forms the ZL1 will be powered by a extraordinarily potent 6.2L Supercharged V8 producing 580hp. That's a lot, and enough to make the convertible version the most powerful convertible in the world.

Among other things included is GM's Megnetic Ride Suspension, and a robust (it'll have to be) 6-speed manual with a dual-disk clutch. It appears that this is at the top of the Pony car horsepower race, but whether or not it's any good we'll have to wait till late 2012 to find out. In the meantime here is some video of it romping around the Nurburgring in 7:41.27. That windshield really is narrow.

The New Chevrolet Spark