Given what we know about GM, who can honestly, and I do mean HONESTLY, say that the Camaro is coming back? There has been no solid info from GM yet. That means one of two things, one being that there really is no Camaro program.

When GM finally got the Impala SS right in 1996, it was the last year. Look at the Monte Carlo SS back in 1988 and compare it to the Monte Carlo SS of 2002 - would you pay full price for one? To date there are no RWD Buicks let alone a Grand National. Oldsmobile is just about dead and buried. Pontiac will not have a RWD car until the GTO comes out and GM had to go to Australia to get it. Sure, the "excitement division" will be placing V8's in its GXP cars, but those cars will still be FWD with transverse-mounted engines. Cadillac to date only has one RWD car in its lineup of cars.

So what does the General offer us instead? More trucks, more SUVs, and hopped-up Sunfires, Cavaliers, and Saturns. Oh, Joy - not! As far as I am concerned they can take that Chevy SSR and all those other "SS" trucks and SUVs and shove them straight up their you-know-whats. Same thing for their ricer wannabes.

Hey GM - you honestly think I am going to settle for one of these instead of buying a Camaro? I will tell you what I am going to do. When I need trasportation I will buy a USED car or truck. Don't you think for a second that I am going to buy brand new and waste money on vehicles that I don't "gotta have". Sure, I will buy a brand new Corvette someday and maybe a new GTO, but that is all you can hope for from me. Any of those FWD cars you produce will be purchased as used if I buy one.

GM, if you are listening then hear this - I like the way the all new Mustang is going to look! I would love to have a Mercury Marauder! The Lincoln LS is a nicer looking car than the CTS!

 

And then you have to realize that you are in the vast minorty of car buyers. Most people today want the "saftey" of FWD, or they want a SUV or a Truck, not a high HP RWD 2-seat sports car. Why would GM keep building something that there clearly was not a demand for?

 

Oh common dude, that’s crap! I’m not flaming you, but GM is making steps in the right direction. Its been said many times, GM is a huge company much like a huge ship and it takes a while to turn it. They are headed in the right direction we just cant tell yet. I have faith in GM that they will have a lot of performance in their future. Give Lutz some more time. Just wait till Jan, and the Detroit auto show.......

 

You know, no matter how much I want to bash GM and curse them to hell, I WILL WAIT til January and the precious North American car show and if they don't show us anything, then that's it. Forget GM forever.

 

GM doesn't think you're going to buy a supercharged Ion over a Camaro, just like you aren't likely to buy an SVT Focus over a Mustang. It's called different target markets.

Quote:

GM, if you are listening then hear this - I like the way the all new Mustang is going to look! I would love to have a Mercury Marauder! The Lincoln LS is a nicer looking car than the CTS!

What can I say, go buy one of those cars....it's a shame that GM may potentially lose you as a customer but who knows what is going to happen 3, 4, 5 years from now. Will you be ranting on Stangnet about how GM is putting out all the stuff you want then?

 

Look, it was a rant and I was not trying to "bash" GM, but rather trying to illustrate my point with references to the fates of past production models.

The last paragraph was not there to say that I would for certain purchase a Mustang, Marauder, or Lincoln LS. After all, I am a GM guy. What I want to illustrate is that there is a market for cars like these, so GM should be in these markets. GM WAS in the market of Mustang with Camaro and GM WAS in the market of Marauder with the 1994-1996 Impala SS. The Cadillac CTS is definitely in the right direction! I am willing to wait for GM RWD performance sedans and 2+2's. The problem is that there is not a lot of info for us to bite onto and to get customers hooked. And on top of that they showcase performance SUVs, Pickups, and compact cars.

I want to buy a new GM car - the thing is that there is only one car they make that appeals to me now (a "gotta have" car). I am not willing to spend a lot of money on a new car that I am settling for when I can buy the same one used and save some of that money.

Oh, well - I guess I am just as frustrated as the next guy. I guess I also have to keep in mind that Lutz has only been at the job for just over a year now and that it will take a lot more time to turn GM around completely.

 

Big ship, slow to turn? The 3rd gen Camaro came out right after the 2nd gen quit production. Totaly different car. The Vette only took one year off in 83 to compleatly change the car into the 4th gen. Killing the Camaro has been in the works for along time coming. I still say that if Ford had anything like the Vette there would be no Mustang. If there was or is to be a next Camaro what does Chevy have to gain by keeping it secret. Lutz and Moss are tease artists who could care less what you or I want. Just my educated opinion.

 

First of all, the 'big ship slow to turn' analogy was being applied to GM as a whole, not just the Camaro. The Camaro's fate was sealed back around 1997-98 by Zarella, who decided not to start a 5th Gen F-body project. The transition from 2nd Gen to 3rd was smooth because development began years before the car debuted in 1982.

Jon Moss has absolutely NO power in deciding what gets built. In fact, the only significant projects of his that I can think of that actually made it were the 94-96 Impala SS and the XTreme line of trucks. Even then, both vehicles had big blocks in concept form....