First let me start by saying I think that GM High Tech Performance is one of the best mags for our beloved F-Bods.
Anyway on page 8 (January 03 issue) it says "Officially, GM has no Camaro project.Unofficially, we hear from sources all over that our Camaro is nearing completion."
The article was written by Mr. Johnny Hunkins.
To this end may I ask, what else have you heard???!!!
Also I still don't know how I feel about this Mark Reuss guy.
Another interseting quote from page 9 comes from none other than the F-Body Father himself, Scott Settlemire.
The quote is as follows..."Chevrolet Product Manager Scott Settlemire was quoted at the Camaro 35th anniversary event in Huntington Beach Ca, as saying that THE NEXT CAMARO WOULD BE TRUE TO IT'S MUSCULAR V8, REAR DRIVE DNA."
This is all very positive news!!
What do you guy's think?!

 

Recently, there has been a lot of speculation as to what the next camaro will look like (as it does appear it will return) and also..; just as important, is when? Does GM try for the 2007 model year for the 40th aniv? I've more heard lines of 2009... either way, it'll probably be bastardized to extent, but if you think about it, what will emissions and fuels be like in even 5years? This thing may not be a traditional small block v8 in any sense... But if they remake it, they will, as usual, make it inferior to the corvette, and hopefully the corvette will be to "supercar" status by then so we can have some fun

 

I think this is good news indeed. My opinion for the longest time was that there was nothing happening officially because GM did not want to release any official information, and that I think has to do with CAW. Politics, basically, that's all.

Also, while I suspected that Camaro/Firebird were being developed/worked on, I did not think that they were nearing completion. If this is the case, it will truly be awesome, but what would make it even more awesome is if after the completion it would start making its way into production program.

In this HP/RWD era, I wouldn't suspect GM making anything other than V8, RWD Camaro/Firebird.

With Ford releasing BOSS engine and having plenty fast Mustangs (Cobra, MachI...) I am wondering what quarter mile times of the 5th gen will be like, should it make to production. Would high 12's be an appropriate expectation?

 

I have a lot of faith in Scott, and I think he is doing EVERYTHING in his power to push this along.

Maybe Johnny will be kind enough to elaborate, if he can...

Johnny... the floor is yours!

 

Why do people think that the Corvette is keeping back the Camaro performance wise? If that were the case, the F-body would have never made it this far.

Corvette does not need to be elevated to a supercar. It needs to continue to offer supercar performance for a fraction of the price. That is what being America's sports car is about.

 

Not to dampen anyone's spirits, but I recall reading somewhere else on the net that Scott retracted that satement within a week of saying it... claiming partially that it was taken out of context and what he really meant was "if" a next gen Camaro is developed.

 

Oh, he has to retract statements like that. You know he not suppose to talk about future products.
However about them nearing completion, I’m not so sure about that. Lets look at the facts. For them to be nearing completion wouldn’t we have heard about test parts being built? I mean they cant be doing this all in house could they? Ok I’m not saying GM couldn’t have started computer designing a few years back and that could be nearing completion on that. But they have to build parts with outside contractors and that’s when stuff leaks out. Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Maybe they are designing the 5th Gen next to the C6 all in-house. However the C6 is in almost total secret and we still have heard some details that have leaked out. I don’t know, but I still think the Camaro is still a few years out. I’m still looking at late 2006 or 2007. This still seems like good news, better than nothing. The only thing I have to say about GM High Tech Performance is WHERE THE HELL IS MY MAGAZINE, I ordered my subscription over two months ago!

I also totally agree with you muckz.

 

I think what they mean by "almost completed" is that the design and hardware choices are near completion, but as far as almost being ready to build one, that's a negative.

 

Let's suppose Camaro's styling & layout is locked in this winter (January). January marks the technical start of the 2004 model year. Mustang's styling was locked in the summer of last year, & will be out 18 months from now. That's 2 1/2 years, which is by industry standards, about average.

Using that same yardstick, if Camaro's design & hardpoints are locked in this winter, and no other delays come up, that still brings Camaro back as a 2006 model sometime in 2005, or a 2007 model a year later.... just as many people here & others I talked to estimated.

If nothing else, seems everything's on schedule.

 

sweet..... so this would be all the in-house work right? The styling and layout? So if the technical starts at the beginning of 2003 would the details I talked about start leaking out possibly by next summer?
I remember PacerX talking about contracted part builders and what kind of orders they get. If a certain company get so many thousand "z28" emblem orders from gm to build out of a brand new mold and a worker gets on here and tell us all about that, that when I'm ganna get excited.
Hell, I'm excited right now, this is the best news I've heard in a while.

 

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is this:
Once the design is chosen & the hard points (the specific dimensions of every structural point) are frozen, then the development portion begins. That's when we begin to see engineering mules (ie: the Cor-aros, The C5 mule that had a C5 structure under an F4 body), and as things progress, prototypes sporting more of the actual car's structure and eventually body.

It's during the development process that suppliers get involved. One example of what suppliers do is the instrament panel on all post 96 Camaros. Those are assembled whole by an outside supplier & shipped to the factory & installed.

The supplier has to take the component they are to produce(could be anything from the dash to a whole suspension assembly), figure out the best way to make it via the car maker's specifications, order the materials, set up his own assembly process, evaluate their own samples as well as having it evaluated by the automaker, have those components installed in prototypes, and finally, make changes & alterations as needed by specficication changes or quality or price concerns. Alot of this is done in an enviroment as secret as inside the automakers themselves (how much business would a supplier get if they quickly published every project they got?).

As development moves along, word does get out, and even some CD-ROM blueprints (computer animation views of the underhood of the Thunderbird were out in industry magazines way before the 1st production prototype was photographed). Naturally, as more people get involved in production, more word is going to leak out. There is currently a sudden flood of Mustang information, as it's suppliers are moving from development to production.

However, by the time suppliers get orders for "z28 emblems" we all will probally already have detailed pictures of the actual car, so that wouldn't do us much good.

 

Ok I understand now, BTW guionM how do u know everything?

 

Good news I suppose...but also old news.

I'll tell you what would make me feel better.

Some hint, some shread of "OFFICIAL" news from GM.

I don't need any details, (we can probably figure those out ourselves ), just something official from GM telling us something is in the pipeline and worth the wait.

 

I read way too much for my own good.

.....That plus I know someone who is works for a supplier for all 3 US car companies.

 

We should all know by now the car is coming back sometime.