An observation re: Camaro
 

Something like this should be on my Blog, but I want to throw this out for feedback.

GM is basically morgaging their entire existance on the Volt, a car that I personally feel is a White Elephant (facinating to look at, but does no good whatsoever). Perhaps even worse. The Volt is a car that is in the background of every GM brass interview. Volt is the car GM is toting as the future of the company, and the press GM is pushing for the Volt is incredible considering it's still about 1 1/2 to 2 years away.

But despite all this, GM is going to lose money on every Volt they produce. One would expect that with the full bore PR GM is doing with the Volt, GM wants to sell a gazillion of them when they come out. Fact is, the more Volts GM sells, the more it loses. GM know this. Production of the Volt at least the 1st few years will be extremely limited (only 10,000 will be made the 1st year). With a pricetag that is expected to be well between $35,000 (if it gets government tax breaks) to $40,000 (if it doesn't), the idea of limiting production may become as meaningless as CAFE standards when gas is $5 per gallon.


But yet, you have the Camaro. A car that generates enthusiasm and excitement at every showing (the latest as the Daytona 500 pace car). It's a car that GM would never have approved if it came along just 1 year later. It's a project that sat in GM's system for a decade, then was rammed through with a speed almost unheard of at GM without Federal regulations chomping at their collective butts. It is the sole survivor of a car line that was supposed to make GM a legitamate full line car maker again, putting it's cookie cutter image in the trash heap once and for all.

It's obvious that as long as the loan market thaws out, Camaro is going to be a smash hit. With Mustangs selling now selling at a 4K a month clip and Challengers running 2600+ monthly, even with the current credit market, the 5th gen Camaro is most likely going to have the best production year since '99... and if credit improves by spring, with pent up demand for new cars, Camaro will be riding a crest of new car buying.

With an extensive option and factory personalization list (which will send a Camaro SS well into Corvette pricing territory), GM is set up to make serious bank on the Camaro. Chrysler is making quite a bit on Challenger's extensive option list.


It's ironic that the car that GM would not have made (and in most circles wishes it hadn't) is not only going to outsell their darling (the Volt) by whopping margins, but is going to clear a comparative massive amount of money on each Camaro made (even base V6 Camaros have a thin profit margin built in, let alone loaded 2SS).

The Volt may start making GM money late in the decade, but what is GM to do until then? Today, General Motors Corperation would have been shuttered for over a month if the government hadn't released money to keep them afloat just days before New Years. The Volt isn't going to make a profit before 2015... if ever.

The irony is that the Camaro stands to do more to save GM (by actually bringing money into the company instead of bleeding it out) than the Volt, despite it's standing next to the Volt.

but the cruze is more important than either of those two you mentioned.

The Cruze is undoubtedly vital to long-term survival, but I don't think it will do as much for Chevrolet image-wise nor be as profitable as Camaro will be. A successful Camaro can only be beneficial to Cruze - a younger buyer may come in to look at a Camaro and go for a Cruze instead if that's all they can afford. That's assuming that there's some kind of Cruze SS Turbocharged - which I think there will be.

honestly i don't see GM selling that many camaros vs the amount of cruzes that would be sold.

I think they are pushing the Volt not only to help it's sales when it comes out, but to also try to change GM's image, that they have what it takes to compete(even if it's not out yet) and to try to tell people that they are not all about trucks and gas hogs, that they do have innovation, design and technology.

and if the go see one...find out they can't afford one ...and all they see on the lot is trucks and gas hogs then what?

Nope, I don't either, but I would guess that the profit margin will be somewhat slim on Cruze whereas there will probably be some decent profit in a high-content Camaro.

i hate blogs.
but besides that, i think that the whole hybrid /electric car phase is goign ot be just that, a phase. just like it was in the 70's and the 80's and even early 90's. its going to pass and we'll get back to our regular life.

i don't think the profit margin can compensate.

Well, then they got some showroom traffic and if they can't afford that, then they walk right on over to the Cruze or another vehicle that they might be interested in and find out they actually offer vehicles that might actually fit them other than trucks and gas hogs.

The one difference between then and now is that we now have the technology to develop adequate batteries for the job. There are so many good news in the battery engineering world nowadays that i feel we're on the electric track for good. Of course there are plenty of uses where batteries will be useless, but in time i think comsumer cars will all be electric. Even more so if anyone finds a way to bypass batteries altogether. The drag strip guys will love it because electric engines are beasts (check a dyno)

That being said, when that day comes i'll be really sad to see 4-troke engines die out. There is nothing electric that will ever replace the rumble of a sports engine, and nothing that will ever come close to the thrill of bringing an engine to its redline while drag-racing.

The value of the Volt lies in its ability to appeal to the tree huggers in Congress and thus, helped free up the cash for a loan.

will the cruze be out by then? if not all they are going to see is outdated cobalts and impalas.

this is a phase. the only good battery driven car out there that i have seen thus far is the Tesla roadster. as far as the volt and those cars, yeah they seem cool. but their not very practical at all. no one understands what happens when the battery's break or wear down. its not as simple or cheap to replace a entire set of car batteries like its a flash light. its going to have a "warranty" for a certain amount of time. then what? the warranties up and your paying out the ass for a new battery that cost you close to 10grand after all the labor and materials cost. these cars are a joke right now. very impractical and uselss after they would break down. no longer will you be able to just go in your garage and work on your car if you have a problem. youll have to call the dealer(becasue local mechanics sure dont know jack about battery oppereated cars) just to diagnose the problem and then you have to pay them to fix it. whatever it may be. there are so many things that can go wrong and WILL go wrong with these cars. just think, we are just now getting to a point in vehicle manufacturing where we dont have alot of "kinks" to work out. and gas powered motors have been around for decades! battery driven cars are a joke. im sorry thats the way i feel and im not buying into the "electric/hybrid" era. it will pass.

Nevermind, you're right. The Cruze is going to be Chevrolets image leader. High schoolers are going to be drawing it on their notebooks and daydreaming about the day that they, if they are incredibly lucky, might actually own a Cruze!

Just because it's the volume seller doesn't make it the image car. Cobalt was selling pretty well for a GM car up until recently, but do people asprire to own them, or buy them (as I did) because they are cheap, reliable transportation?