Rob V

I've always thought that the new Mustang/GT500 looks like a whale shark with its mouth open. You know, one of the most harmless sharks out there?



Whereas the Camaro... Even die-hard ford fans I work with love the look of it. Challenger isn't even mentioned by them.

guionM

Or one can take the opposing view of sales not mattering, which worked so well keeping the 4th gen around.

Regardless as to what land or sea creature one thinks the Mustang looks like, Ford currently is in it's 3rd year of selling every single Mustang they can possibly make at Flat Rock and it was enough to get both Camaro and Challenger (both which have been in suspended animation in the recesses of both company's product development shelves for years) pushed into production.

As for the Challenger, it's won as much praise (and intrestingly, more awards) than Camaro.

In short, although Camaro looks the most aggressive, seems digs against the Mustang and the Challenger is out of step with the public actually likes.

Brangeta

Sales don't matter to me. If I was the only 2009 Camaro owner in Dallas, would I whine about pitiful sales? No! I'd love it. GM can worry about sales, it's not going to turn my hair gray or give me wrinkles. Besides, I wouldn't want a Camaro if every other car out there was one.

Remember how we all used to snub Plymouth/Chrysler Prowlers 10 years ago? Well... pitiful sales and low production have given it near-exotic classification. Fine by me.

91 Redd Sledd

It's all just a matter of personal taste.I work in a GM Dealership currently.I am a die hard Ford Fan now, I Jumped off the GM Band wagon back in 02 when they killed the Camaro.The Consensus in our dealer is that no one there other than me likes Fords.The Majority of the guys say that despite the Camaro coming out unless they do some drastic changes to it.They would take the New Mustang over The Concept Camaro.Now when you have GM guys talking like that about a Ford.......... It boils down to sales.I think they will sell some but it's not going to be as big of hit as they hope.Look at the SSR came and went.The HHR came out too many years after the PT Cruiser and is pretty used up now.Theres alot of people saying they will buy one when they come out just wonder how many people will actually be at the dealers.I guess time will tell.

Brangeta

That's the stupidest thing I've ever read. They like the Mustang better because everyone else has one?

91 Redd Sledd

Sorry don't know what to tell you.It is a nice car.Have you ever driven one?Rode in one?Just because there are alot of them on the road does'nt mean you can't personalize it to your satisfaction.Isnt that what this hobby is all about??Take a cookie cutter car and make in to what you think it should be??

EllwynX

Personally, the nose of the Mustang always reminded me of this-



But yours certainly fits as well. LOL

Grand Royal

I think the Challenger looks very good, and I'm even interested in buying one a couple of years from now.

I'm a huge Camaro fan, but not a homer. The Challenger has a very nice, retro muscle car look. Dodge did a really good job on it.

Mustangs suck. (Ok, maybe I am a homer. )

Chocolate Apocalypse

I thought the same thing before the Camaro concept was unveiled. I feel it makes the Challenger look kinda bland and wimpy.

Dest98

Sales, sales, sales, if it sells more it must be better and it doesn't matter if I can't swing a dead cat in the Old Navy parking lot without hitting a car exactly like mine. I have witnessed this mentality more than once myself.

SCNGENNFTHGEN

IIRC I typed that very thing about the new CAMARO, after seeing it in person. It IS one Badass edition to the Camaro family IMHO!!!!!!!!!!! The Challenger looks like, if someone like Foose cleaned up the old bodystyle.... The Mustang has that droopy (lightning) Ford look, but when they are hooked up like Horton's they can look pretty sweet too!

Dest98

So instead of building a Camaro, GM should try to "build a better Mustang" than Ford? No need to answer that one.

GM serves a small market segment with the Corvette and seems to be able to make a few dollars doing it. They should be able to do the same with Camaro, with a market that's bigger than the Vette's but admittedly a bit less than the Mustang. If they can't then they shoudn't be building the car.

GoCamaroGo

So on one hand people's words relate to actions (your coworkers won't buy the camaro) and on the other hand people's words don't relate to their actions (alot of people are saying they will buy one). A least be consistent with your logic.

shock6906

Well I guess you'd be happy that the Camaro flopped in sales because then you'd be the only one out there with one. And then all the money that GM poured into the Camaro would have been a waste putting them in even further financial difficulties. You'd have to be stupid to say you don't want the Camaro to sell well.
I, for one, hope they sell tons and tons of them because I love seeing the cars on the road. I still turn and look at every Camaro that passes by me because I think they're awesome looking cars. I don't sit there and despise that person because they're driving the same car as me. If you don't want to drive the same car everybody else has, modify it!

guionM

A:
GM is actually trying to build a better Mustang than Ford. That's how Camaro came into existence in 1967. That's what GM is doing this time around. Somehow I actually did feel the need to answer that one.

B:
Comparing Corvette marketing structure to Camaros to discount the importance of sales volume is pretty stupid, and here's why.

First, Corvette is a single model 2 passenger sports car that's going to retail for a relatively high price (about $44,000 and up). Camaro, on the other hand, is a 4 passenger car that needs to retail as low as $20,000... and still has to make money.

Second, doing a 4 passenger car like the Corvette is going to cost far more money than a 2 passenger because there's going to be more to it. Longer chassis, rear seats, etc. Setting up a 4 passenger car the way the Corvette is set up is going to have a car that costs more than a Corvette.

Third, expensive 4 passenger cars that don't have the prefix BMW or Mercedes sell in numbers far lower than Corvette. GM actually looked into basing a Camaro off the Corvette at the end of the 90s. Branden when he was working for Blueovalnews also did a story on it. It was judged too expensive, strayed too far from what Camaro was, and wouldn't be profitable.

Fourth, GM doesn't do charity work. If Camaro doesn't sell in volume, it will never see the light of day. It has to be based on a low priced chassis (why it wasn't till Holden's Zeta that Camaro had a chance to return), MUST sell in respectable volumes (to compensate for the modest profit margins it's going to have), and of course, must make money (to justify the investment).

Finally, Corvette is an ICON, Camaro is a car. People actually plan to buy Corvettes to buy into the image and reputation. People buy Camaros because it's a nice car. About half of all Camaros need to be low priced V6s to make money, since there aren't enough V8 buyers to keep the car afloat (evidenced by the 4th gen).

Doubt me?

In 2001, GM sold 12,652 Camaros with the LS1 engine. That includes Z28, SS, B4C, convertibles, t-tops, everything.

In 2001, GM sold 35,647 LS1 powered Corvettes.

In 2002, Camaro had a 14 month production run to Corvette's 12 month run. Final tally?

LS1 Corvettes: 35,767
LS1 Camaros: 24,805

Anyone..... and I do mean Anyone... that discounts the importance of sales aren't truly intrested in Camaro because they espouse a mindset that not only guarantees the car WILL fail, but also are a bunch of quiters who have collective amnesia, convienently forgetting Camaro has always compeated with the Mustang, not given up and went whimpering in the corner to become something it's not.

Sorry if this seems like a rant, and that I got my dander up over this, but it simply pisses me off to hear people say something as assinine as "Sales don't matter", as if they got clubbed in the head and forgot that there hasn't been a Camaro for the past 5 years because of low sales, or that Camaro in the 80s see-sawed with Mustang in sales and faired pretty well against the Mustang in sales as late as the mid 90s. Let alone point to a $44,000 35K sales per year car and say if that can make money then a $20,000 car (less than 50% for chrissakes!) built the same way can make money.

Whimpy quiters irritate me. Especially when it comes to Camaro.