[ParisTNDude]

I wouldn't want to "poo poo" the whole Camaro thing, but I would be surprised if we ever see a next gen Camaro. With sales of the 6th gen in the toilet and they're cutting some of the best Chevy cars of all time, I believe GM would be hard pressed to make an economics argument in favor of a seriously updated version. Just my thoughts.

[protovack]

Originally Posted by ParisTNDude

I wouldn't want to "poo poo" the whole Camaro thing, but I would be surprised if we ever see a next gen Camaro. With sales of the 6th gen in the toilet and they're cutting some of the best Chevy cars of all time, I believe GM would be hard pressed to make an economics argument in favor of a seriously updated version. Just my thoughts.

As long as theres a platform available they'll make a camaro. A "next gen" camaro is a bit of a misnomer. They would not design a one-off platform just for a Camaro, that's true. But the platform, alpha 2, is already done and in the books. It's being used for cadillac cars already in development. It doesn't take a lot of investment to re-skin it and call it a camaro. Just like the ATS before, camaro will continue to be a re-skinned cadillac and simply a great way for GM to turn out more of those platforms and get more of them into consumers hands, at a high ATP.

Remember when a car company gets a winning design for a chassis that people really like (and is cheap and profitable to build), they will do everything they can to build as many of them as possible. I.E, just put into the ATS the chassis would not be profitable. But throw that chassis underneath a value sports car for the masses (Camaro) and suddenly that plant producing the alpha chassis is running 3 shifts all day every day for years. That's what they want. They will use that chassis until they are forced to stop, either by new regulations or some larger shift in the economy.

The alpha, and alpha 2 chassis, are already great. That's the part that requires the most engineering investment, and its already done. Designing and manufacturing new body panels and dashboard pieces isn't particularly expensive. We'll get our new Camaro. In fact the 7th gen camaro is kind of a "gimme" for GM. There aren't any crazy new regulations to deal with, and they have an awesome chassis. It's a no-brainer. Update the styling, address some criticisms, evolve, and get it out to the market for 2021.

[Number 3]

Originally Posted by protovack

As long as theres a platform available they'll make a camaro. A "next gen" camaro is a bit of a misnomer. They would not design a one-off platform just for a Camaro, that's true. But the platform, alpha 2, is already done and in the books. It's being used for cadillac cars already in development. It doesn't take a lot of investment to re-skin it and call it a camaro. Just like the ATS before, camaro will continue to be a re-skinned cadillac and simply a great way for GM to turn out more of those platforms and get more of them into consumers hands, at a high ATP.

Remember when a car company gets a winning design for a chassis that people really like (and is cheap and profitable to build), they will do everything they can to build as many of them as possible. I.E, just put into the ATS the chassis would not be profitable. But throw that chassis underneath a value sports car for the masses (Camaro) and suddenly that plant producing the alpha chassis is running 3 shifts all day every day for years. That's what they want. They will use that chassis until they are forced to stop, either by new regulations or some larger shift in the economy.

The alpha, and alpha 2 chassis, are already great. That's the part that requires the most engineering investment, and its already done. Designing and manufacturing new body panels and dashboard pieces isn't particularly expensive. We'll get our new Camaro. In fact the 7th gen camaro is kind of a "gimme" for GM. There aren't any crazy new regulations to deal with, and they have an awesome chassis. It's a no-brainer. Update the styling, address some criticisms, evolve, and get it out to the market for 2021.

You made a GIANT leap when you claim Alpha is cheap to build (it isn’t that’s why Cadillac uses it) and profitable (not sure where that claim even comes from. ATS/CTS HAVE SOLD HORRIBLY and it would be surprising if GM has made any real profit on Alpha.

Also the Camaro is not a re skin. It’s basically an all new upper and interior. Likely hundreds of millions to get a Gen7. A new front and rear fascia, grille, headlamps tail lamps were probably 8 to 10 million or so in tooling alone not counting the cost to engineer, develop and validate.

[lt4camaro]

Originally Posted by RideWithDanger

Im pretty sure 2020 will be either the same as 19, or an update to the refresh. But I wouldn't expect a 7th gen just yet.

A nice refresh would be to get rid of the ugly SS front and give it the LT2 500 plus horse 6.2 V8 thats going to be in the Mid Engine corvette.

[protovack]

Originally Posted by Number 3

You made a GIANT leap when you claim Alpha is cheap to build (it isn’t that’s why Cadillac uses it) and profitable (not sure where that claim even comes from. ATS/CTS HAVE SOLD HORRIBLY and it would be surprising if GM has made any real profit on Alpha.

Also the Camaro is not a re skin. It’s basically an all new upper and interior. Likely hundreds of millions to get a Gen7. A new front and rear fascia, grille, headlamps tail lamps were probably 8 to 10 million or so in tooling alone not counting the cost to engineer, develop and validate.

All the more reason to keep using a winning chassis that's already been engineered and has no further costs except to keep producing it. When I say cheap to build I mean, to produce, not develop. I know it was expensive to develop. But once the engineering work is done, an alpha platform steering knuckle doesn't cost significantly more to produce than any other steering knuckle.
The 4th gen camaro died because GM didn't have an adaptable performance platform that met current regulations that would enable them to produce a Camaro at that time, given the state of the economy.
We are in a completely different situation today. The platform is there, all Chevy has to do is build a car on top of it. I know that's expensive too, but I see no reason why they wouldn't. There is good demand in the market and a whole lot of hype around sports cars. GM won many customers with the 6th gen and it would be unwise to abandon that momentum in the next generation product cycle. I stand by my statement, we will get a 7th generation camaro and it will be awesome.

[Number 3]

Originally Posted by protovack

All the more reason to keep using a winning chassis that's already been engineered and has no further costs except to keep producing it. When I say cheap to build I mean, to produce, not develop. I know it was expensive to develop. But once the engineering work is done, an alpha platform steering knuckle doesn't cost significantly more to produce than any other steering knuckle.
The 4th gen camaro died because GM didn't have an adaptable performance platform that met current regulations that would enable them to produce a Camaro at that time, given the state of the economy.
We are in a completely different situation today. The platform is there, all Chevy has to do is build a car on top of it. I know that's expensive too, but I see no reason why they wouldn't. There is good demand in the market and a whole lot of hype around sports cars. GM won many customers with the 6th gen and it would be unwise to abandon that momentum in the next generation product cycle. I stand by my statement, we will get a 7th generation camaro and it will be awesome.

It’s also expensive to produce. The bits and pieces that add up to this wonderful handling light weight architecture aren’t cheap to produce either. Simply look at the front shock tower. Cast aluminum. Could easily have just been steel.