The Chevrolet Tru 140S front-drive concept unveiled in January at the Detroit auto show.

Consumer and racing versions will be unveiled sometime after the New York Auto Show next month, he says.

Chevy gave no more detail: “We are keeping the wraps on the new car for now and will continue to prepare for next season by testing camouflaged vehicles,” Jim Campbell, vice president of performance vehicles and motorsports, said in a statement. “We know that Chevrolet fans are eager to see the new race car, and we hope that the prospect of being able to own one just like it will make the wait a little more bearable.”

What the car may be based on: the rear-drive Caprice cop car GM is importing from its Holden unit in Australia, rebadged as a Chevy, or the Holden Caprice’s shorter sibling, the Commodore, briefly sold here as the Pontiac G8.

“It’s the only thing they can get out there quick enough that we haven’t seen in camo at Milford (GM proving grounds) yet,” said Jim Hall, a consultant with 2953 Analytics.

GM plans to sell a Chevy performance sedan like the Caprice have been on-and-off in recent years over concern about its profit potential, people familiar with the situation told the Detroit Free Press.

But executives pointed to a perceived need in the Chevy lineup when they unveiled two performance concepts at January’s Detroit auto show. Findings from a two-year study of 9,000 members of the millennial generation — the 80 million Americans ages 11 to 30 — led to the hot-rod concepts. One is the rear-drive Code 130R, an American-flavored coupe that recalls Chevy’s heritage of affordable performance cars. The other is the low-slung, front-drive Tru 140S hatchback seemingly influenced by Asian makers’ style of performance coupes.

By Chrissie Thompson/USA TODAY and Detroit Free Press

Thanks to: www.usatoday.com http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/03/chevy-preparing-civilian-version-of-chevy-caprice-cop-car/1#.T2NQJ8Ugffc

Images thanks to General Motors via Wieck