Just to add to gunionM's comments. Basicly those are the reasons and factors but the cause was in 1996-1997 When the issue came up to replace the current F-body with a new model the GM strategy board decided not to do so and thus made the 98-02 F-bodies a lame duck. GM decided after the LS1 and front end style change not to invest any more cash into the line and thus dooming it in the sales area and the engineering and design side. It was like pulling teeth with a string and door handle to get some cash just to have an 35th anniversay SS and Collectors Edition Trans Am WS6 in 2002. Blame Don Hackworth or Bob Smith but the board acted as a group to kill the F-body.

 

For those that want to know, Don Hackworth was senior vice president (as opposed to Bob Lutz who's a vice chairman) who ran North America car group, and as I understand was a key blocker against incorperating Holden's RWD cars into the US line up. I believe he's retired now.

But, who is Bob Smith??

 

Can we have Don's address and telephone # so that he can be harassed until the day he dies???

The guy who caught that ball at the Cubs game is getting hell; this guy deserves a beheading!

 

krillanaross if I were you, I'd pretty much base my paper completely off what GuionM posted. This guy is an encyclopedia of Current and past Camaro info and a cars god in general. Everything he posted is true and fact. Be careful on what you read though because a lot of people out there and media have no clue about the real demise of the Camaro. A lot of politics involved. Research a lot here in the 5th Gen board. There is a huge amount of true quality info. Good luck on your paper.

 

Jack Smith CEO, we called him good ol' Bob when I was at GM. I forget people here don't know the nicknames. He wasn't really against the F-body but not really for it either. Again at that level politics and profits are more important. You could group Ron Zarella into that group too but really when he got to GM the work had been finished. He just helped to push the car out the door and make things difficult on its anniversary.
Give credit to RP and his team for their dental work in getting the F-bodies a proper send off. They deserve a degree in dental hygine for their tooth pulling and a drilling budgets.

 

No such thing as minor saftety changes. The changes would have cost them a lot.

 

if the car was selling up to expectations they wouldve updated the car.all models have to be upgraded at one time.they have to meet emissions,gas mileage,safety ect.the car wasnt profitable enough in GMs opinion to keep around and thats why it isnt.theres all kinds of speculations but the bottom line is money.

 

Don't forget that GM also offered a whole bunch of Coupes.....while Ford had four coupes available (Mustang, Cougar, ZX2 and Focus) Chevy had four (Camaro, Corvette, Monte, and Cavalier...plus cousin Firebird, Grand Am, Grand Prix, then Alero, Saturn.........GM outsold Ford by 3 to 1 in the coupe market in 2001........the problem in some respects was the number of choices........buyer behavoir reports showed that over half of Mustang buyers would not have considered Camaro/Firebird as their second choice.......rather, they would have chosen a Grand Am or a Cavalier Z24.........

One other note........the Camaro and Firebird did NOT always make money........and that's one of the biggest reasons for the cars going on (I'm not allowed to say the H word..........)

 

Is it possible people would have chosen the grand am or z 24 because they were closer in size to the Mustang than camaro/fb?

 

I wonder if the V8 models were ever close, in terms of sales? I swear I see more often V8 model Fbodys than V6's.

Anyway, I suggest this thread be made a sticky for future referance.

 

Hibernation?

 

Why not? Wasn't that the word GM used in its official press release?

 

u see something wrong with mustang owners period.

 

I don't see how this statement insinuates that there is something wrong with Mustang buyers.

I agree with gtjeff....I would also add seating position, long dash, long hood that you can't see as reasons they didn't include the Camaro on their list. Overall more intimidating to drive for some people....especially those looking only for a V6. They wanted a sporty stylish coupe. The Camaro has more of a traditional sports car/corvette mindset to it. These are the people for whom performance is not a top priority. If it was they wouldn't be looking at the grand am or Z24.

 

actually in 02 v8 sales were higher than v6 sales.i dont think thats how its supposed to work.v6 4th gen sales always did seem low.