So I was just wondering about the unthinkable. Camaro comes out and it doesn't sell. Or at least it sells far less than 100,000 cars. Whatever the reason, what should GM do?

My solution: quick facelift to the car and rebadge it. Call it the new Chevelle SS. Then get to work on a new Alpha based Camaro, smaller, engine to be determined by the markeplace.

What would you do if you were the boss?

 

The goal is to high.....


Just go ahead and file bankrupt

 

ok... seriously... you want to get into this now?

If Camaro falls on its face and they have to scuttle the program, you think this hiatus was bad?

The assembly line that builds Camaro will likely be shared with other vehicles.... so it comes down to the combined success of all the flavors of RWD Zeta that come down that line. If Camaro sales were lackluster, but the other car(s) coming down that line are doing spectacularly well... we'll still get a Camaro.

 

Firebird....

 

That's something I assumed should be the case.

If the Camaro were to sell, say, 65,000 a year the other vehicles coming from the plant should allow the Camaro to sell less...

 

Watch the bad vibes man......

Seriously though, "Failure is NOT an option"

 

Maybe I've simply become cranky the past few months. Maybe I've had a rough day. Maybe I'm simply tired after putting in almost 12 hours on the job, and being pissed off at someone unrelated to anything or anyone around here. Maybe it's just late (midnight here), and I'll feel better after a night's sleep. But none the less, I don't see any possible reason why we even have a thread with this subject.

Trust me, I'm really avoiding the temtation of going Medieval here.

If Camaro fails in the marketplace, it's DEAD. What part of FOURTH GEN CAMARO are we not understanding??!

I'm also a bit incredulous at your suggestion that GM throws a facelift on it, digs out another dusty name, and slaps it on there as if it's going to make a bit of difference in sales. Also, if GM waits till after the Camaro fails in the marketplace to start up with an Alpha based version (as if the same car failing twice has a snowballs chance in hell of a 3rd try), you're going to have a gap in production on par with the 7 years of waiting we had this round. Usually, as soon as the paint's dry on the 1st newly minted model, things are already underway on it's replacement.

Just to reinterate:
Camaro is NOT vital to Chevrolet's... let alone the General Motors Corperation... existance.

The car is using up space, money, manpower, and resources that would have a much higher return on something different. There is no logical reason for it to return.

The Chevrolet Motor Division regained it's #1 position in US sales without Camaro. There were more Corvette V8s made than last gen V8 Camaros the final few years. Camaro has a less than stellar reputation that goes beyond the so called "mullet" that even enthusiasts here admit to. Corvette is Chevy's halo car. Cobalt SS is gaining a following for budget performance. Monte Carlo outsold Camaro nearly 2 to one during Camaro's final year of production..... even though Camaro's production run ran an extra 3-4 months. Thinking that a 2nd failure of the name will mean GM will stop the presses, put everything on hold, and rush through yet another Camaro is utter and complete fantasy.

What ISN'T a fantasy is that the new Camaro came through despite the odds against it.... and make no mistake, we're damn lucky that there were the right people in the right places at the right time with the right strategy and the right conditions and that the new Ford Mustang came out when it did, had the sales that it did, and broke the resistance that it did to make Camaro move towards production again, and to the enthusiastic reception it's gotten from all types of people.

If things fail, it won't happen again.

 

guionM, I don't think you're being cranky. I think you're exactly right - this topic isn't even worth talking about, not for one second. And for exactly the reason you gave - failure is not an option. If this car fails after the huge positive reception the concept got then there is no business case that GM can make in the next 20 years to justify another Camaro. Maybe more people need to remember that before griping about Camaro not being their own idealized image of the car, or whining about Z/28 or SS being top dog, or any other trivia. We're lucky - we should all be grateful.

 

Guy a couple of things you talked about here have concerned me.....mostly that after 40 years, Camaro still isn't a nameplate that GM feels is at it's heart and soul as a company. You talk about resistance being broken by the mustang......I'm curious about how much of that "resistance" is still hanging around boardrooms at GM, waiting for the first opportunity to rid GM of a car that they perceive to have a permanant Mullet stigma attached to it.

I'm almost certain that during the latter half of the 90's Camaro was becoming a bad word to some (in not most) at GM and that those feelings perpetuated.....I wonder what it would take for us to see them again?

 

do we really have nothing else to talk about with the new camaro that this is what we are discussing?

 

The Camaro's ability to sell will be base almost entirely on marketing it. Outside of the automotive circle, most people don't even know GM is coming back out with it. Chevy will need to build a new youthful image for the Camaro and not rely solely on past heritage (i.e. the failure of the recent GTO, and the retro styled Thunderbird, ext.) GM is going to have to promote heavily or they will see lackluster sales like the newer 4th gens.

 

The styling on GTO failed monumentally, and Thunderbird priced itself out of the market.

Thus far it doesen't seem like they're going to allow any such obvious mistakes like that with Camaro.

 

Re-badge it as a Chevrolet Corsica and only sell it in V6 form.

 

Isn't this a thread for some Firebird Website?

I really fail to see the relevancy on this site.

 

I could care less if it fails, as long as I get mine