Mustang and charger may be almost on their second retro design by the time it comes out too. That surely won't help it seem as new.

 

I couldnt disagree with you more. The 5th gen must appeal to a wider audience than current Camaro owners. They sold what, 40,000 Camaros in 2002, and that was with an extended production year. Today's business case wont support sales of 40,000 units. It needs to be much closer to 100,000 units.

Hence, many of the issues that made the 4th gen unappealing, especially to women, have been addressed. Upright seating position, shorter/lighter doors, etc.

 

The way I think GM has it planned out is, they know their making Zeta for sure. So 06 was Camaro concept, and early 07 will be another zeta concept or two...could be GTO and Impala??? And that will help keep the design fresh for production in maybe 2008?
Next january, people are going to be talking about another zeta car in a similiar manor as was the Camaro, and it will kind of refresh the image GM is creating.

 

Time is definately gonna hurt it.

 

Agreed I'd even like to see it out as early as late fall 2007 or early 2008. After that the Mustang will probably be on its next generation and leap frog the Camaro


They also sold ~30,000 Firebirds in 2002, so that is ~70,000 total for a 10 year old body style with no advertising, not bad. The new "F-body" can sell 100,000 easy.

.....but you are right, if they want to sell more or at least make them an easier sell the 5th gen is going to have to be more user friendly than the 4th gen.

 

I think the perfect time for launch would be 2007 - just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Camaro.

But as each day passes and each little tidbit of info dribbles out, it looks fairly certain that this will not happen. Summer of 2007 is just a year away now, and it doesn't seem like GM is anywhere near close to producing this thing.

The biggest mystery is Australia. We just don't know what's going on down there. Many people on this board have posted that parts of the "Camaro Team" headed down there shortly after NAIAS. I would assume they did this in order to reconcile the concept with the Zetas they are building.

Who knows. We may be in for a surprise after the mystery of what's going on in Australia is solved. But I haven't seen much of anything resembling Camaro news coming from there. Either no one has access to digital cameras in Australia, or there is truly nothing newsworthy going on.

 

i just hope the whole retro muscle/pony car thing dosnt wear off by the time it comes out. its a very possible situation that can happen, which makes ever 08 a long way off, let alone 09-10, which was what was said that it could be out if the built it. this is also the case for the challenger, which is even more retro than even the mustang. if the craze dies before they come out we will probally never get a chance to own either one. although the camaro will probally come out reguardless.

 

3 or 4 years is too long, there may be some excitement, but no where near what there is now.

 

Yes, there will be commercial-generated excitement, balloons, banners, and whatnot. However, I will not buy an all-new car in its first year. Let other people deal with the TSB's, recalls, and general de-bugging of the vehicle.

 

If you want to have any idea of what waiting too long to release a car does to it take a look at the new Shelby. Most Ford die hards are getting a very bad taste in their mouths with how long it has taken, how much they are marking them up, and how poorly they are peforming. Not to mention how watered down they have made it from the concept. The point is that they hyped it in 2004 and as of last week we will not be seeing any Shelby's on the road until late next month....if we are lucky. Not to mention the car isn't performing much better than a 2003 Cobra.

GM if you play your cards right you will have your Camaro out and on the road before Ford ever even gets their "top Mustang" that they have been talking about since late 2003.

 

Um my 4th gen doesnt have upright seating! Infact I had my seat way back to look at the signal lights through the T-Tops. NOR was one of 4th gens issues that Women didnt buy the car. That was a symptom of the lack of day to day usability of the car. The 69 had more upright seating and sold 4 times that of the 4th gen with "laid back seating"


Shelby is such a flop due to dealer markup by that can be acheived by the Dealer due to demand? You dont think there isnt going to be markup for Camaro?

 

whats this with the shelby??? i haven heard any of that. its got more power than they said it would have, i believe hot rod just tested a preproduction model and said its one of the best performing mustangs ever. how is that watered down from the concept??? to me it seems like its better than the concept, unless i missed something, let me know if i did. ok there the price, even without the inevitable dealer mark up i believe there saying around 42. how much was an 03 cobra new??? i think it was around 40 also, new. not really sure about that but it was expensive.

 

Exaclty