Some good thoughts there Petey, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute...

Chevrolet isn't in the business of selling a few rare collector cars, they want to sell MANY cars. Taking a guess here, but selling only a few in the model year could jack up the product line yearly budget and make them more expensive, and they would sell less as a result. So the dime a dozen become a buck a few.

Wanna know what helped beat the crap out of recent Pontiac GTO sales? The fact that everyone knew it would get a better engine the next year. No one wanted to buy the car when they knew it would be quite a bit better in just a few months. Granted, the Camaro may face that same scenario, but the difference is that the GTO had ONE model and the Camaro has many to appeal to a range of buyers. Those who wanted a GTO just waited, and sales tanked.

I don't think that will be a big issue. There are always mid-cycle enhancements.

I think everyone wants to get away from some of the past practices.

Yeah, pretty much. As I said, good points.

 

One point that I don't believe has been mentioned is that of how the car might depreciate under these circumstances...
Theoretically, someone can buy a new Camaro when it is released to the public in early '09 and drive the thing for almost 2 years as a current-year model. That's a sweet little bonus for the retail customer - saving one year'sdepreciation no matter how long it's kept!
This cannot help but keep resale/residual values high on the car, which is a good thing for Chevrolet - especially in terms of the car's image.

Best regardSS,

Elie

 

Releasing a short '09 model run would have gotten the "I'll never buy the first model year of a new design" people into their cars a little quicker.

 

Good points both ways, guys!!

See, we could debate this all day!!! Heck, I haven't heard a Z28 vs. SS debate in awhile, can we go over that again while we're here?!

I wonder how quickly we'll start to find out about "real-world" problems with the car that are inherent in brand new model releases? Will GM work to correct them immediately, and thus, there may be "early-build" 2010 Camaros, vs. "late-build" 2010 Camaros, where the "early builds" will be ones to avoid?? I could see it happening.

VS.

A short production run of "2009's" ... let's say there are some problems that get identified, and fixed quickly (for the "2010's"). Ok, so the 2009's may carry the bad rap, but obviously there will still be the option for recalls/updates to correct those issues, while there may be more "perceived" confidence in the "second model year"?

(although even in the long 1st-year model, they can develop fixes to any problems encountered, then it'll just be that tiered system, of early-build vs. late-builds, and/or people being up-to-date on whether the factory recall/"updates" were performed or not).

WRT:
GM would still be building and selling just as many CAMAROs. The only difference would be, there would be very few "2009's", vs. a whole whack of 2010's. This is only a "labelling" issue (a difference on paper, not in actual application or production). From the buyer/collector/enthusiasts' perspective, that would make them more "rare". It wouldn't change anything about GM's final sales numbers, and actually, it could create for a higher initial demand, based on those people who care about the "rare" factor, and it may also lead to higher profits, based on demand and dealers jacking the price for '09s! (not that I support over-inflation of the MSRP, but you know that would occur ).

But on the flip side, if the 2010 Camaro is on the market for a long(er) time, and as long as production is in the ~100k+ range, then there SHOULDN'T be ANY sort of "lack of supply" issues, so hopefully price gouging will be at a minimum, and it should be "easy" to get a first-year Camaro, in the first year?

 

From what I've seen, GM & Chevrolet are very acutely aware of what is riding on this car. I do not believe that the importance has been at all underestimated.
After talking to many of the people over the last year who are involved in bringing this car to market, I'm totally convinced that one of GM's major goals with this car is to get it right - the 1st time. This attitude has been there since day 1 and it comes across almost an obsession.
I have no doubt that everything that is humanly possible will be done to achieve this goal - and there are some mighty capable people taking a lot of pride in what they are doing who are involved here... I have a lot of confidence that they will find a way to bring a very trouble-free car to the market right off the bat.

Best regardSS,

Elie

 

I sure hope you're right, Elie .

I have a friend who is probably one of THE most ABUSIVE people to cars you have ever met. He's the kind of person who will blow up 3 transmissions in one year because of stupid things like "accelerating" before the tranny is actually in gear?! He's the guy with last week's dinner spilt all over the floor of the car. He's not a "small" lad either, so he'll definitely give the seats and arm-rests a run for their money .

I hope that GM knows "that guy", and gives them a Camaro to use and abuse for awhile, to find the weaknesses in the car that the average person would never expose. Like the inside door handles on the late 2nd-gens ..... are there ANY that ever survived the life of the car without ripping out at the front?!

Petty things like that are what I "hope" are avoided. (not that I'm expecting things like that to be a problem in the first place ... just saying ). However, I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir, and I believe you when you say "GM KNOWS they have to get it right the first time" .

 

This sounds like my sister. There is only so much GM can do for these people.
She has tore out transmissions built by Ford, GM, and Honda if memory serves me correctly. She can wear out a set of brakes quicker than anybody I know.
Its nearly unreal how hard she is on a vehicle and doesnt even hot rod them but just drives in a manner that is just hard as heck on every single part. She has never learned because her husband makes so much money that he does not get upset with her for tearing out a transmission for no good reason because its not a big deal for him to pay to replace it. I guess the hell he would catch for complaining may be much worse.

There are some people that can tear up a anvil with a light bulb and there is not much any company can do about those folks.

 

january 30 2009..give or take

 

That date marks the end of production of the 2009 models, not the production of the 2010 model year.

Add 30 to 60 days.

 

I have high confidence that the car will be trouble free from the start. There will always be a crowd that won't buy the first year because of quality concerns, real or otherwise. To that crowd I don't think it will matter how much is changed between "early build" 2010s and "late build" 2010s. That is a pretty small crowd though and I don't really believe it should have affected GMs descision. I was just throwing out a talking point.

 

That was my point.
It's not exactly a 6 month gap between the '10 Camaro and '10 Mustang

 

So you think the majority of the GTO buyers did significant research on the car before buying it?

 

I don't know about the majority, but I remember it being a significant issue at one point with GTO owners or potential owners. Word got around fast. Those guys are pretty tightly knit, and I think it is safe to assume that most get on the Internet at least a bit. When the info got out there, it sure didn't help the sales of the cars already on the lots. The ridiculous dealer markups probably hurt more, though, now that I think about it.