Yes.

 

I feel better now

 

I remember when he was talking about the 5th gen being a 'niche' vehicle, before he started talking about how it has to follow in Mustangs footsteps again and "Appeal to the masses" and now its a "niche" car again! Holy crap things really DO change everyday at GM!

 

A niche vehicle? That's very interesting?.....

This is of particular interest to me since niche vehicles usually are more focused, purpose driven designs with out the mass market compromises.

Also, could this mean we could be getting one niche model, Z28 or SS, or an entire 'niche line up", with V6s and V8s?

And...is 'niche line up" an oxymoron?

 

This is all well and good...but now the prospect of Camaro being reduced to niche car status rubs me the wrong way. It was stated that when Camaro came back it would be the true Mustang fighter again....which meant volume...if Chevy can't market and sell a volume Camaro then I'm afraid it's an admission that Ford Mustang won the war. That's hard to accept.

 

This is a selfesh statement: I want a niche Camaro.

This way I will get the car that I want without much compromise. The 4th gen had 90% of what I want in a Camaro (for its time). The problem was that GM could not make the 4th gen profitable considering it was way more focused and purpose built than the Mustang. The only way the people on sites like this will get the Camaro they want is to be a niche car. Like the Solstice, Purpose built and slighty profitable. When the SSR is gone Chevy will have room for another toy car. Why not make it Camaro and Give the masses the "Chevelle" or GTO clone. Maybe Chevy is listening to us and thats why the turn around on the upcomeing Chevy coupe. Now just give it a new name. It will sell better that way!

 

hmm. A war has many fronts. If the next Camaro/Mustang battle followed the last gen scenario, Camaro outperforming the Mustang but being outsold, would that mean the Camaro lost the war?

Plus, if it's on a platform GM can afford, won't loose money one, then being outsold isn't a losing situation.

I guess it's what you want to benchmark. I prefer to win the performance war and having the feeling that Camaro guys are the true(er) performance enthusiasts.

 

guion's comments are quite interesting, and ideally should all of what he said be the case, then come 2007-2008 my visit to a Chevy dealer might pay off big time. 2 V8 coupes? Now we're talking...

As I have preached on here too many times before, there is nothing I love more than an American COUPE. MC buyers are not Camaro buyers though, and vice versa. I would love a new Monte SS as a daily driver if I could afford one right now (I can't), and yearn for a Camaro. Most of the time, these are mutually exclusive markets. People who buy Montes don't buy Camaros, just as I never sold a Firebird to a Grand Prix owner either.

The reason guion people are NOT looking at the bigger picture here is because the bigger picture you project is EXACTLY what we were told we could not get. To paraphrase, in a declining coupe market, there was not a business case for 2 Chevy coupes. Now, if this has changed, then God bless GM...Chevrolet may end up being the only car line I can love again, after all.

To have a GTO-type coupe and a Camaro would be a dream come true. Here's to hoping the other car is called Monte Carlo

 

Ok wait a sec, if the other coupe gets the LS2, nothing was mentioned about the Camaro. Does the Camaro get shafter? Does the Camaro get the LS2 also? Who cares, I've got the best feeling I've had all week, knowing we'll see a 5th gen.

EDIT: Ya know, now that we know it's back... speculation begins, sorry.

THANKS AGAIN GUY

 

Why can't Camaro sell 100,000+ copies per year and have a performance edge? I think it's unfair to handcuff the next Camaro by saying "it can be this but only if it isn't that". I'm not saying Chevy has to outsell Mustang to be successful, just that it should be competitive on all fronts, like it had been for the better part of 35 years. That includes availability. Let's not forget Camaro history in all this and why it was introduced in the fall of '66 to begin with.

Chevy already has niche vehicles covered with Corvette (somewhat niche) and SSR....

 

The Mustang has won the war.

On the subject of niche... 5th gen FBody has to be niche to satisfy performance enthusiasts such as ourselves. Most of us are not fond of *coupe* styling, ala Mustang, and many want something sportier looking, ala 4-seat Corvette.

It appears to me that GM can satisfy both popular demand and performance demand. Popular demand for V8 RWD coupe will be served by this "Chevelle", and the performance demand will be served by the Camaro. This eliminates the difficulty of trying to fuse two things into one.

 

the mustang hasn't won anything. 02 Camaros can still take 03-05 Mustangs.

 

I thought the "hiatus" confirmed that.

But even as a niche car, the Camaro will get the best of the Mustang in performance (I have faith) and the magazine / internet world will once again recognize the real victor.

 

Why haven't they realized the real victor already? Wow these '05 stangs have 300 WHOLE HP!!! NO WAY! My basically stock LS1 from 5 years ago will outrun one of these.

 

I agree, but unfortunately sales for those underpowered mustangs have always been high. The majority of buyers don't seem to care.