That this chevy coupe in design is called something else. NikiV has said that he knows someone on the inside and that that person knows that its not gunna be called the Camaro. What do you think the chances are that it will be called something else?
We know that Lutz has a thing for new names, but why did he bring back the GTO name? We know that GM recently trademarked the name Chevelle, but if your gunna bring in a name that has history, why not call it something that has been around for so long like the Camaro? How many people wouldnt buy it if it was called something else but Camaro? How many people dont care? So what do you think?

honestly, I just want an affordable mega-hp V8 car from Chevy. If they called it the Panther, I couldnt care. Id love to have a Camaro again, but who knows. I wont ever buy a Mustang, but if Dodge came out with a coupe, and GM was a no-show, then Id become a Mopar guy. Ill never buy a Mustang.

 

If they called it the Panther, I wouldn't be AS dissapointed to see the Camaro name leave us. But I would still be dissapointed none-the-less, and that car would probably be the only GM product I would ever buy.

That said, I think the chances are 50/50 right now. We get mixed feelings and conflicting reports all the time about this, so that means nobody knows for sure, or somebody does and he's not telling anybody. I seriously hope we get more stuff into RP, I have a feeling that might bump the goal of our efforts up a few more percentiles...

 

Why GTO was called GTO (a very abbrieviated history):

In late 90s when GM Holden was about to bring their new V based Commodore out in Australia, GM North America seriously looked into bringing or producing some US models based on them. Buick especially.

GM dispatched a few people down to Holden to look into it with an eye towards Buick. That didn't happen, and when those people returned, at least one person stayed on.

When the Monaro came out one member of that group thought it would make a great car for Pontiac since they were loosing the Firebird (this was before the Solstice concept).

When Bob Lutz got on board, and started looking around to see what was going on, this person with the help of a few others got Bob Lutz's attention when this car was proposed as a GTO and the Holden UTE was proposed as a new El Camino along with the Statesman as the new Buick Roadmaster.

When Lutz got the number crunchers to look at it (it apparently was nothing much more than politics that prevented Holdens from getting the nod before) Holden UTE as El Camino was the easiest to start off with since it could be brought in under truck standards, it costs only about $20,000 (US dollars) and it had a relocated fuel tank. Statesman also would have been easier, again because of it's relocated fuel tank. Monaro needed the most work, again the fuel tank (not that the tank was dangerous, it has the same location Mustangs & GM B-bodies had for years, but that location would be regulated out in 2006 under new US standards).

The El Camino didn't pass muster because US truck tarriffs would have sent the price up. I understand the choice became between the Statesman and the GTO, and it was decided that the GTO had the strongest case since Pontiac was moving upstream & had no "exciting" cars available (again, this was before Solstice headed for production).

GM gave Holden a mandate to get the Monaro "federalized" ASAP. The only money GM gave Holden beyond getting the car ready for the US was to tune the exhaust, graft a Pontiac nose, and a higher torque camshaft. Holden had HSV at their disposal, and could have done ALOT more in that time, but GM North America wasn't going to pay for it. So, GM North America got what they payed for.

The odd thing is that a few extremely devoted people moved mountains and devoted a whole lot of effort to make that car happen for next to no money as quick as it did. Bob Lutz overruled the same mentality if not the same people who shot down the last Holden effort in favor of existing (and well selling) FWD cars. Although the GTO is the result of a cut rate budget, it still represents the original spirtit of the GTO.

If the car were to fail, not only will there be alot of "I told you so" from GM's bureaucrats and "not-invented-here" nay sayers, but it will have an adverse effect on alot of GM's future RWD performance cars. Fortunately, where dealer greed isn't an issue, the car is doing very well & has a 3 month wait if you order one.

GM also intends to upgrade the existing GTO every year of the current 3 year production run of the current model, from scoops to more powerful engines. So like the original, the 1st year starts off pretty mundane (Pontiac invented ringers because the 1st GTOs without dealer installed parts weren't very impressive), then gets better every year.

History lesson over.