I am trying to see what everyone knows about this car. I know it is built on the VE chassis Holden is working and and is pretty far along. It will also pretty much be built along side the 2006 Grand Prix in the states..which is pretty well along. I was told 6 months ago that Bob Kraut (GP, GTO, ect Brand Manager) had his hands full with the new GP...I asked if they ment the 04 and my source said no...the 06 RWD one which has been in development a year. That tells me the GTO will be made at a bit higher volume in 06. also. I know retro styling is out since Lutz won't allow it...so anyone else have more to add?

 

is this modle year 2006 or calander year 2006? Now that there is a volume RWD platform in the works there should be no reason not to have a new Camaro by 2006. I think the Camaro should get priority over the Grand Prix. Since is new for 04 I think they should be able to wait until 07 when RWD platform porduction is in full swing.

 

Camaro is not approved by Chevrolet...Pontiac approved a RWD GP at least a year and a half ago. Pontiac is willing to spend teh development dollars

 

Correction.

Pontiac and Chevrolet don't approve cars. They are the ones who initiate the car in the 1st place! Vehicles are approved by the General Motors Product Planning Board. Chevrolet & Pontiac are just marketing entities.

They present cars to the planning board as an entire presentation after clearing the head of Product Development, in this case Bob Lutz.

Before it even gets to Bob Lutz, alot of work is done by the marketing department and GM design studios.

Each step of the way a car clears a hurdle. Chevrolet & Pontiac want a car. They get marketing to evaluate the need/benefits of having that car. Then GM design studio gets involved. At the same time, there are people who create the business case. This DOES NOT mean they look around & see who'll buy it. It means they work on the details such as parts procurement, manufacturing means, and a whole laundry list of non-automotive areas.

Camaro has been approved, desired, pushed, begged, and groveled for some time. As I said a long time ago, Kirt Ritter (Chevy's former General Manager) was the best friend Camaro had. The hold up has been in Product Development, who in the last year and a half has been Bob Lutz.

Before anyone starts sending Mr. Lutz any nastigrams, there are 3 things you must remember 1st:

1) Bob Lutz has a budget he can't exceed. As a GM executive, his 1st job is to make sure GM makes money. GM is a business 1st & foremost.

2) Bob Lutz is responsible for GM's ENTIRE line of vehicles. That means the money making vehicles and the volume cars get first crack at the resources. Cars that build showroom traffic are also big with Mr Lutz, but Chevrolet already has Corvette, and as you see, it has no problem being financed. Not the thing you want to hear on a Camaro site, but it does make absolute business sense.

3) The final thing to remember before you start blaming Bob Lutz, is that as soon as he got to GM, Bob Lutz INITIATED preliminary design work on the 5th gen Camaro. So it's not like he's holding Camaro back out of spite. Like it or not, he's doing his job. Evidently very well.

As for the 2006 GTO, I'm nosing around on that now as part of a bigger project, so stay tuned.

 

The GTO is essentially a re-badged Holden Monaro, and the current Monaro is based on the Commodore. The next generation VE Commodore is due around 2006 and most likeyl will be followed by the VE Monaro (2006 GTO). I've been gathering info on the VE Commodore, some on which may have relevance to the next Monaro/GTO as well.

VE Commodore info here:
http://hrt433.tripod.com/ve/venews.htm