GM product chief Reuss confident 2016 Camaro will beat Mustang in every way
 

GM product chief Reuss confident 2016 Chevrolet Camaro has what it takes

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/...what-it-takes/

Now that the New York Auto Show is out of the way, all eyes in the automotive world are looking toward May 16th for the next big car reveal.

That’s when the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro will make its debut at an event in Detroit’s Belle Isle Park, just up the river from General Motors headquarters.

Much about the car is still secret, but GM has begun trickling out a few details leading up to the unveiling.

It’ll be built on the platform also used for the Cadillac ATS Coupe, but with 70 percent unique parts. As was the case with the new Cadillac CT6 and Chevy Malibu, dropping pounds was a major goal for the Camaro.

GM VP of Global Product Development Mark Ruess told me at the New York Auto show that his team keeps all of the lessons learned developing in one car in mind when they work on the next, even if they’re not all that much alike, then builds on that knowledge to come up with new approaches.

“There are some really cool things in the Camaro, that are quite different than the Malibu, [or the] CT6,” he said.

A smart use of materials throughout the car, including aluminum for the dashboard frame and suspension, and unique composite drop links for the front stabilizer bar, are a couple of examples. The result being that the new Camaro will weigh at least 200 pounds less than the current one. That puts in at least on par with the 2015 Ford Mustang.

That probably goes for power, too. The Camaro will get a version of Chevy’s latest 6.2-liter LT1 V8 that’s currently under the hood of the Corvette Stingray, where it puts out up to 460 hp, compared to the Mustang’s 435 hp 5.0-liter V8. Expect turbocharged 4-cylinder and naturally aspirated V6 options, as well, although that's not been confirmed.

But will it all be enough to win back the pony car crown from the Mustang?

Since Ford has already shown its hand, I asked Ruess if he’s confident if the Camaro will be more efficient, faster, and better handling than the Mustang. He says and he said he personally drove them back to back last week.

“I’m confident. Very confident.”

In other words: it’s on.

Again.

You need to help me hold out until the time is really right... I want the big dog!

It's a great time to be a car guy

Just my opinion, in 2002 when the Camaro left the scene because it was a sales flop. We waited for the GTO and most of us were hopeing it was going to be some sort of retro version of the old GTO. and it wasn't. Big sales flop. Seeing GM's big mistake ford came out with the retro looking Mustang, and the crowd went wild. Dodge came out with the retro Challenger, and the crowd went wild. GM said ok lets retro the Camaro, and the crowd went wild. Now the designers are saying we don't want to follow the originals. My Opinion Lighting struck for the Camaro in 69/13. I got one of each. I am 61 now, and if history is a teacher, somewhere around 2065 The car company's after slumping sales will say lets retro to the 2010 cars. I won't be here to see it, but I bet the crowd will go wild!!:amen:

I only wish Mr. Reuss would have stated that in comparison tests so far, the current 5thGen Camaro 1LE has already outperformed, is faster and handles better than the new Mustang...so the 6thGen outperforming the Mustang will be a no-brainer...(as long as we get at least a "merged" SS/1LE 6th Gen right away, that is...)

Truth.
Muscle cars and pony cars need to be retro.
Any thing else is a mistake.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but every GTO imported was sold. You can't consider it a sales flop since from day one it was an imported car limited by Holden production capacity. It did not meet the new airbag safety requirements for 2007 which is why importation stopped. It was never meant to take on Mustang sales or serve as a replacement for the Camaro.

Also, do you consider the new Mustang to be retro? It's selling better now than the 5th gen Mustang did.

Where's the "LIKE" button?:w00t::happy0180::happyanim::respekt:

This is a passage from the book, Why did Pontiac fail. This paragraph is about the new GTO.

"This was a great car, that was never launched right. Basically, all GM did was to re-work the car for left hand drive (in which this was no small task), and then replace the grill, add badging, and that was it. Unfortunately, just replacing the grill made the rather pricey GTO look like the Grand Prix or Grand Am that you could pick up at the rental counter on your next business trip. It never really stood out from the crowd. The car was also priced above expectations, with a retail price above $33,000. Dealers also tacked on a surcharge for the first ones in the country, though that didn't last, and 2004 models were selling at deep discounts late into 2005. The 2005 and 2006 models received a different hood that helped, and a new 6.0L V8 made standard in the car, but sales failed to live up to the 18,000 per year target, with 15,780 of the 2004 model year imported, a little over 11,000 for 2005, and just under 14,000 for the last year of 2006.:noidea:"

in answer to your other question, No the new mustang is based off the retro version, in 2004 the Fox body mustang sales were falling like the Camaro. Challenger did not exist. What I am saying is retro is the only reason the pony cars exist today, and the farther they get away from the styling points the sales will slow. People like there muscle cars. Jurassic.

Good to know, never heard they had a sales target and always viewed the GTO as sales experiment without real commitment from GM.

So you are saying the new mustang is not retro but it is selling better than last gen which was retro. Granted it is still early in it's lifespan but is off to an impressive start. So retro really is not a key to sales here. Maybe the name plates are retro and a good key to sales (i.e. the Charger).

I'm sure it'll be great, but it's hardly like Reuss is unbiased.

Whether the Camaro can outsell the new Mustang will not only be a question of product but also of price. The Mustang is priced very aggressively. Will GM try to match the Mustang's various price points? Or will they rationalize higher prices on the basis of all the various ways that the new Camaro is technically superior to the Mustang? Unfortunately, I don't have a hard time imagine GM getting a little greedy and repeating the same mistake that it made with the ATS (i.e., pricing it about $3,000 too high). We'll see.

He was going to say that regardless of the car. It's not like he would come out and say "no, it won't compete. It's actually a terrible car."

So I think the GTO never met it's sales expectations.
Why? Because it wasn't retro styled. There was no connection between the new car one the old ones.

As far as the new Mustang is concerned, you can't compare sales of the last model year of the outgoing model to sales of the first model year of the new model.
You'd have to compare the 1st year sales of the outgoing model to the 1st year sales of the new model.

Probably semantics, but if you brand a car with the GTO name it has to share some sort of design progression from the memories of the buyers targeted. The imported Holden only borrowed the name for a new(to the U.S.) series of car. My point is that I understand the retro theme, but if the body panels had been designed to be a progression of the GTO it may have sold better. That & Bob Lutz stated several times they over priced it at $33-$34 thousand dollar sticker prices.

Besides if retro is all that it took to capture sales, explain the Challengers low sales volume? Challenger did little to move their design forward like Camaro & Mustang & it has lagged in last place of the segment from the get go.

But something of interest for Pontiac. Do remember Lutz stating that in the Los Angeles market the 2004 Pontiac GTO was a top seller. It was notable as nothing in Pontiacs line up really sold all that well in that specific market.

As for the gen 6 Camaro, given all they have done with the gen 5. Cannot believe all the doubt some of posts have written within.