Breaking News - Camaro/Firebird Dead!

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Well, I knew it was too good to be true. I guess I'll have to hold onto my 96 since we'll not be seeing a new Firebird/Camaro anytime soon.


http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...-gm-cuts_x.htm

[TimeLord]

Very very sad,,,,

Maybe we will get lucky and Toyota or Honda or Ford will buy GM and restructure it like it should have been 20 years ago!!!!!

P.S.// Harley Davidson now has a higher market cap than GM !!!!!!!

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

WOW! GM is in great shape!!!!

[76blackbird]

Yes, very, very sad.....

GM is pushing me further and further over to the dark side......

and buying a 05 Mustang GT.

[DeWynter]

Guess I can quit saving for an 06/07/08 Camaro

[Tig]

Did I read that they were focusing on getting truck / SUV's to the market more quickly? There's been a downtrend in SUV sales recently, I would think they would see this as a move toward traditional passenger cars. But who am I to say...

[DeWynter]

GM always seems to be 5 years behind in their market research.

[wolfdogs]

i saw that this weekend.... didnt want to be the bearer of bad news, but i knew somebody would find it.

our 97's staying for now too.

[Gary94Formula]

After I've seen the build quality on my 2001, 2002 and 2004 GM cars, I can understand why they are having problems. I am truely a GM person, but when my 2001 S10 crew cab was in the shop 13 times in 3 years for a ton of issues. That one was so bad GM gave me an extended warranty, or I was getting rid of it. My 2004 Impala LS has already had all 4 rotors turned at 6,300 miles and now the door ajar alarm is popping up now and then when you drive and cycleing the power locks. I don't even want to get into my wifes 2002 firebird... GM has to turn things around and do it quickly.

[76blackbird]

I know what you're talking about with problems.
Before I got rid of my '95 Formula, I had put 4 trannys (2 under warranty for breaking a month after the dealership installed them), 4 waterpumps and a few other odds and ends that forced me to dump the car with CarMax.

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Long time Pontiac man myself...

I'm a die hard GM fan. Always have been...since the early days when Dale Sr. was considered "up-n-coming". I had four Pontiacs in the stable, my 96 T/A, a 97 Sunfire GT, a 2000 Montana, and a 2003 Vibe GT. I got rid of the Sunfire after she starting having problems at around 70,000 miles. My 96 T/A has been trouble free, although she's only got 40K on the clock. The wife wants a new van, but I can't bring myself to plopping down $30K on another Montana. GM slaps new body parts on a dated chassis, throws in a new (yet still technically archaic 3.5L) and expects their loyal customers to do backflips. Well, after all is said and done...I'm going Honda. It'll be the first non-GM car I'll own (new) and the first non-American car I'll own. When I compare what Honda offers on their Odyssey vs. what GM offers on their Montana...it sickens me.

GM is dying folks. Chrysler and Ford are constantly raising the bar on new ideas, while GM revamps the Cavalier (i.e. the "new?" Cobalt).
Chrysler blows us away with the stroked Hemi packin' 300 SRT-8 for $40K, and GM "tweaks" the Bonneville.
Ford listens to its fans by reinventing the Mustang and Pontiac releases the Solstice.
Dodge cranks it up with the Magnum...than kills us with the Magnum SRT-8. Pontiac gives us the Aztek Chevy---a 4500 pound slug called the SSR for $40K.

Yeah, we got a new GTO, but it's an Australian import. GM can only take credit for figuring out how to stick a Pontiac arrowhead on the car. Holden deserves all the credit.

Man...I'm get really wound up when I think what's happened to GM in the last 10 years. It's truly embarrassing. I just hope the Godfather, Scott Settlemire, isn't one of the 11,000 white collar GM personnel to get the axe.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

Well, I am glad I didn't get my hopes up too high. I don't know if I ever really believed that they would bring it back. I am kind of like 76blackbird, my next new car may be a Mustang, as much as it sickens me to say that. However, before I buy a new car, I will be trading my V6 for an LS-1 F-bod. So at least I can get a few good years out of one of those. GM is really shooting themselves in the foot. They are all but handing their market share over to their competition with a nice big red bow on top. Oh well....there's always used cars...

[Joe 1320]

I hate to tell you guys, but performance cars are not the leading profit generating vehicle. The masses are into sport utilities and pickups right now. Some full size car platforms too. That what GM is catering too. Sooner or later as fuel prices begin to strangle everyone's wallet, the public will again shift toward more fuel effecient and smaller vehicles. As far as performance cars? They are there, just spread out among the different brands. If you take out the product names look at what we have to choose from:

Rear wheel drive
2 seat V8 sportscar with 400+ HP, coupe and convertible
2 seat V8 sportscar with 370+ HP, coupe with retracting hardtop
2 seat V8 sport truck with 400+ HP with retracting hardtop
4 seat V8 coupe with 400+ HP
4 seat V8 mid size sedan with 370+ HP and similar models with lessor power
4 seat V8 full size sedan with 400+ HP and similar models with lessor power

Front wheel drive

lots of choices of bland powertrains with the ability to seat 4 people and groceries in the trunk.

Sport utilities and trucks

An insane amount of choices including the ability to go off road when 95% of the people that buy them never venture offroad.

GM is going after what makes them the most profit on a per car basis. That's why we are left out of the loop. The true performance vehicles are pushed too far up the price ladder for the average person to be able to afford them. Incidently, the top section of Rear wheel drive performance cars..... only one performance example can be had for less than $40,000. Only the garden variety lessor models fall into the under $40,000 price point.

From our perspective, that is what is wrong. There used to be multiple versions of the same platform running around. Now there aren't. Cadillac is and the corvette are getting the lion's share, the SSR and the GTO take up a few scraps. There are whole platforms that just vanished. What's left is bleak until you start looking at other manufacturers offerings.

[casey02ws6]

I read that too - but read this - we may be too hasty in our assumption Camaro is dead!

http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives...e_en.html#more


Quote from Lutz on 3/21 -

"Rest assured, we remain committed to developing RWD, premium,
high-performance, affordable vehicles, perhaps even a few with a trace of nostalgia baked in."

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

Just because Zeta is dead doesn't mean any future Camaro plans or other cars for that matter have been shelved...Scott has said so himself. Lutz is also saying this. Don't go all doom and gloom yet.

It's been stated that Zeta, the purported end all and be all RWD platform, has been over rated anyways.