Breaking! Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang Shelby GT, and Lincoln MKS will all see production

YES! Chevrolet is finally done prolonging the inevitable. The Camaro concept we've all been drooling over for the past eight months was confirmed as a production model during an announcement on August 10, 2006. The car will go on sale in early 2009, and is promised to be "almost identical" to the Detroit concept. As a slap in the Ford Mustang's face, the Camaro will feature independent rear suspension. No other details were announced, but with this car, the only detail we wanted was the "yes."

Meanwhile, Detroit has a few other reasons to get excited this week. At a conference in Traverse City, Michigan, Ford gave two products the green light. The first is the Ford Shelby GT, shown here in white. This mean, 325-horsepower pony car is meant to fill the gap between the regular Mustang GT and the 500-horsepower, supercharged, Shelby GT500. While it is, in every other way, a retail version of the Shelby GT-H Hertz rental car, the GT will be available with a 6-speed manual transmission. The rental version is offered only with an automatic for the sake of Hertz's clutch supply. It will go on sale in January.

Ford also announced that the Lincoln MKS flagship will go on sale in 2008. The car was previewed by a concept of the same name at the 2008 Detroit auto show, and will replace the prehistoric Town Car. No specific powertrain or pricing details were made, but Ford promises that the MKS will be "packed with more technology and features than any Lincoln before it," including the company's new capless fuel-filler technology. Wow--are we really getting that lazy?