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Henry Haga
Chevrolet Studio 2 chief designer, project XP-836
The Camaro was developed under project code XP-836 in Chevrolet Studio 2 at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan — internally called the "F Car" styling project before the Camaro name existed. Bill Mitchell, who succeeded Harley Earl as GM's overall design chief in 1958, oversaw styling; the project was assigned to Chevrolet studio stylist Henry Haga as chief designer, reporting to Dave Holls (a GM stylist who led Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac,
The Camaro was developed under project code XP-836 in Chevrolet Studio 2 at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan — internally called the "F Car" styling project before the Camaro name existed. Bill Mitchell, who succeeded Harley Earl as GM's overall design chief in 1958, oversaw styling; the project was assigned to Chevrolet studio stylist Henry Haga as chief designer, reporting to Dave Holls (a GM stylist who led Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, and Chevrolet studios at different points across a 40-year GM career), with design contributions credited to Chuck Jordan and Irv Rybicki. Interior design is credited to Suzanne Vanderbilt and Cathy Kascur of the Chevrolet studio — notable given how few women held visible automotive design credits at GM in this period.
A surprising, humanizing detail: Mitchell and Rybicki — by then both GM Styling vice presidents — later spoke dismissively of the production Camaro in retrospective interviews, describing it as a compromised "committee car" and with Mitchell reportedly saying, "I can't remember what the hell they look like." Treat this as the designers' own later editorializing, not a claim about the car's actual design quality or market success — the car sold well and is treated as a design classic by nearly every other source in this research pass.