Listen up Camaro fans, this is the real news you’ve been waiting for. Chevrolet announced this week that production dates of it’s new Camaro muscle-car were already decided.

Both V6 and V8 models begin moving down the assembly line on February 16, 2009. The new cars will be built at the Oshawa, Ontario, Canada plant. Deliveries to dealers should be sometime in the middle of March. The Camaro Convertible should arrive about a year after that as a 2011 model.

Expect all sorts of dealer gouging and price abuse, with some dealers already saying they will put an automatic $10,000 over the MSRP of the new SS. Even though GM promises the Camaro will be “competitive.”

Cheryl Pilcher, product manager for the Camaro, says, “We know where Mustang is and we’re going to be competitive.” A 2009 Mustang V6 starts at $20,530 and a V8 GT is $27,220. GM really would have to shock everyone, including Ford, if it were to offer the new Camaro at those types of prices. Just from the hardware on the SS you can see that is a far stretch. The SS has a 420hp Corvette V8 in it, Brembo brakes, and fancy 20-inch wheels. I could see it more at around $40,000 at least.

Though official pricing has not been announced yet we can only speculate.  I could see the v6 starting at around $26,000 and the V8 starting at around $36,000, and that’s for a basic SS. If GM can pull a rabbit out their hats and produce and sell this car for a couple thousand over the Mustang than it would be hard to keep these thing on dealer lots, even with gas prices in the sub-stratosphere.

Above: If the pricing lands where GM promises, this car is gonna be red hot….