Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitespeed
They did listen for the initial 6th gen design. IIRC, everyone said make it look like the 5th gen and don't worry about the visibility. So they did that. But then sales went down and everyone complained that it was because it looked too much like the 5th gen and that visibility sucks. Can't win.
I'm personally on the fence about the restyle. We like what we're familiar with and this is a big departure, so I'm not surprised everyone is up in arms about it. I've seen this with lots of other restyles. But who knows, maybe it'll get peoples attention and be a big hit.
Nigel
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Nigel,
Great response and well stated. I don't think we disagree much about familarity in design. Customers often don't know what they want and need to be shown/sold something innovative. That falls on the marketing department which....hasn't produced what our forum has expected to put it mildly.
6th gen design:
In terms of design, I do understand the logic of a big departure when you look at the sales figures, however there are areas of the design of the 6th gen overall where one could have taken the feedback from owners and still have produced a more viable product. Visibility concerns were made worse in some areas while design cues kept poor visibility in others (dash hump).
Refresh design:
Big departure which is sure to ruffle the feathers of the Camaro faithful. In a niche market, why abandon your customers? Better yet, why not adopt a page from the competitor vehicles and offer evolution of design languages rather than a full blown revolution? I offer two enthusiast vehicles that have survived for decades in the VW GTI and Porsche 911 for how to do refreshes properly on a marque with lineage to it. Aside from the 996 era (which currently has the lowest resale value of any 911), Porsche continued to maintain the same body lines and offer evolutionary changes rather than the take a chainsaw to the car. I look at how the Mustang manages (even with the 2015+), to keep most of its heritage alive as well. (Can clearly see the evolution from the SN95 era to the 2015 front).
Since design is subjective, and I'm not an art critic, these are just some random thoughts. However, I think where you see this large amount of backlash from owners of the car and enthusiasts (which are the core customer segment for Camaro), the response of "just need to see it in person" is a bit shallow of a response here. If it were a small detail like the lower bumper on the 2018 Mustang, then ok...but changing the entire face and hood of the car to something completely unlike anything Camaro that came before (other than the Transformers toy)....a bit different.
It's a "bad" design for a "Camaro".
The beauty of this discussion is that everyone has their own opinions and perspectives and no one is black and white correct or incorrect. Sales will be the only answer in this entire debate for us all. Sorry for rambling.
