guionM

I'm going to try something different from what seems to have become the norm. Instead of a useless poll designed to stir up opposition to the Camaro or the Zeta, lets actually do a poll designed to find ways to INCREASE intrest in the Camaro.

As true Camaro enthusiast ALL want to see THIS Camaro succeed. We know that there are people at GM who gave their life's blood, sweat, and cunning so that WE (that's you and me) can not only have the Camaro back, but have a Camaro that's world class in performance, quality, equptment, all at a Chevrolet price.


But the Camaro isn't going to survive unless we bring in ALOT of outside buyers. As we saw withy the 4th gen, there simply isn't enough Camaro enthusiast to make the car successful.

As real TRUE Camaro enthusiasts, we want other people to come in and discover our car and to share in our enthusiasm of it, not pick out obscure narrow reasons for it to fail. Each and every one of us on this site picked up our love for the Camaro from someone else. An uncle, a friend, a guy or gal down the street who had one. Perhaps we were shopping for something else and we happened to test drive a Camaro on a whim, or because it was there on the lot. Whatever the case, no one came out the womb wanting a Camaro. We all ended up here.... and stayed.

Cars like Camaro and Mustang generate enthusiasts and the spirit of competition. Not just on the streets, but in opinions. and that enthusiasm gets people curious, and they see what the fuss is about. The people we need to add to our ranks don't live life a quarte mile at a time, but they still want a quick car. They aren't cross shopping with a Prius, but they want good gas mileage. They don't want Lamborghini level attention, but they want a car that's stylish. But if you don't get new butts in seats, the Camaro community will shrink. People get families, needs change, and although they may still love Camaros, they need an SUV, or a sedan, or a pickup. Or you want something more luxurous... or easier to live with. Not everyone can have 2 or 3 or 10 cars. When you don't own something, you tend to drift away.

I'm going to include as many ideas as I can that I've heard from others, and came up with myself. If you have other ideas, please post them.

I advise that we keep it to things that GM can change about this car that don't involve magic pixie dust, voodoo, ignoring the laws of physics, and leave the fiction in Barnes and Noble .

Dragoneye

Good post, Guy!

I absolutely agree. We NEED to get more people into this car. We need to 'spread the Camaro love'. And there's a big group of people out there looking for excitement with minimal drawbacks. We'll always have our SS versions, but they will not ensure the survival of the nameplate. And if the nameplate doesn't survive, neither will the SS's.....

So...I propose that the team tries to:

----squeeze as much room out of the back seat as possible. I can't tell you how many people I talk to that would go for car like Camaro, but it's "an inch to short back there"....

----get a 4-cylinder or small V6 (the 3.0L DI comes to mind...) in this car!! The Camaro should (and might even NEED) to hit that magical 30mpg number within the next few years. Not all V6 buyers will want even this much spunk in their cars. In fact, many may prefer not to have that much power under the hood. So put a smaller engine in, and bump the hp down to 220-240 in order to reach 30mpg (or at least 29mpg.).

And then there's advertising...this doesn't really fit with the poll-idea...but I think it's important. I really think they need to advertise the hell out of this car because,

#1, it's an available car to the average person - unlike the Corvette. In this way, it has more power to draw in the odd customer, because they won't be thinking "Oh, that's neat...but I could never afford that...". Thus, it has the power to shed a REALLY bright light on the rest of the Chevy lineup, as well as drawing in possible import, or Mustang buyers to itself.

A commercial that comes to mind was one of Ford's. They had all of the Ford lineup, from Focus to the F-150 all side-by-side. The Mustang was in the center, and it just gave me the impression of a 'family'. Like each car was part of a bigger whole. I'd be willing to hedge my bets that if Chevy did this for a little while, they'd see a marginal increase in sales across the board...

#2. I understand they want to present the Camaro as fuel efficient, and I like their "Sports car for the 21st century" slogan...so another commercial that comes to mind is one of Nissan's. They had some of their cars doing sporty maneuvers, but as they did, they highlighted the fuel economy, and comfort. It worked. Just because the Camaro is fuel efficient doesn't mean it can't be exciting -- and marketing has to get that message across.



EDIT: Should you maybe make this a multi-choice poll? There's no one answer, you know?

polo3433

I voted for the SVO Mustang version. Anything that appears to be fuel economy is a plus. Having the power of a turbo charger and saving gas will appeal to a lot of consumers planning on getting a new car. It’s easy to come with a recipe for good sales and that is efficiency and power. However, that’s easier said than done.

Bob Cosby

Wow. This isn't pointed at anyone in particular, is it?

Anyway, I would prefer a low option V8 setup (along the lines of a 1LE...one that lets me get rid of some of the "standard" things that I don't want). However, as has been discussed ad naseum, I'm in the minority on this, thus there is no business case for it, and thus it would involve magic pixie dust, so I'm likely out of luck.

But that's my input.

AdioSS

I agree with everything I quoted. I voted for the "Import" option since it seems that the G37, Genesis Coupe, and cars like theme could be direct competitors.

An LNF Camaro advertised in "Tuner" magazines would go over well.


PS: Woodgrain in the Camaro?

CLEAN

qft

GTOJack

The problem with the 86 SVO Mustang was that it cost a couple grand more than the GT, and the EFI 5.0 was faster, so you were paying more for the hood and dual plane rear wing. If the 260hp turbo 4 is priced higher than the 300hp DI 3.6, it just wont sell.

5thgen69camaro

Good post Guy. Honestly I started out a mustang guy. Rather a kid whos father told him all these mustang stories of a 71 429 big block ram air that was too big for AC. Bought new in his early 20's as a manager at Hechinger's

One story was he was headed to Florida from MD and made it there in a day. Obviously traffic was different then... He went through an intersection with a green light, and when he did it flipped to red and was immediatly pulled over. The Cop had it rigged to a switch for just such an occasion. He followed the cop to see the judge and when he explained everything to the judge, the judge having seen this before said, "say no more" and found him not guilty. On his way back north from Florida to MD my father ran the light intentionally opening up that 429 and waved at that cop.

Another was my father was out on West Virginia Mountain roads taking newly wed friends out for a drive. Apparently they had asked to see what the car could do. He said at 100 he heard seat belts click. As Im typing this its the first time as many times Ive heard this I do realized they should have been clicked to begin with. Anyway, showing them what the car could do they passed a police officer when one of the couple said "what was that?" My father pulled into someones driveway and they all got out. shortly after the cop pulled into the driveway and asked where they were comming from. My father said they had just been to the grocery store. The officer put his hand on the hood of that 429 mustang and said "dont lie to me this engine is hot." My father had not lied to the officer as it turned out. He opened the trunk and showed him the groceries he had picked up earlier that morning. The officer said "you keep that engine under that hood" To which my father replied "yes sir!" Dont get me wrong I have alot of respect for officers. They keep us safe but sometimes I have a serious distaste for low speed limits and revenue driven speed traps.

I grew up on stories like that, and watching Smokie and the Bandit, as well as Dukes of hazzard and the like. I cant think of one car chase sceen that started and ended in the 1/4 mile. Also my drive to work when late is about 35 miles.

I naturally looked at mustangs and liked different 60's models. I also liked that Fox body 87-92 LX car. Ford screwed my father in 1980, who was until that time a die hard Ford man. My father bought a 1980 F100 for his carpentry buisness with a factory defected catalytic converter. My father took Ford to court forcing a Cat recall on those models but as my dad had already sold his devalued truck the recall did him little good. He went from Die Hard ford fan to telling everyone he meets not to buy one. He bought GM trucks and SUVs since. Including the 1997 ZR1, 2008 2500 fullsize, and 2008 HD Chevy Van he has now bought all new from the dealers for his current business.

I never liked the 3rd or 4th gen but I loved Chevy so much I figured they had to have a car Id like as much as the Ford. I hated Ford engineering anyway which I thought was horrible to work on anyway. I looked at the different years for Camaro and fell in love with the 69.

My brother wants a BMW and has his whole life. I can think of alot of people who have including me. Unfortunately for alot of people who like those cars cant afford them but might be able to swing a Camaro. I dont think of the german imports in the same light as I do the Japaneese. They want a 4 seater refined corner carver but settle for under powered import street machines. Market to them. IRS Caddy V6, or IRS Corvette V8 with 69 camaro/BMW like street performance and looks. Subtract the BMW price, unreliability, and gadgetry that breaks. How could you go wrong?

skorpion317

I voted for "A SVT-like Camaro dealer network that specializes in performance and accessory parts and service". I'd really like to see that done for the Camaro.

I'll explain my reasons for not voting for the others:

1. A low cost "Mustang SVO" version based on Solstice GXP's engine.

I don't really think a 4-cylinder (even a pretty awesome one like the 2.0L turbo Ecotec) is right for the Camaro's image. Besides, there's not much benefit to using that engine over the 3.6L DI V6.

2. A super charged V6 model that can easily be tuned or modded for SS level performance

It would be interesting to see a performance V6 model. However, I think it would be better to make factory performance parts available as dealer-installed items vs. a factory model.

3. A 4 cylinder version and a $2-3000 price cut for it

See #1. Also, a naturally-aspirated 4-cylinder engine in a car of this size is going to be a dog. Their sporting reputation will be about the same (and probably less) than the 3rd and 4th-gen V6 F-bodies.

4. A luxury version with woodgrain trim, wiremesh grille, and upgraded materials

This is a Camaro, not a Buick.

5. Extensive advertisement in "Import" magazines (DOHC V6, 6 speed, IRS is high on their list)

This isn't a bad idea. I won't be surprised if the traditional import magazines also test the V6 Camaro against it's closest import competitors. I'd rather see a dealer network that specializes in performance and accessory parts and service, though.

6. Extensive support of Autocross events, or other competition that showcases Camaro

I'd also like to see this. Unfortunately, the number of people who will race their Camaro is only a fraction of the number of total buyers.

Z28Wilson

I voted "SVO"-type model. If Camaro is going to reach many more buyers by offering the fuel efficient 4 cylinder, I would much prefer that it do it with some sporty feel intact. The base 2.4 Ecotec would be overmatched in this particular car IMO.

polo3433

I am surprise that a hybrid version wasn't on the list of options.

0toinsanein5.4sec

http://www.swtride.itgo.com/shootout.html

that his is what i want to see. Car and Drivers old 1625hp shootout between a crazy mustang and a crazy camaro (the ZL1)

but of those options i put svt like thing bc i would love that. it would be between that and in i4t camaro.

dacook

I voted for this one because I think IROC really helped Camaro image and sales.

ZZtop

How about a true "performance Hybrid". It is entirely possible to make a Camaro Hybrid that sacrifices top speed, something 99% of us wouln't see anyway, for seat of the pants acceleration off the line and a gas mileage improvement. Imagine a 300hp V6 Camaro getting 30mpg with a 0-60 time close to the Camaro SS. That just might work.

AdioSS

I like that idea, but I would still use an 87 Octane version of the LNF.

Basically the same idea behind the Lexus LS600h.

I say start with the LNF (over the 3.6L DI V6) simply because a direct injected 2L 4 cylinder is going to use a lot less fuel when cruising out of boost to really sky-rocket highway fuel economy ratings. Then to get nearly V8 level power output under load, you have both the turbo and the electric motor.

I guess the decision between the LNF and V6 depends on packaging more than anything else. If the engineers need length more than width, then use the 4 cylinder. If they need more width, then use the V6. It seems to me that if the moved the V6 forward in the engine compartment, then they might actually have a chance at wedging the 2-mod transmission from the full-size trucks in there? Sure, it'll hurt weight distribution (probably no more than a V8 being there), but 99% of the people interested in hybrids don't know or even care to know what that means.