Will the next gen Camaro have to outsell the Mustang to be a success?

With the rumors flying around that the next gen will be built on a very capable shared chassis, it got me wondering what sales numbers will equal success.

The 4th gens were unargueably an un-apologetic performance car. Personally I loved that quality. There's nothing like razzing my friend who drives a Mustang that driving a Mustang was like riding a bike with training wheels.

But the 'Stang outsold the Camaro largely on the fact that it was more comfortable for everyday use. So, does the next gen need to sacrifice it's 'best bang for buck' performance capabilities completely for sales numbers? I'm thinking that pehaps there could/should be more differentation between the V6 and V8 models, including ride height and seating position.

If the Mustang still outsells he Camaro, is that OK? It would be to me as long as the Camaro outperforms it on the street and track.

 

The thing with Mustang is...Ford has established a hierarchy and a lineup to fit the mustang into most everyone's budget and lifestyle (assuming one is in the market for a coupe).

In base trim they come well equipped, and they also offer drivability suited for the masses. They also offer docile v6 versions for those who want the mustang image without the performance, and they offer various performance models ranging from a value-oriented GT to a high-end all out performance Cobra R's. There’ll be 9 variants of the mustang (from factory) in the next couple of years, and that’s not including the Saleens, Steedas, Roushs, and the like. The overall mustang lineup is very flexible when it comes to budget and performance… Something Camaro will need to do if they want to have the same mass appeal.

If GM can aggressively market the 5th gen and make it a priority as Ford has done with mustang, while making it attractive/appealing to the general public as well; I don’t see why it wouldn’t sell 100,000+ a year.

Btw: Appealing to the general public doesn’t have to equal pussified or watered down. The v6 car will be the value leader, thus it needs to be more of a peoples car...much more so than the previous gens. GM needs to concentrate on making the v6 much more appealing since this is the model that is expected to carry the sales load. If it fails to sell in good numbers, the whole lineup has failed.

 

THe GTO will be a sucess at 18,000 units, Solstice at 30,000. GM has a lot of cars/trucks that sell at volumes under 100,000 and are still sucessful

 

RiceEating5.0 put it very well. Mustang covers a wide range of buyers, has a outstanding aftermarket and factory performance & dressup parts support, some type of special edition always available the past few years, and alot of comitment within. It's also more than a one trick pony (excuse the pun).

If the Camaro guys follow the same course that they did with the 4th gen, then the Camaro is most definately going to flop as soon as the high performance guys get theirs. That's the sad part about this, as a group, it seems alot of people here still don't get it even though the addition of the LS1 in '98 and more horsepower in 2001 did zip.

Camaro needs to be user friendly 1st and foremost. Noone is going to put up with a car that isn't easy to live with. Camaro also needs styling updates regularly. If it's not going to have frequent styling updates, it's going to need special editions that involve more than just stripes or a paint color.

Camaro also is going to have to offer a decent base model. A base 4th gen had all the interior charm of a Hyundai Excel. Excel buyers are looking for an applience. Cavalier was an applience. If you are going to buy a Camaro, you want it to be something above your base sedan.... and I'm not talking about just the powertrain.

I personally want Camaro to compete with Mustang on the sales charts as much as the track. At the same time, I'm a more spit & fire type of person than alot of the whusses here who want to simply whimp out on actually competing with the Mustang on all fronts. These are the people who want nothing more than a car that outruns Mustangs, and when it actually comes to selling the car & ensuring it's future, want to go crawl into a corner and curl up in a fetal position till the car's cancelled again. Then you'll see them come out with a vengence whining about how GM let them down. Grrrrrrrr.......

There's no reason that the next Camaro can't be a success. Find out what sells Mustangs, and do it better. Stop being stingy with the things aftermarketers need to make performance parts & offer a wide range of factory goodies to add on. Back the car up with quality, divisional and corperate commitment, and an attitude that we're not going to roll over or be a single purpose car, and Camaro will be able to slug it out with Mustang like it did in the late 70s & 80s.

Oh yea..... and make a performance version that's quicker than Mustang's.

 

optional AWD for the sixers