Danno said the car came in between an SN95 Mustang (183") and an Accord (187")....funny that's exactly the 185" or so I thought would be an ideal size for the 5th Gen. Maybe we've gotten all in a panic over nothing?

 

Agreed here. That's pretty much my ideal dimensions, 185.5" is about what I'd like to see. Alot could have changed since the styling clinic though. It seems that GM is still in as much confusion about this car as we are, even with chassis and name. Not good, 07 is coming.

 

Welp....if you like 185" (which I'd be fine with too), start to panic.

 

Did the concept car you saw have a b pillar or not?

 

No B-pillar. See photobriefcase or Crispey's concept.

 

The current GTO is 189" Accord is 187.6"...most people can not tell the difference between 2-4" by eyeballing it. (which is why CamaroZ28.com is full of members who claim abnormally large "man parts") Assuming Zeta GTOI is about the same length as the current one, 185" could be attained on a Zeta Camaro by giving it smaller overhangs than the GTO, but it will still weigh almost as much. Also remember the GONGOS car was seen what...a year and a half ago? Assuming a 5 year development cycle, that is very close to the beginning the cars design. Many things could have changed. I am willing to bet the car you saw was not based off any certain chassis per say, but was built off certain design hard points for what a potential chassis could be.

 

I agree. And it seems to keep on growing.

 

I do understand the breakdown. That really wasn't my point.

You described the semi-Kappa as "flexible" with no problem building sedans, sports cars, and luxury cars on one platform. That is exactly what Sigma and Zeta started out to be. Sigma definetly did not achieve this, and if the recent Zeta paranoia becomes reality, Zeta may not deliver on its promises either. That is why I am not buying the belief that Zeta is as limited as some seem to think. I can't believe GM would make this mistake again. If they build semi-kappa (or what ever) that gives them 5 RWD Car platforms. That is rediculous. There is no reason why 3 (or worst case 4) platforms could not cover any posible combination of size, powertrain, etc. If they need more, than they don't know what they are doing.

You mentioned platform mates for semi-Kappa? So far there is the Torana. A camaro version is total speculation. Anthing else is even further speculation.

Mean while, very good sources on this board have identified a least a handful of active Zeta programs. I would not rule out Zeta just yet.

One more thing. Those that actually think we will get a Chevy coupe based off of Zeta and then a Camaro based off of LWB Kappa are dreaming. Chevy does not have room in its line up for this. There is no chance of this getting through GMs approval board in this day and age. You better hope that they find a way to shrink Zeta or move the 07 Chevy coupe from Zeta to LWB Kappa. We will not get both.

 

I'd be fine with that.

 

I am not ruling out Zeta just yet...I am just saying that if anyone thinks GM hasn't looked at the Torana and put two and two togethor they are wrong. How serious they are looking at it....that is up in the air, but generally where there is chatter there is a reason.

Zeta was meant to be flexible, and as Guy has posted before, Holden designed a short wheelbase Zeta platform for the Torana and it's class initially. Thier design ,however, lost in an internal competition to this platform we see in the Torana which was GM North America's entry. That means that GM feels the Torana's platform is a much better solution from both and engineering and business perspective than trying to make the Zeta a jack of all trades, master of none.

I see it like this-

Sigma- Luxury RWD
Zeta- Large RWD
Torana Platform-medium to small RWD
Kappa- Compact Roadster

GM is very tight money wise, and they would not put all these platforms out there if there was not a strong business case.

Also remember though these platforms are different, they will still share alot of parts.

Also, if Monte Carlo goes away in its current form, Chevy could easily have both a large and compact RWD Coupe.

 

Ok, dumb question time.

What platform was the SS concept based on and why can't it be shortened into a 2+2 sized RWD design?

 

Very similar design...both in suspension and construction to the Torana. See a recurrent theme?

 

I think that there could be room for both Beta(my name for Torana's chassis) and Zeta.

America, as well as Oz, do like there cars a bit larger. Zeta could deffinatly work as a large to mid sized chassis for such cars as 4dr sedans, or large 2dr coupes.

Beta chassis will be better suited for the needs of Europe, and smaller cars for Holden. A 3 series type car in europe would deffinatly do good for Vaux and Opel, as well as Holden and even Pontiac or Caddy here in the US. Hell, we could get a euro Caddy out of this.

But in my mind, Beta and Epsilon could end up in a battle for mid-sized sedans. With EP2 getting the abiliity to go AWD, if Epsilon cant do it now, might be a better road to take if the Beta chassis cannot go AWD. A Beta 9-3, as well as a Beta Pontiac would take out 2 of teh 4 Epsilon cars in the world.

There just seems to be a lot of stuff going on, and that there are too many chassis. This is gunna come down to the Thunder Dome...2 chassis enter...only 1 leaves.

 

I dont think that Zeta should be the Camaros Underpinnings. Nissan has done the same thing with the 350z,G35 cpe.,G35 sedan and a truck. What nissan now has is a lite truck and a relativly heavy sports car.

 

All good points!

I hadn't considered Monte Carlo. My assumtion was that it was going to pretty much get a face lift for 06 and then run out the remaining W-car life cycle. It has been a rather successful car in its current form. My statement about getting a Zeta coupe and a LWB Kappa was assuming 2 new entries in addition to the M.C. If M.C. is discontinued or switched to Zeta that would change everything.