New Camaro based on big car or smaller car?

What would you prefer any new Camaro to be based on?

Well considering right now I am going through hell trying to shed pounds off my car, yet keep it streetable (Goal of 300 pounds weight reduction), I would have to vote keep the car small and sporty.

As long as the end result is a great Camaro at a great price... whichever works.

Whoever votes bigger, heavier, luxury sedan platform, WILL be crotch stabbed with a spoon and banned for life.

The pity here is that using a smaller, sportier platform...like Holden showed for the Torana concept, most likely isn't going to happen. The money isn't there to create a new architecture for Camaro. Actually, let me back track. The political will isn't there to create a premium small car architecture that Camaro could be based on.

Rumor has it that people like Lori Queen (VLE smallcars), don't believe Americans want smaller RWD cars....hence, no platform. No Torana, no Pontiac version of Torana, no small/sporty platform Camaro.

What Camaro will be based on is a large car platform, in the same way Mustang is. Therein lies our dilemma. How do you take a large, heavy car platform and spin a ponycar on it. Ford gave us the larger, bulky new Mustang.

And what will Chevy give us?

What Camaro will be based on is a large car platform, in the same way Mustang is. Therein lies our dilemma. How do you take a large, heavy car platform and spin a ponycar on it. Ford gave us the larger, bulky new Mustang.



...which is selling 200,000 units annually.... :think:

...which is selling 200,000 units annually.... :think:

So was the last one...with competition.

So was the last one...with competition.

200,000 is still 200,000....

200,000 is still 200,000....

Oh, for sure. And no competition gives you plenty of lee-way.

Oh, for sure. And no competition gives you plenty of lee-way.


Perhaps.... Perhaps....

It's just that this whole size thing is just so beaten to death, IMO...

I know it's not RWD, but how does the smaller Eclipse sell compared to Mustang?

How about Celica (is it still around?) ..... How about a host of other small sporty cars?

I'm not a huge Mustang fan, but size is NOT that big of a deal.... as long as the size fits the styling, everything is fine.

Smaller, lighter sports platform. Regardless that people like guionM think that unless you want the 5th gen Camaro to be Chevy Mustang, you want it to fail.

Perhaps.... Perhaps....

It's just that this whole size thing is just so beaten to death, IMO...

I know it's not RWD, but how does the smaller Eclipse sell compared to Mustang?

How about Celica (is it still around?) ..... How about a host of other small sporty cars?

I'm not a huge Mustang fan, but size is NOT that big of a deal.... as long as the size fits the styling, everything is fine.

I would rather have a smaller, more nimble car, than a smaller looking car. In this case, smaller is better. I am not talking about Miata small here, but I am not talking about Mustang large either.

I think the Camaro has always been a little "bigger" and that doesn't bother me.

Although, that's a startling statistic to Ford if they aren't selling anymore now that GM is out of the picture with the Camaro. Maybe the Market Trenders were right when they said the Pony Car market is drying up... More of a "Tuner Market" right now and that probably accounts for the Pony Market shrinkage...

I

Although, that's a startling statistic to Ford if they aren't selling anymore now that GM is out of the picture with the Camaro. Maybe the Market Trenders were right when they said the Pony Car market is drying up... More of a "Tuner Market" right now and that probably accounts for the Pony Market shrinkage...



Well, the comment that Mustang isn't selling anymore than the old model is another loaded comment... I have read that 200,000 or so is about the max build capacity for Mustang, so it's hard to sell more than you can make.

As long as the end result is a great Camaro at a great price... whichever works.

Amen x 5000. :thumb:


-Mike

small lighter platform.

stuffed with a 427 :metal: :metal:

Perhaps.... Perhaps....

It's just that this whole size thing is just so beaten to death, IMO...

I know it's not RWD, but how does the smaller Eclipse sell compared to Mustang?

How about Celica (is it still around?) ..... How about a host of other small sporty cars?

I'm not a huge Mustang fan, but size is NOT that big of a deal.... as long as the size fits the styling, everything is fine.

Eclipse has always been a niche player compared to Mustang. Maybe 25,000-30,000 annual units. The new one seems to be exceeding sales projections though. GM has always considered Eclipse to be a Camaro competitor in it's sales forecasts. The Celica has been replaced by the Scion tC which is also selling pretty well.

The wild card here is the 2008, RWD, Hyundai Tiburon, (or whatever it'll be called). The expectation is, that it will be considerably smaller than Mustang and combine RWD with 260-280 hp. And if you listen to Hyundai officials...they have every intention of grabbing much larger market share. I wouldn't dismiss them.


And of course, the Challenger is on it's way. That car will probably be in the 190"-ish range.

So if Mustang, Camaro and Challenger are ALL approx 190" in length....does anyone see Hyundai with a welcome mat to it's very own RWD coupe segment?


Personally, I'd like Camaro to be as small and light as possible and still package 2+2 seating, V8 and RWD. But if I were less passionate about it...and were simply trying to place this product most appropriately....I'd try to split the difference between Mustang and Tiburon - size wise.