RedDevilSC

General Motors has been forced to rework the investment case for the Chevrolet Camaro in the wake of new fuel-economy rules adopted this past December.
The Camaro will still be built, but higher-end V-8 versions likely will be priced higher than expected. As for other planned GM rear-drivers–a new Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse and the replacement for the Pontiac G8 due this spring–all have been dropped along with a new V-8 engine GM was contemplating building.
“You can’t kill something that was never approved,” said one GM official, who asked for anonymity but who confirmed the rear-wheel-drive projects are now dead.
Stew Low, a spokesman for GM of Canada, said the Camaro project is safe and is moving forward. The GM of Canada plant in Oshawa, Ontario outside of Toronto should be ready to build the first Camaro late this year, Low said.
Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said that GM is spending $2.5 billion in Oshawa - including $435 million from the Ontario and Canadian federal governments.
“We anticipated that would be followed by other rear-wheel-drive vehicles, but the money they spent on the plant makes it a flex plant, so you can build both front-drive and rear-wheel-drive in the facility,'’ Hargrove told reporters in Canada.
Only a proposal for new ultra-luxury rear-wheel-drive Cadillac seems to still have a chance of making it through GM’s product development process and into production. Even that project, though, may well depend on how the Environmental Protection Agency writes the rules enforcing the new fuel-economy standards.
The death of the other rear-drive GM vehicles also has implications for the final pricing of the Camaro when it goes on sale next year.
Last year, GM vice chairman Robert Lutz had told TheCarConnection.com that the rear-wheel-drive platform developed for the Camaro would support other vehicles as part of GM’s effort to make the project financially manageable. Spinning more vehicles from one platform spreads the costs around and is the most efficient and effective way for GM to use its available capital, Lutz has said.
As part of global product strategy GM plans to use fewer but more flexible platforms that would accommodate a wider range of vehicles and vehicle designs. Specifically, the new Camaro platform could be used for other rear-drive vehicles, Lutz said he said before the fuel-economy debate had heated up in Congress.
Part of the reason for the delay in moving forward with the Camaro project revolved around extending the utility of the fundamental architecture so it could serve as the platform for other vehicles as well, he said.
The new fuel-economy rules, however, have basically forced GM to reconsider its extensive plans for rear-wheel-drive vehicles. Rear-wheel-drive trucks and SUVs are safe for now because the new federal rules will allow some wiggle room for trucks. GM, though, is not in a position to absorb the roughly 1-mpg fuel-economy penalty that comes with building rear-wheel-drive passenger cars, GM insiders said in the wake of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
However, GM’s decision to scrap the other rear-drive models is putting an enormous cost burden on the new Camaro.
GM officials are saying they should be able to recover some of the investment costs in the new rear-wheel-drive platform by selling the vehicles in places such as Australia, the Middle East and China. Australia, however, has a new government that takes global warming very seriously. China is imposing new fuel-economy standards that are as tough as those found in the United States and one of the largest vehicle markets in the Middle East, Iran, is off limits to American car companies.
Nevertheless, GM desperately wants to price the new Camaro competitively against vehicles like the new Dodge Challenger and particularly the Ford Mustang, which pretty much inherited the segment after GM withdrew the Camaro earlier in the decade.
With a new generation of rear-wheel-drive vehicles consigned to the never-built file somewhere in the company’s engineering office, GM now is working on a plan B for Camaro.
GM chairman Richard Wagoner has already confirmed a V-6 engine will be part of the Camaro package.
While the concept Camaro has come with V-8 engine, a V-6 would serve as basic engine for the production Camaro and would help keep prices competitive.
Meanwhile, Tom Stephens, the head of GM’s Powertrain Group, told reporters recently that turbocharging can help boost both fuel economy and horsepower.
The V-8 version of the Camaro is very likely carry a substantial premium and GM is thought to have assigned a team of engineers to work out how to apply its new dual-mode hybrid system for an even more expensive version of the Camaro.–By Joseph Szczesny
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$40,000 for a V-8 Camaro? No thanks! I sure hope that Ford doesn't up the sticker on the Mustang in response to the upcoming Camaro/Challenger by way of matching them horsepower for horsepower. So the next V-8 Camaro will have 400 hp? Good for them. I'll take a horsepower deficit to them if it means that I can buy a brand new V-8 Mustang for under 30 grand. I was actually hoping that the new Camaro would be a huge sucess. After reading this article though I'm just not so sure. What I am sure of is we will see more than a few V-6's running around.

Redneck97

Yep im begining to think my next 'new' car is going to be a 05-06 GTO.

LS2/400hp for less then 20K > 30K+ for V8 Camaro.

RedDevilSC

I test drove a 2005 GTO a little while back. Man that thing put a huge smile on my face!

RojoDojo

Had an opportunity to drive one of those... other than a supercharged bonneville that my dad had a while back, this was the only Pontiac that has ever made me want to drive it again.

Anyway, back to topic... $35,000+ for a V8 camaro seems normal, which is why I will continue with the same stance I've had since the mid to late 90's in thinking that camaros/firebirds are overrated. Consider this...

1993 4 Cyl. Fox Body for $900 add about $14,000 for a 347 Stroker with all kinds of goodies, sweet *** go fast upgrades all over and you've got something that will rival some corvettes out there (due to the drivers mainly, lol) and every camaro I ever came across. That car was my first "Hot Rod", and it was also the car that got me into Mustangs hard core. Best part about it was I would roll up to cats with cars double and triple the price of it and blow the doors off 'em, straights or twisties. Took me a year and a half to build that car and one deer to destroy it... enjoyed it for about 2 years though.

Ever since right before I got that car and had that low cost epiphany in comparison to the camaros/firebirds, I've always looked at the domestic Mustang alternative as overrated, with one exception, the GTO. Hopefully Chevy will keep up the good work.

LT1RUNNER

Oh brother! And the question once again comes up! Will GM build another Camaro and if so when? To be honest I'm really hoping the Camaro will be out sooner that what GM is telling us but it's like anything else your told your going to get and it never comes eventually you lose intrest. I still have my hopes up though but who knows for how long.

scg87

^ Dude, that argument never works. And it's never valid. You can make a retardedly fast car out of anything w/ enough money.




Back on topic, the Hybrid plans seem pretty smart to me. The pricing is an issue that's still up in the air, so noone can really comment on it. I will say, however, that there will most likely be a V8 Camaro no more than 32K. And that's just dependent on how high-strung of a V6 they put in the lower model. I'm seriously thinking about buying a new Camaro, but only time will tell.....[&:]

2k05gt

GM Stated that the 2010 Camaro will hit the Show Rooms in January 2009 and the Convertible byJune 2009

RojoDojo

Not an argument, just a valid point about how chevy products are over rated *See Edit*. Your statement about making a "retardedly fast car out of anything w/ enough money." further proves that chevy products are over priced as well *See Edit*. My statement seemed pretty valid in my opinion, as did yours in certain spots.


(edit) For the new condition price, that is. Cutting edge "sports cars" aren't supposed to be outperformed in every respect by vehicles only 5 years older and half the price. I'd say the point is very valid, whether it's relevant to the original topic or not is up to the other readers I guess, sorry if this is misconstrued as a thread jack... this is a pro vs. con discussion about the new camaro in the general discussion forum though, isn't it?

SoSmoked

Please, performance wise the mustang is totally overrated and was always out classed by F-bodies. I would talk to people who thought that gt and cobra could always beat the Z-28 and SS. Either they were brainwashed (thats assuming they had a brain to begin with) or they heard the mustangs exhaust. The mustang has always been more bark than bite. For years once I was really into cars, every magazine shootout Camaro vs Mustang the Camaro was always fastest. As an example in 2002 - Mustang GT 260hp, $24,000= 14.7 1/4 - 02 cobra 320hp, $30,000= 13.8 1/4 - heck 03 cobra 390hp, $36,000= 13.4 1/4 : 2002 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 310hp, $23,000=13.9 1/4 - 2002 Chevrolet Camaro SS 345hp, $33,000= 13.5 1/4. As for Camaro vs mustang, for us in the know went the faster GM route. For those who didn't know, are getting beat by civics.

myredgt

I usually don't get in the middle of this kinda crap, but seriously man, you DON"T know!

Let me just tear this apart for GM and Ford's sake. 03 Cobra (Terminator) - 420 hp (not the advertised 390) 1/4 = 12.5 - stock - that's even why some were a tad disappointed in the GT500, being the Terminator had irs and less power and still was a tad faster.

The Z28 and SS from 2002 have the SAME engine!!! LS1 = LS1!!!!!!!!!!

That means the Z28 and SS both have around 345 or so at the crank. Yes, the Z28 had more than the advertised hp, just like the terminator. The Z28 is actually a little faster becasue it doesn't have all the extra crap the SS does and weighs less. That's the easy way to explain it all.

For being "in the know", you pretty much don't "know" anything. Wow.



I think Ford and GM fans alike can say, don't listen to that guy "in the know!"


- C