I spoke to the manager of one of our local Chevrolet dealerships yesterday and he announced at our Camaro Club meeting that he received confirmation from GM that the Camaro will be on his dealer showroom floor in October 2008.

 

CZ28.com 101:

Don't always believe what dealers tell you about product release dates.

 

They haven't even begun retooling the plant yet have they?

 

While this may be true I doubt Gripenfelter is unfamiliar with this concept. I doubt he would have posted it if he didn't think there was any merit behind it.

I think it's plausible that it could be in dealers by October. Maybe not in huge numbers but there nonetheless.

If they were to show a production version by January's auto show in Detroit I think they could have them off the line by October.

 

Unless Scott recants his statement, I'm not believing it will be on showroom floors by October 2008.

 

Hard to argue with that logic. My only argument would be that Scott is a realist. The plans are for the Camaro to be off the line in 2009. At the same time, I'm sure that if they could work it out so that it could be released in '08 they would do whatever it takes to make it so. I mean, end of October is only two months away from '09. Not a big difference really.

 

What better way to spark the buzz right? I can see gm releasing a few showroom models only in late '08, so people can walk in, be stunned, and start putting down their orders for early '09.

 

Yes I'm well aware that normally salesman have no clue what they are talking about but he seemed pretty adamant about the fact that they would have ONE on display and that he had received official confirmation of this. On top of that, he has been the owner/manager of the dealership for the past 20 yrs and has a fairly good reputation in this town with Corvette/Camaro owners.

That being said, I'm not 100% positive he will have one on his showroom floor but I'm 100% sure he believes he will.

Maybe we'll hear something in a few days?

 

Maybe a display only model until the cars are fully released. Each dealership gets one of the first ones to display for customers.

 

I dont doubt that there could be some pre-production models out by October, 2008. That is generally when most 2009 models become available, anyway. Pre-production models are the ones that are manufactured in order to test the assembly process. They are then run through a validation process to check body fitment, the system of assembly, and to fine-tune the techniques necessary to efficiently mass-produce a design. The pre-production vehicles are then distributed throughout the company for testing and evaluation. If GM was to begin general sales by Feb/March, they would need to get some pre-production vehicles out four months ahead of that target date.

I remember when I first saw the pre-production '93 Camaro and Firebird: It was in the spring of 1992, probably February/March, in preparation for a release date of September. We had a couple of Z28's and a Formula in the shop at GM Saginaw Division's headquarters in Saginaw, MI for testing of steering and braking systems. Small changes to both systems took place based on feedback from that testing.

 

sorry - the dealer may have misunderstood something (perhaps start of production) (and start of production doesn't mean the cars hit the showroom -- we hold them for quite some time for various reasons) --- but there will not be Camaros in showrooms in October of 2008........I sure wish there would be --but at this point in time, no.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I should send this back to him.

 

Yeah, sure, something's fishy.....OR.....maybe the message got confused at some point.....nah, not at a company the size of GM.....

 

Company line:
"Early 2009 and only one V8 with the "bad-@ss" to be released a year later."

......all the while behind the scenes working feverishly to release it sooner AND have the "bad-@ss" out in the first year of production. If for whatever reason they don't pull it off, no big deal, from the outside it looks like GM delivered as promised.

If, on the other hand, they promise an earlier release date and the "bad-@ss" motor the first year and AREN'T able deliver, well then they look incompetent, GM's image/reputation takes a hit, stocks suffer, etc. etc.



Who knows, I may be completely wrong, but personally, I really think I hit the nail on the head.

 

Well I phoned the manager. Conversation went something like this:

Me: Yeah I asked the gentleman on our Camaro board who works on the Camaro program with GM and he said there must have been some sort of misunderstanding. The production date will be this fall but the cars aren't slated to be in the showrooms till next year. They apparently hang on to the cars for some time after they are produced.

Manager: Is that right..(long pause)..was that Scott you spoke to?

Me: Uh..yeah...Scott Settlemire. (surprised)

Manager: Well someone in Oshawa's feeding us bad information then because we were told we would have one on display this winter and that we should expect it in October. *laughing* No disrespect Grip...but I sit on a special board in GM dealer executive and we get more info than the regular public and/or dealers. The meeting that I was referring to was with the Vice-President of GM of Canada and I was on a video conference with Mr Wagonner, President and CEO of General Motors.


I guess the misinformation goes a bit higher up.

EDIT: I got interrupted and didn't finish typing the post.