[hotlap]

Originally Posted by m1tankr

Sort of funny reading all of the speculation after just finishing reading a book about GM on the design & testing of new cars.
From reading the book, I would be very surprised if those are true 5th Gens w/the Gen 6 mules. During the different phases of development, they put the new drivetrains & suspensions on the current generation to hide them in plain site. They talked about how they built C5's & put them under C4 body's so they could drive them around for a year without being noticed. The even put C5 drivetrains trains under current Camaro's (referred to them as Cormaro's) for the same reasons.
They enjoy reading the speculation knowing the bumps, fake panels, fake bumpers, taped off sections, etc are leading people off on all sorts of tangents. IMHO, it won't be a mild reskin. The mindset they normally have is they have to build a new car that will still look fresh (w/mild changes) 8 yrs after it comes out. Look at the changes from the C6 to the C7. Major changes to the look of the interior & exterior. They want to make sure they can sell the car for 6+ years, not just 2-3. They place them right next to the current model & competition when they are going for approval on the design. If you look at it from their perspective & the millions spent on development, a similar look to the 5th gen won't do that. Nice thing is they have a good car in the ATS to base it off. Should be interesting. From reading the book, these should be beta cars now.

Excellent post