I'm not sure what you're talking about. If it looks like a Saturn that's definitely a coincidence since it is based on the 4th gen, C6, and an Aston Martin.

 

I know it's weird, but those lines down the sides are almost EXACTLY like the saturn...

 

Since some people wanted to see my design without the lines all over it, I went ahead and removed them just to show. Personally I like the lines there since this contest is a hand drawn contest, not a "make it look lifelike" or "photochop" one. I made this image a little small so you couldn't see a lot of my mistakes that the lines hid. And before anyone says it, yes, the lower door on the front 3/4 is much too dark, I wasn't able to fix that easily from my original drawing. I'd have to completely repaint it in psp to get rid of that and don't want to.
no lines down the sides muchless anywhere else really

 

Now, that my friend, is HOT AS HELL! You've converted me. I love it. That is freakin sweet!

It's got personality, it does look kinda skinny, but it also looks like it's about to whip your ***...

 

"The NEW 2007 Chevy Camaro..........yea, it's about to whip your ***!!"

Love it!...

 

I just edited my original post and added all the pics I currently have scattered in this topic. I also added an explanation I am going to post in this reply also. I'd say it is half defense for my design and half lessons in continuity for other people who like to design things. I don't have a degree in design or anything, but if you're willing or wanting to learn something about design, then read on.

Why does the car look similar to the 2005 Corvette or 4th gen Camaro?

Well, when you design a car that already has a name and past, you want to make the car have brand identity. You try to make it look similar enough to the previous versions of it and what the company currently makes so the car has this brand identity. That's why this car looks close to nothing like a 1st gen Camaro. The fourth gen looked very little like a 3rd gen which may be why it failed. There is a gigantic fanbase devoted to the 4th gen, but the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gen fans had very little to grasp in the 4th gen since the proportions were changed so much. My design has a combination of 3rd and 4th gen proportions with the addition of several Corvette items such as the Corvette wheelbase.

People who design their 5th gen Camaros and base them on the 1st gen don't follow the rules of successful car design. I think there is a quote that fits this, "Never get off a winner and never get on a loser." There is very very very little that the 2002 Camaro shares in appearance with a '67 Camaro. When you design the 5th gen based on the 1st gen, you alienate the people who love the 4th gens who are in reality, at least 60 to 70% of your target market and who would probably purchase a 5th gen Camaro. You may gain 1st gen fans, but you have just basically pissed off your entire fanbase that loved the 4th gens. When you design like this, you are only setting yourself up for failure, just look at several past cars like the Mercury Cougar, Dodge Charger, Ford T-bird and etc. They all failed (some failed several times) because they didn't remember their past. I'm not a big pre-90's car fan, but I'll try to go into more detail with at least the Cougar.

The Cougar started out in the late 60's or early 70's as this badass muscle car with one of the best sounding engines of them all. As time progressed into the 1980s it turned into this ugly 2 door sedan that looked like it was only fit for grannies. Once it hit the 1990's it was turned into what looked like a pretty awesome Mitsubishi Eclispe style car but the engine was crap and so was the handling so the entire car was a fraud. Sort of like a big muscle man who can only bench 50 pounds. It was a failure because, as far as I know, the only thing those generations of Cougar have in common is maybe the logo on the front and the name. Just look at the success of the Corvette. The Corvettes practically morph into each other (let's ignore the early 1st gens) and that is the root of their success.

Anyway you need to be able to tell it is a Chevy, and you need to be able to tell it is a Camaro without having to read a logo. In another aspect, you are limited in what u can do with 4 wheels and a body, so you design based on what you think is successful and also contemporary with modern styling. The 2005 Corvette is a success, so why not capture some of that attention with some design features like my design. Now I not only have Camaro and Firebird fans looking at the design and liking what they see, but I also have a percent of the Corvette market saying "You know, this car looks a little like the Corvette I want, but it has 2 more seats. Maybe the wife would let me buy one since it is more practical."

However, it is essential that you include enough heritage from past models or people won't be able to identify with the car. Meaning they might not buy it because it doesn't fit their tastes. If it doesn't look similar to the Camaros in the past, then you may lose a person's interest that you had in the beginning. That is why my design has a lot of 4th gen influence. Personally, I'm not ready for the Camaro to not have a snake-like front end. I want it looking fierce, not flat. That is my biggest issue with the 5th gen GM may be making; I don't think I could bring myself to buy one if it did not have the front end I love so much, that stares at me when I go into the garage, and that I identify so much with my personal essence of Camaro. You may be laughing at this, but if a car doesn't trigger an emotional response then who the heck is going to buy it? If GM's 5th gen is completely different up front, I'd probably end up chasing a C6 or Jaguar XK8 instead of Camaro just to try to get that nice feeling from looking at that sleek front end. I don't have such an attachment with the rear end of the 4th gen, and not many other people do either. Do a google search for Camaro and see how many people take a pic of the back of their 4th gen (who haven't just changed the exhaust). Now compare it with the 2nd gens and partially the 3rd gens. There is an obvious emotional attachment for the rear of the 2nd and 3rd gens so I tried to capture some of that in my design.

I barely have any attachment at all for the interior, I just want it to look modern and cool, not old and "it's been done before and a hundred times over." I want paddle shifters like friggin hell in the next Camaro. I'm of the Playstation generation, as I may have already said in this topic, and I would love to have them. Clutches and stick shifters should definitely be standard for the old school crowd, but for those of us wanting a little Ferrari life in our Camaros, paddle shifters should be available. Downshift on the left, upshift on the right, that's the only way to do it, there are some crappy steering wheel shifters on current non-Ferrari cars I've heard about. Apparently they have thumb shifters (like mine also has) with arrows on them; press up on the button for upshift, press down for downshift (I hate that). There is nothing Playstation about that; and I'd also imagine you'd need to look down at the wheel to shift, and that's impossible if you were racing. The paddles need to be on the steering column and need to be at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions. Besides that, the car just really needs 4 bucket seats, some nice optional equipment like GPS, and some innovative style.

Okay, that is the end of my rant/explanation .

EDIT: there is one more thing I'd like to add.

All of you have probably noticed that there is a certain force that prevents many of you from buying a car other than Camaro. That force certainly works against me as well. No matter how much you like some other car such as an RX-8, 350Z, Viper, Corvette, etc. there is a force that prevents many of us, who consider ourselves hardcore Camaro fans, from buying one of these other cars we like. It is sort of a feeling of regret, emptiness, or feeling of love even. Some of us may consider our cars as part of our family; you know who you are. If you have a good job and can afford a new car (unlike me) every 3 or 4 years and you still have that old '85 Camaro that won't start sitting in your garage, you definitely know what I am talking about. If you're single, you probably have this force more than anybody else here. If you don't have a spouse or kid telling you to buy an SUV or something, then you probably wouldn't even consider it. Many many people are like this who have sports cars. In order for the 5th gen to be a complete success, it has to be able to overcome this force that prevents John Doe from selling his '85 Camaro that won't even start. The only way GM can do this is by letting John Doe know that GM cares and wants to help him get into a new Camaro. They need to do this with the design of the car, the colors of the car (by getting away from just using all the damn dark, dull metallics the late 4th gens were plagued with), and the feeling or experience of the car. If you had a Hugger orange and black striped 1st gen, you should be able to order a 5th gen in orange with black stripes. I'm not talking fully customizable paint and interior schemes, I'm talking about heritage again. In my opinion, the 5th gen Z28s need to have an optional black roof/door handles/side mirrors/ and 'eye shadow'. Hell, the recognition alone that I desire that 4th gen Z28 paint scheme on the 5th gen could be enough to make me buy one, yes, even if it has a flat nose.

Alright, rant over, done now.

 

I like it, just get GM to move off their rear end and build it.
Marty

 

Honestly, I like it twice as much without the lines on the sides. Great looking car!

 

Oh, they're workin...trust me

 

Very nice looking man! Now if they'd just build one already.

 

 

This is the final image, the one I am submitting for the contest. I fixed the shading on the side of the front 3/4, modified a few things on the rear 3/4, and removed the red lettering off the interior (I was an idiot and merged that layer with the background when I made it so I had trouble removing the red). The side view was unfortunately not required nor optional for the contest, so it isn't included. I left the lines on the drawings since it is in a handdrawn contest. I thought it would be bad to remove everything that classifies it as handdrawn .
final picture

 

Just thought I'd bump this topic since it slipped into no-man's-land.

 

Glad you did bump it. I really do like that! Yes it has 4th gen cues.. also has some very subtle 1st gen cues. The side profile looks great and the interior is very modern looking too.

So how come this looks 1000 x better than any of the concepts and real vehicles GM has been able to put out in the last couple of years (e.g. that crappy-a$$ SS concept)? Heck this looks better than the C6 Z06 IMO!

 

Haha thanks for the compliment.

It's probably because I spent more time thinking about continuity of the Camaro name (image) and how consumers would respond instead of concerning myself with current trends in the market. At least, that's what I think I did that others may not be doing.

I just said "screw the retro Mustang, the Camaro doesn't need to follow in its footsteps this time." (referring to the 1st gen). The Mustang was able to go retro and be continuous because you can see a new one from a far and misidentify it as the previous model (that's a pretty good thing for a new version of a car), but the Camaro can't successfully do that (in my opinion) because it is so separated from its past.

I also didn't want to directly follow in the "make it look like the new cadillacs, mustang, charger, etc" trend in 5th gen concepts since I don't like those designs. Remember everybody, just because everyone else is trying to define fashion trends, that doesn't mean you can't define your own .