km9v

Chevelle would be better.

guionM

Yep even the Lumina...especially since its been gone for just over 15 years.

Right now you may think of this when you hear Lumina:



But I'm pretty sure it's only take a year or so to change your mind's thought to this:

99SilverSS

I'd agree except for the Taurus. I don't think anyone was jumping up and down when Ford switched the nameplate on the 500 to Taurus. Although the new Taurus looks good it's rebadged 500 return was a snoozer.

Chevelle would be great but GM has to be careful as I see it a lot like the GTO's return in 2004. If it doesn't fit with peoples fond expectations then it'll draw more bad press than good. And it must be a 2 door.
Bel Air I'd think also falls into this category. Powerful nameplate with a storied history that consumers won't accept reincarnated as a cookie cutter looking sedan.

How about the return of the Citation or Celebrity.....? Equally as weak of a nameplate as Lumina or Caprice.

Nova, could be good if done right. Anything would be better than the rebadged Toyota Sprinter in the mid 80's.

guionM

Really?



Actually, it's Impala that fell down the food chain, not Caprice.

Belair was the top Chevy. Then Impala came along in the late 50s. Caprice came along in the late 60s, and it became the Caprice Classic in the 70s. Each previous nameplate was pushed down as the new nameplate came along. Belair was push off the cliff in '77. Impala in the late 90s.

My Dad bought a new downsized Caprice Classic coupe in '77. He traded his '70 Impala on it. He traded in a '62 Impala to get the '70 model. Prior to that, he had a Belair.

No chance of it being made here. The big thing that killed North America's Zeta is the cost of setting up the supply network in the volume to support the new platform (GM had already invested money in upgrading Oshawa in preparation for Zeta). The Statesman's already assembled in Australia, Korea, and China.

All this said (and I could be wrong) but I still suspect it's the Commodore not the Statesman that's coming over for retail sales.

graham

How come a certain car couldnt sell itself enough to stay alive, despite its heritage?? Name wise it had all of the weight in the world. 36 year heritage. Big name in racing. Known for being fast. And this car DIED.

Then it came back in 2010 (model year) with the same NAME IT DIED WITH and leads its competitors to the wood shed for their beating almost all months...

Same exact name.

But now it's at the top of the pile.

Same name...

Answer: Product!!!

crYnOid

What about a CKD kit? All the panels and some other bits could be made in australia and shipped to Oshawa who are Zeta ready. VF Commy is supposed to be 'layer build' which is what you guys use I believe. Wouldn't be major volume but I think that is the point.

jg95z28

Unless NASCAR has recently changed their rules, I believe there still is a requirement that the "production" model that the Sprint Car entry represents, must be manufactured in North America. That is unless they relax this requirement for manufacturers who are based here.

guionM

In 2004, rules were changed to allow foreign car makers to participate in NASCAR. That's how Toyota got in. Chrysler was owned by German based DaimlerChrysler, which was never an issue.

General Motors is partially owned by the Chineese government (they own 16% of GM...bet you guys didn't know that little tidbit, huh? ).

As far as US car makers who manufacture vehicles in other countries, there is no restrictions whatsoever on this.

Consider that both the Monte Carlo and Impala were both made in Canada, but had long careers in NASCAR. Chargers are also made in Canada.

Dodge trucks are made in Mexico....so were Fusions. Both also run in NASCAR.

The Caprice is on sale (although "kinda" restricted to law enforcement, military, and security companies) and currently is completely and fully legal by NASCAR rules to participate even though sales are restricted (one can still potentially buy a "surplus" model at your Chevrolet dealer if an agency backs out and forfeits the car).

Like I said in my 1st post, if it isn't Impala or Malibu, there's one car and one car only that Chevrolet has that will be available to run NASCAR next year...and (although it could even be either Caprice or Commodore) it's made by Holden.

And...um....besides..... GM already has a camoflaged car running around.

Although labor is now cheaper here, I don't think that'd be an option in this case. Lower investment in simply importing it from Australia. I think if GM was going to do something like that, they'd have done it with the G8.

The Sonic is being made here, but it's not simply stampings being shipped from Korea.

The Caprice "kits" being shipped to Korea is to satisfy manufacturing requirements and to avoid tarriffs. China also requires vehicles to be made there, so I think it's actually entire vehicles being made there.

Cadillac's flagship car seems planned around the Zeta, and I'd imagine that being made here.

jg95z28

My understanding was that it was also because the Tundra (and later Camry) represented a vehicle that was manufactured and sold in North America. In every other case you mention, the vehicles represented were all manufactured in North America (Canada and Mexico are still in North America). Foreign ownership wasn't part of my point.

If this isn't the case, then I digress. However I have yet to find anything (online) that indicates this is no longer the rule.

guionM

Been punching in just about every whay it could be worded, and the only thing that's come up is manufacturer origin and that the car be sold here. Maybe someone else can clarify more.

graham

Here's one thing to consider about NASCAR rules. It's not so much a "rule" anymore as it is a presentation (approval).

Remember last year when the Joe Gibbs Toyotas showed up at Daytona with a creative oil pan design? NASCAR confiscated the oil pans and said they could use them. The deal was that they hadn't been pre-approved for use.

See, it's not an issue of fitting a rule. It's an issue of presenting the part for approval by NASCAR.

NASCAR doesn't say "max valve size X.XX" Instead they have to have the part presented to them for pre-approval.

Unlike the old days it's not an issue of "must be mass production" ect, but instead must be an approved model name.

Same thing will all parts. Got a creative brake rotor design? That's fine but you have to send it to the NASCAR institute in NC before showing up at a race track with that rotor.

Generally speaking if a race part is new and innovative they let the trucks use it and see if it's worth having then funnel it up to Cup.

USHotRod

I would love to see them go back to the old days style rules and make the cars more manafactuer based than just a body with completely different internals. I can understand it somewhat with the performance car lull we had through the 80s and 90s. But with performance sedans coming out with 400+ horsepower, I dont see why they couldn't restrict the rules back down a bit.

At least they gave the manafactuers more input into the car body design.

graham

Why? So 1 guy can go out and win almost all of the races like Petty?

So only 5 cars are on the lead lap at the end of the race?

So only 3 or 4 cars are competitive each race?

Old school racing was terrible. Face it. Watch the film. Only a handful or less competitive cars, sometimes the winner could lap the field, all strung out with no side by side racing, ect..

USHotRod

Kinda seems that way now to be honest. Its the same names all the time. The guys with big money on big teams.

Just my impressions.

graham

Gotcha