The whole idea of 2 potential V8 coupes for Chevy come 2007, as well as the "promise" of a Camaro for its 40th birthday (sourced from guion's recent post) has me very excited about what is to come from Chevy. It got me thinking about GM as a whole, and while its obvious the car scene for GM is better now than a year or two ago (although no one here will argue it could have been any worse), looking ahead gives a great deal of excitement...to me at least.

Chevy:
-Cobalt is going to be a home run once it hits the street, and I believe the SS will do for Chevy what the SRT-4 did for Dodge...give it serious street credit. Chevy needs this, bad. SRT-4 may be faster (I have driven an '04...believe me, this thing is the most fun car I've driven since a brand new '02 Firehawk), but the Cobalt without question is a nicer, more attractive car. Add the manner in which Road and Track praised the suspension tuning as being better overall when they tested its twin the Red Line, and I think the Cobalt is going to be great. My girlfriend and I are waiting for the first 5 speed LS coupes to start hitting the lots so she can drive one.
-Malibu, while virtually everyone here thinks the front end is ugly at a minimum, will hopefully look better when the '06 nose shows up. Its still a nice car for the $$ though...where else can you get a decent loaded V6 with ABS for $21,500 MSRP? Does anyone know anything about a possible SS model?
-Equinoxs are showing up all over the place around here. I drove one myself, and other than the REALLY light steering, the driving feel is fantastic and the utility is great. I'd buy one myself for a driver if I weren't waiting for a 5th gen, as it'd be great now that I have a house. But its CHINESE ENGINE ( ) and the potential for an '07 Camaro or an IROC purchase mean the GP will be in the yard for a long, long time.
-Impala with a V8 will be fun as hell. We may not be so fond of them on here, but a lot of Impala owners absolutely love their cars, and the popularity of them can't be faulted. Monte Carlo SS with a V8 will be even cooler for me personally. No, it is not the all-new car a 300 or Magnum is, but a $30,000 V8 Monte SS is, to me, something to get at least a little excited about until the new RWD "Chevy Coupe" is out in a couple years...
-Hey, guion says we'll have a Camaro soon, so insert a here
-Corvette? Hehehehehehehehehehehehe....

Pontiac:
-Vibe's popularity has even surprised GM. In the northeast they're everywhere, especially with AWD. Other than its serious lack of power, its quite a nice car. It won't satisfy a WRX wagon owner by any stretch, but for those who want a bulletproof, fuel sipping family ride this car seems to be doing well.
-Sunfire...this is an evil joke on GMs part. I know it. No, don't give us the Pursuit. Give us the car that never dies. If the Camaro would not pass '03 side impact standards, how the HELL does this car still get by???? Sunfire does more damage to Pontiac's image than help. Sorry...needed to vent.
-Solstice is going to kick ***. Period.
-G6 is getting more compliments than even I thought it would. As soon as dealers get a stockpile in, they'll be flying out the door. Drive one before you bash it. I drove a base model for about 20 miles this past Saturday, and it put my GP to shame in the NVH department...and a W body is no slouch there, either.
-Grand Prix, while I am not so fond of the style or the number of required doors, will be pretty damn cool as a GXP.
-What the hell is going on with Bonneville? Does ANYONE know? Its dead after '05 and will not return, right? Motor Trend has some asinine rumblings it was going to be the G8 for '06 or '07...

Saturn:
-Eh, right now its iffy...but these new Opels may be really really interesting. I am pissed about no plastic body panels though...the ONE thing that really set them apart...besides goofy dashboards

Cadillac:


Buick:
-Another iffy one, but Motor Trend seemed to really like the new LaCrosse. It not as daring as a 300, but it isn't supposed to be, either. The idea of a RWD V8 coupe ala GTO and Chevelle is something we haven't discussed on here, but isn't this a reality too? Regardless, Zeta will be great for Buick, and even if it doesn't get a Zeta Coupe the return of the Riviera (ala Velite) should be interesting. I think they're heading in the right direction, but only time will tell if they actually pull it off. But then again, who thought 5 years ago Caddy would be where it is?


For all the complaining we do on here, GM still has the most diverse product offerings anywhere, and other than Saturn and 87,000 versions of the TrailBlazer, the product overlap isn't too bad these days. Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks to me like right now isn't as bad as we make it out to be, and 3 years from now...if Cobalt SS, Red Line Ion, Malibu SS, Chevelle (Monte Carlo??), Camaro, V8 RWD Impala, Corvette, GTO, V8 Grand Prix, G6 GTP and GXP, Solstice, Buick's V8 Coupe, CTS V, STS V (and maybe others) collectively can't get you excited, I don't know what will.

GM may be late to the party, but at least when they do show up, it appears they're gonna dance like hell

 

Agreed, dude. Lol. My mom has a Vibe, upon my recommendation. She loves it to death, she did mention she isn't too happy with the power of the vehicle, but then she says she really didn't buy it for the power.

32mpg daily driving (no/rarely any highway).. in North Carolina (not a city, but not open farmland, whatever)

 

You dont say....

But GM doesnt make a pony car, so they are gunna fail soon.

 

I am willing to bet it does little better than the GTO's current sales..

[people]Oh, a convertible Fiero....[/People]

 

Last I heard, the Malibu SS clinic'd so badly (looks wise), that it has been dropped. It appears like there might be a Malibu Maxx SS however. It will have a 3.9...and hopefully, the manual trans from the G6 GXP.

 

I heard that the 3.5 will get a boost of power to 210 for MY06, and the 3.9 will be available in the Maxx.

 

Now, who is going to think that ?!?!

No one.

Most people don't even know what a Fiero is. And those who do, know it's mid-engine with a roof... a far cry from a front engine convertible.

Plus, they look nothing like each other.

 

Sunfire needs to be replaced with a 1-series sized RWD Kappa Sedan for under $18,000

 

Now when V8 Monte will be priced $30,000... tell me, does it make sense to buy it? The mustang V8 is $5000 cheaper!!!

In Canada Monte SS Supercharged retails for 367xx, and the Mustang for 327xx, which is already 4,000 cheaper. If V8 MC will cost more, it will hardly make sense IMO.

 

Depends on the type of car you want...

You can get a V6 Cadillac CTS for $33k, but you can get a V6 Ford Taurus for $20k... still not the same thing.

 

The V8 Monte/Chevelle won't be targeted at the Mustang V8 crowd. Camaro will do that and hopefully will be priced to match.

I think we can forget about several trim levels for Camaro as well. If it is going to be a niche car, it will probably come with only one engine option like Vette and SSR. The only options will most likely be auto or manual and perhaps T-tops. We may not even get a convertible at first.

The Monte/Chevelle/Zeta coupe will get the multiple drivetrain options. (V6, mid V8, etc.)

Treat the new Camaro as you'd treat the Corvette. (Especially if Team Corvertte is involved.)

07 Camaro V8 coupe (May even be called Camaro SS)
07-08 Camaro V8 convertible
08-09 Camaro Z28 (The Camaro version of the Corvette Z06)

Say goodbye to a V6 Camaro.

 

I thought it had been said that if the car is to come back at all, it would have to be a high volume car (not necessarily 200k units per year).

 

I think it will still need to be a higher-volume car if its supposed to have this "exclusive" baby Zeta chassis guion refers to. Sure, its cheaper to make baby Zeta than an all-new platform, but it still costs some extra dough.

I hope you're wrong about no V6 Camaro...I am almost completely confident there will be a V6 of some sort. Check the sales charts, and there's your reason why. I don't want one, you don't want one, but a bunch of girls sure do. I thought we confirmed 3 engines awhile back???

Sure, this "niche" thing is new news that may change things somewhat...but I doubt it. If CTS can have 3 engines (tell me, does the 2.8 make ANY sense at all?????????), G6 can have 3 engines, then a 100k per year Camaro can, and probably will. I'm still betting on a 3.9, 5.3 and a 6.0 for 2007

 

GM has been turning the corner since, well, as long as I can remember. The list of cars that were supposed to stem the tide of market share erosion includes Corvair, Vega, X-cars, J-cars, W-cars, Saturn, and so on. Hasn't happened yet, and it's not going to. By the time these turnaround cars hit the market, the market has moved again and GM is no closer to the front of the pack.

Besides, GM is just too big for a few models to be able to turn it around (unlike Chrysler which can reverse its fortunes on the strength of one car line). As soon as GM plugs one hole in its lineup, another one quickly takes its place and overall it makes little or no progress. Today's marketplace is too fragmented and competitive for a company the size of GM to make any gains.

 

Re-read guy's other post. I think that if there are actually two cars, the Chevelle/Zeta will be the high volume car that's available with all the different engine options to satisfy the bean counters. If as Guy suggests the Camaro is then a niche car with some similarities to Zeta, its more likely to be treated like other niche cars from Chevrolet. (e.g. Corvette, SSR, etc.)