[Gen6_1Le]

Originally Posted by Fraxum

Gee, I was interested in this thread to find out more about the next version of the Camaro, what others would like to see come true, but not advice from experts on how to sell the next version.

Its been months since any new photos of camo covered camaros been seen so it was bound to stray here some. I do think this is the quiet before the storm for the 2019 , just wait till after the release then you will really have to pull your pant legs up .

[protovack]

Originally Posted by Quinten_33

If GM wants better Camaro sales, they have to fire their entire pr department and start a new one from scratch. Everybody knows what a mustang is, and the majority of non-car enthusiasts like the mustang because it's iconic. Survey an entire city asking if they'd rather have a Mustang or a Camaro, 80% will say mustang, 10% will say Camaro, and 10% will ask "what's a Camaro?". GM needs to inform the public on what the Camaro can do. Show off the Zl1 in a commercial with burnouts and a drag racing scene with graphics showing off the LT4, eLSD, and the 10-speed auto. Show off the 1LE packages in a commercial with them lapping a track and graphics showing the various performance features and statistics that each car provides. Use some Camaro SS and ZL1 press cars to give free joyrides at NASCAR races, Mecum auctions, the MLB all-star and World Series games. Let the world know that the Camaro is a professional performance car, and that it runs with the big boys.

Aside from marketing, Mustangs are just too available. I looked on autotrader for a 1996 or newer Ford mustang under $20k and 6350 results pop up. Of those, 1900 are V8s, 2085 are convertibles. They're cheap enough to be first cars for many teens, and that builds the mustang brand. Girls love Mustangs, especially convertible ones.
For Camaros under $20K, 4250 results pop up, and only 571 are v8s, 592 are convertibles. It's hard to build a bigger brand than the mustang when more people are driving mustangs.

The refresh needs to adress three key issues:

1. The base Camaros look far different and (IMO) worse than the SS and ZL1, so they need to have smaller wheel gaps and better front bumpers. All mustangs look the same until you get up to the GT350, and all of the Challengers look good.

2. The interior is a bit weird and, in some cases, unorthadox. They need to lower or redesign the piece above the gauge cluster and use a more upright screen with a less bulky encasing.

3. The challenger 392 and the Mustang GT both make more power than the Camaro SS, and horsepower is a huge selling point. I think they need to raise the SS to 475hp, which is very easy to do with an LT1. The mustang also beats the Camaro in "base model performance" because the EcoBoost is now a base engine, so GM needs to drop the LTG and make the V6 $500 cheaper. That would put the Camaro ahead of the Mustang across the lineups.

Just to be clear, I don't care about sales. Leading in sales doesn't mean a thing about how good a product is. If that were the case, we would all agree that McDonald's is better than Chick-Fil-A.

Everybody knows what a camaro is, i think you are overstating the mustangs relative importance by a lot. The base camaros sell very well and some people even prefer the cleaner look, and some prefer to do their own mods. The SS makes more than enough power, and destroys any challenger or mustang around a track. The V8 sells very well. And people keep them, thats why you dont see as many on autotrader. The refresh will not be some huge change trying to make tons more sales. Sales numbers have been fine. It will be a refresh like any other, some new options, facelift, etc. They arent going to change the interior on a refresh.

[jimmypop13]

Looks like a new take on the salad shooter wheels from the 90's. I wasn't a fan then and looks like I'm still not

[Cgocifer]

Originally Posted by jimmypop13

Looks like a new take on the salad shooter wheels from the 90's. I wasn't a fan then and looks like I'm still not

Concur. Directional spokes seems to be a trend this year. Honda has some terrible ones. Never been a fan of directional spokes. Supposed to make it look faster or something...

[samurai]

Originally Posted by Fraxum

Gee, I was interested in this thread to find out more about the next version of the Camaro, what others would like to see come true, but not advice from experts on how to sell the next version.

Yeah this topic went completely off road 20 pages ago. I just hope we could focus here on what we want to see or what we expect from the refresh or what we can see on the spyshots, but for the discussion of the pre-refresh sales we already have the monthly sales topic.

Direcational spokes is really a thing on so many new cars now. I think they can look nice, but the biggest problem is usally that they are not made for left and right side, so on one side it looks cool with the design running in the same direction as the car, but on the other side it's inverted and looks strange.

Example:

Looks great:


Looks wrong:

[SliChillax]

Nothing new since October? Damn the wait is killing me.

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by Cgocifer

Concur. Directional spokes seems to be a trend this year. Honda has some terrible ones. Never been a fan of directional spokes. Supposed to make it look faster or something...

You read my mind! I picked a Honda Touring partially for the wheels. Not only do directional spokes look terrible, they somehow look disturbing to me. Aren't they also left and right specific? Some trends like Disco should never have been started.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by samurai

Yeah this topic went completely off road 20 pages ago. I just hope we could focus here on what we want to see or what we expect from the refresh or what we can see on the spyshots, but for the discussion of the pre-refresh sales we already have the monthly sales topic.

Direcational spokes is really a thing on so many new cars now. I think they can look nice, but the biggest problem is usally that they are not made for left and right side, so on one side it looks cool with the design running in the same direction as the car, but on the other side it's inverted and looks strange.

Example:

Looks great:


Looks wrong:

And then there is this....my car. Works for me...

[brantley847]

The new TT front fascia looks great. Easily one of the best looking front fascias on the market up there with the ZL1, M4, etc...

Don't care for its side or rear profile - strikes me as too much of a VW bug (granted with great performance). The problem with those directional spoke patterns is they could look a bit too.... hot wheelish? Obviously, some people love that and thats all that matters for that consumer.

Oh, on topic....really wish we could get a confirmation of a refresh or not. That has been my reason for stalling and moving up to the 6th gen.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by brantley847

.....Oh, on topic....really wish we could get a confirmation of a refresh or not. That has been my reason for stalling and moving up to the 6th gen.

SOMETHING beyond an annual program is happening. That would indicate to me a mild refresh. GM does not go to the expense and man hours required to camo a vehicle unless there are some visual changes. The question is WHAT is changing? It appears that front and rear lights or fascia or both. Maybe some new optional wheels. I can’t help but wonder if the salad shooter wheels might be an exclusive for a low cost V8 option.

You won’t get a confirmation until it actually happens. Knowing that something different than the 2016-18 designs lie under the camo is the closest to a confirmation that you will get that there is a refresh a-comin’.

[hotlap]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

SOMETHING beyond an annual program is happening. That would indicate to me a mild refresh. GM does not go to the expense and man hours required to camo a vehicle unless there are some visual changes. The question is WHAT is changing? It appears that front and rear lights or fascia or both. Maybe some new optional wheels. I can’t help but wonder if the salad shooter wheels might be an exclusive for a low cost V8 option.

You won’t get a confirmation until it actually happens. Knowing that something different than the 2016-18 designs lie under the camo is the closest to a confirmation that you will get that there is a refresh a-comin’.

The refresh always points to what the next generation. The gen5 refresh pointed to the gen6 front fascia and lights...for instance. Makes me wonder if there is further significance to the gen4 salad shooter wheels

[metros11]

Originally Posted by Gen_Nick3.8

I dont have a problem with that!! But majority of people do. See when you join a forum you're an enthusiast of some what.. Most people who buy cars are not on forums. So to the average person buying into this market those things matter. Most people aren't rich and can have a Weekend Warrior and a daily!! So when your competition has everything you don't people tend to gravitate towards that option. There's a reason Camaro sales sucked from the get go, But mustang/FCA sales are fantastic. Look at it how you want.. I personally think the camaro is a superior car for enthusiasts.

To a certain degree, I agree. But I also honestly think most people buy cars based on looks, especially sports cars, and IMO the Mustang is a better looking car. I didn't even know 6th Gen was a new generation because it looked so much like the outgoing model. Wasn't until I started comparing performance that I started looking at the Camaro. To your point, superior car for enthusiasts.

Originally Posted by Quinten_33

If GM wants better Camaro sales, they have to fire their entire pr department and start a new one from scratch. Everybody knows what a mustang is, and the majority of non-car enthusiasts like the mustang because it's iconic. Survey an entire city asking if they'd rather have a Mustang or a Camaro, 80% will say mustang, 10% will say Camaro, and 10% will ask "what's a Camaro?". GM needs to inform the public on what the Camaro can do. Show off the Zl1 in a commercial with burnouts and a drag racing scene with graphics showing off the LT4, eLSD, and the 10-speed auto. Show off the 1LE packages in a commercial with them lapping a track and graphics showing the various performance features and statistics that each car provides. Use some Camaro SS and ZL1 press cars to give free joyrides at NASCAR races, Mecum auctions, the MLB all-star and World Series games. Let the world know that the Camaro is a professional performance car, and that it runs with the big boys.

There is so much truth to this.

[AZCamaroFan]

that picture makes not much sense. The third gen had the same headlights all the way through and it had foglights since 85'
and the hood vents first appeared on the trans am in 85'

[Cgocifer]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

And then there is this....my car. Works for me...

Well, since we are all bored...

That is ridiculous!! I never caught that the directional wheels are going in different directions on each side of the vehicle. I'm sorry, but that is just plain dumb. I have a thing about symmetry and this would totally jack me up. Especially on the Audi. For that kind of money, I'd expect that they would make a left and right side so that the wheels point the same way.