Retro? Maybe we should have a link to the video of Bob Lutz speaking with Joe White from the Wall Street Journal.

Bob Lutz said:

"We started out knowing we wanted to do a new Camaro(or maybe it's Camahro ), and obviously you pick the best one of the series. Which was the 69's and 70's, or the original shape. Which we never really improved upon. That was the starting point, but we were very mindful of the fact that we didn't want to do a retro car. We didn't want to do a copy of the original. Frankly, I think that some of our competitors repeated the past a little bit too much(c'mon Bob tell us how you really feel ). What our goal was, and Rick Wagoner really pushed us in this direction, was to do a thoroughly modern car. That is a beautiful and contemporary car in its own right, and then try to superimpose onto that the essence of a '69 Camaro. And that is an entirely different thing than doing a renewed version of a '69."

Lutz did say that for production the front wheels would shrink to 19's or 20's.

He also said they would want to base price it as close to $20k as possible, and sell between 100k-150k units/year("Similar to the Mustang" is what Lutz said). The "top V8" should come in right below $30k, or just right above it.

Lutz also said us Camaro enthusiasts have been "hounding them for years". And that we obviously want the availability of a V8 and manual transmission.

Just some more info from the wonderful unveiling of our new Camaro.

 

That car is totally retro! What are you talking about, I have owned both a '67 and a '68, and when I see that concept, I see styling similarities and almost identical areas all over, especially the shape and angle of the c-pillar and rear fender.

The '05 mustang is a retro, I also own two '66 mustangs and the extreme similarities are there to. GM saw what a hit the new mustang is and knew that was the way to bring back the camaro.

What is wrong with something being retro?

"Retro: A fashion, decor, design, or style reminiscent of things past." (Websters)

Do you people not know how to use a dictionary???????

That gauge cluster is horrible looking.

 

Run and put on your bullet proof vest!!!

You need to go with the flow man, us Camaro/Pro-GM guys want to say that its' not retro so we won't look like copy cats!!

 

LOL - Who cares? Chevy copied Ford with the Camaro in '67 as they saw obviously by the record breaking sales of the mustang, that the sports car/grocery getter was very popular. You can see some subtle styling similarities between the stang and camaro. Why not copy fords idea again? I have said it for a few years, if chevy had any hope of bringing back the camaro they have to make a retro version. I love the look of the old cars, but to keep up with safety/emissions(aerodynamics) requirements, there are sacrifices that have to be made as far as original styling goes. Now all the baby boomers that remember their parents first sports car in the 60's can go out and buy their own updated version.

To me retro is a good thing, as my work is based in hot rods and race cars, the early Camaros are a thing of beauty.

I am a Ford/Chevy guy, I own and love both. I will just have to band with those of you who share a common hatred of Mopars....

 

My inital thought.... Damn that's ugly, leave the camaro dead. My last thought...See inital thought.

 

That's funny. Those were my thoughts also. I was looking for something futuristic, not retro. George Jetson will have to wait a while till all this retro stuff plays out and eventually fades away (Till the baby boomers all die off?)
But the new/retro design does kinda look cool. I've been looking at it all day. At first I was horrified! Then digusted. Now I'm just mildly amused by the boxy retro look. I think I will have to see one in person to make up my mind.

I think the main thing that will help me decide what to buy is price and how many thousands of dollars it will take to finish the darn car (Dual exhaust, headers, new intakes or air lids, suspension parts, ect...) Or ,will it be more cost effective to just buy an old 2002 SS and fix it up.

I think I will lovingly nickname the new 5th gen Camaro "The Big Ugly Box".

 

I've got a better one. THE OWL.

 

I agree with most of your points guionM. But the one above... while I do agree it's very modern and even futuristic... I guess I will have to step into the firing squad line with Sneaky Neil since I do think the car has some retro in it. I believe it's "retro done right"... but retro nonetheless.

I agree about the interior too. I love the seats (it struck me too, wouldn't it be cool if the rear quarter windows automatically went down every time you tilted the front seat backs forward with the car stationary, to help with rear seat ingress?). But the IP is way out there and they missed an opportunity with that. There was a chance, to show something modern and useful, with touches of the old motif. That's not what I saw. The speedo and tach are barely legible - granted I realize it's only a concept - and the console gauges, well ideas like that are definitely best left back in the 1960's. The old-school dash has been one of my main beefs with the 05 Mustang since day one - its gauges are very difficult to read while driving. The good news, for both the Camaro and the Mustang, is that gauges are *relatively* inexpensive for the maker to change. Here is one area where the new Challenger shines - DCX was bold enough to inject a modern DIC right into the cluster of the concept (the 5Gen Camaro concept appears to have a tiny one too but it's not a 'major instrument', more of a postage stamp - deal). Of the three, the Challenger so far has the best IP, IMHO, by a small margin.

 

Was tired when I wrote last night.

Maybe "shot" was too strong.

The car has retro cues, but it's put together in a very futuristic way. Perhaps it doesn't carry well in pictures.

Some people won't like the looks of it, but of all the things you can say about the car, in person it simply isn't "retro".

 

The thing has a very Cadillacesque styling quality to it in person, I guess that doesn't show up in pictures, because that thought never occured to me in the pix I saw before the show. But after seeing it in person, it was the first thing that occured to me. Sure it's got things the 67's had, like....windows...and C pilars (and the C pilar is much more swept back than the 1st gens was, I guess it doesn't show in pix), but it is a VERY MODERN design in person. The Challenger down the hall looked like it made the wrong turn at a Mopar Reunion when this thing rolled out, and the Dodge guy said as much too!

 

There's a difference between RETRO and HERITAGE styling. I believe the concept has the latter.

 

We need a new word to define it to satisfy everybody. I shall call it...Retrage. Or Hetro. Or...

 

It is futuristic. Retro? Depends how wide you want to define the term.

However...

...it certainly would look very out of place if you took it back to 1968, but would probably fit in a bit better if you took it forward to 2068.

 

Ehh I like it, How many "futuristic" cars have we seen as "concept" that never made it anywhere, too many to list. If you go to bold you'll scare off the originaly muscle car owners. If I wanted my Camaro to look something like a 350z or some retarded import tuner I'd buy one of those. I want a real American Muscle Car, not a futuristic space mobile. Look what dodge did to the Charger...hmm yea...let's not destroy another American Icon

 

Futuristic eh? Cool!