autoblog: Report: Camaro ZL1 Chief Engineer says "You're Welcome" to Ford Mustang fans

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet, Ford

"For Mustang fans, you're welcome. Clearly the Camaro has encouraged Ford to throw everything they can at us."

The 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 has apparently rustled some snakes within General Motors. Al Oppenheiser, Chief Engineer behind the mighty Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has officially made a statement about the newest member of the Mustang family, saying that the GM wonderchild has encouraged Ford to come at Chevrolet with both barrels blazing. Oppenheiser says that the Mustang has been playing catch-up with the Camaro since the fifth-generation debuted in 2009, and that the GT500 is no different. The GM engineer points out that that the Camaro ZL1 will be track-ready right out of the box while its Blue Oval rival will require additional performance packages to stand up to a road course.

"The days of 'no replacement for displacement' are over, and it's not enough to be fast in a straight line," Oppenheiser writes. We couldn't agree with that sentiment more, but we suspect it will still be hard to argue with the significantly lighter Mustang and its new 650 horsepower supercharged V8. As you may recall, the last-generation GT500 wasn't exactly slow around Virginia International Raceway. In the end, the only way this throwdown will be settled is on a racetrack. Hit the jump to read Oppenheiser's full statement as seen on Camaro5.