OK Charlie, Here's a challenge for you. Assume that Z/28 happens just as you would have it happen. Now, how would you make SS appeal to those who prefer it?

 

You din't "have to", they have different target audiences. Some people don't want or need excess, they are happy with good enough. Do you market specifically to Silverado buyers who only want a 5.3L intead of a 6.0L? IF the Z/28 emerges to be the top of the line, there are enough people that want better than V6 performance and image but not an excess of it, that a SS would be perfect for. Want all out race, pony up to the Z (just like in the beginning, like the retro styling indicates).

 

I built up the 1LE to run with a stock C5 Z06, and I think it's there, with the possibility that it may be even quicker on a road course with equal drivers. It also cost me as much as a used C5 Z06 and is worth a lot less if I had to sell it. That's worth it to see and hear the reaction to the car at autoX and HPDE events.

The problem is the C6 Z06 is a real game changer. With the weight and technology disadvantage the 5th gen Z/28 will start with, it will take wheelbarrows full of money to get it to run with the Z06. Assuming the Blue Devil debuts before the Z/28, used C6 Z06s should be available at more reasonable price so the answer to the question, "buy a new Z/28 and spend a bunch of money on it, or buy a used Z06 and hit the track?" seems pretty obvious to ME.

OTOH, as a summer daily driver and travel car, I'm really looking forward to a Hugger Orange 'vert with a rumbly V8. If it has the performance and features of our TB/SS I'll be ecstatic.

 

That is a recipe for selling no SS cars at all.

 

A question worthy of it's own thread perhaps.

Maybe, as some have suggested, there is no room for a Camaro SS in the line-up, when you have a Z/28. Maybe the generalized Chevy trim nomenclature of LS, LT, LTZ, SS simply doesn't apply to Camaro. Good arguments could be made for these points.

Me personally? I see a purpose for an SS Camaro. One reason, is so the Z/28 doesn't have to become a watered down, every man's (and woman's) performance car. Because let's face it, the Z/28 that I want, and Doug wants and jg wants, is not the car that the 50th percentile consumer wants - and that's the way it should be if you ask me. And that's where a Camaro SS comes in. We can discuss specs, and convenenience content and ease of ownership and stuff like that - but I think you get the idea.

Brent Dewar (former Chevy GM) described the SS strategy as attainable performance for a broad audience. I agree with that completely.

 

which is the reason why i have no idea why everybody wants one or the other to be the "top" model.

 

Ah, but the devil is in the details. A watered-down SS will never cut it any more than a watered-down Z/28 would. I put it to you that making the two different enough to co-exist while not short-changing one of them would be close to impossible in this market, at this time. The only approach that has a shot in my view would be to treat the Z/28 as a 1LE-type package for track duty and the extreme enthusiast. Something tells me that's not what you want.

I'm a loyal SS guy, but I can see the logic of only using Z/28 on Camaro. There are good reasons to do so, not the least of which is to raise the name to a parallel status with Zo6. The effect would be that Camaro would be seen as so significant that it needed its own performance designation beyond SS. This would be a strong statement on the part of Chevrolet even though it ignores the original intent of the option code. A side-effect would be a dent in the reputation of SS which it needs no more of. That wouldn't please me, but I think that the trade-off might be worth it. However, using SS as a platform to sell loaded cars just ticks me off: SS isn't about gadgets and leather seats, it is about performance.

 

So flesh out what a Z/28 would look like to you ... and what an SS would be ... ignoring any concern about a "Top Dog" designation.

 

You might want to check your facts. Z28 was nothing more than a RPO number. I believe the same is true for Z24, Z26 and Z34. (True they were chosen, but to call it branding is a stretch.) Today, the SUVs and trucks come in LTZ which is the performance handling package. Cars come in SS. Would I like to see a Camaro LTZ? Not really, as I don't even want to see a Camaro LS or a Camaro LT. But that ship may have already sailed.

They can assess initial reaction based on how well the convertible concept does. I agree, what I am asking for won't be available in year one. I just want to see it done no later than 18 months after the initial launch.
Yes we're all in the Camaro "camp". However, guys in their late 30s and up grew up with Z/28 being the "roadracier" Camaro. Guys in their 20s grew up with the new SS being the highly optioned "performance" Camaro. Hense, guys later on in their lives, with their kids out of college, and their retirements set, can afford to make "midlife crisis" purchases. How many guys in their 20s are buying GT500s? Not many.
Sorry but I have to disagree. None of the clowns performing the surveys/studies nor being asked the questions are going to be the kind of people that would buy this theoretical Camaro. We the enthusiasts are the market. GM has to decide if they can afford to give us what we want, or chance that we'll settle for second best just because its a Camaro.

 

You are a god Charlie.

To answer poSSum's question: Camaro SS is the V8 "performance" Camaro. However, you can option it anyway you like. Leather, DVD nav, power sunroof, bigger wheels, leather heated power seats, ground effects, 6spd auto with paddle shifters, convertible... whatever you wanted added to the base 450hp+(*) V8, 6spd, with cloth seats could be optioned, making the Camaro SS the jack-of-all-trades, do-it-all, performance Camaro any man or woman could customize to their desires.
(*) Actual performace numbers would rival the top Mustang GT but not Shelby GT500.

Camaro Z28 would be a no-nonsense corner carving road racing machine along the same lines as the Z06 is to Corvette. It would have two options; Z28-1 and Z28-2. (Basic and luxury just like Z06. You could get HUD and heated seats, but you have to get them with DVD nav and XM radio. etc.) The Z28 would only come with one engine, one transmission (6 spd manual), no sun-roof, no convertible. Performance level would be just enough to best the GT500 and Challenger in the 1/4 mile, but its real duty would be on the skid-pad. Would this mean a more powerful engine than SS? Possibly, but that depends on how much carbon fiber and lightweight materials could be factored in without being too much of an impact to price. Production would be limited and they would get distinctive badging, and slightly different hood, grill, etc to differentiate them from the other Camaros.

Basically Camaro SS for the working man's performace Camaro, and Camaro Z28 for the weekend warrior track car.

At least that's how I see it.

 

I think jg95z28 got pretty close on the SS, but for me, the Z/28 would be more about the HD hardware.....i.e. better brakes, better axles, better seats/shocks/springs/bushings/swaybars/braces, louder (read: less restrictive) exhaust, less sound-deadening, etc.....and it's OWN style hood!! I'm tired of the Z/28 looking like a base model with dual exhaust, i.e. the 4th gen formula....

I don't want anything but a large displacement, NA engine (not a forced induction kinda' guy....superchargers don't like the quick on-off throttle I use on the road courses and turbos can be a major pita for the same reasons...call me old fashioned)

 

Is it? That's how the 4th Gen Z28 was. This would be a case of swapping the names in the pecking order. Also, the further up the performance scale the F5 Z/28 goes, the more SS you would sell, since the Z/28 would appear to only more extreme drivers (and that's how it should be).

 

It would be interesting to know (if it's even possible) how many 'regular' Corvettes get sold because of the success of the Z06.....

 

Umm... You quote me but Charlie gets diety status?

Except for some minor quibbles, I think what you flesh out agrees with my thinking on Z/28 being much like a 1LE.

 

You prove my point. With the 4th gens, the SS took away any significance the Z/28 had and made it very hard to sell. Check Guy's sales numbers posted earlier in this thread and you'll see what I'm talking about. The same would happen to SS if we followed your ideas about the two cars.