I think you misunderstood me. I, personally, couldn't care less about most of that stuff, and performance is of paramount importance for me. But you and I are not like most american car buyers. I was speaking in terms of the average car buyer, not the .9% (or whatever it is) of true enthusiasts. In terms of profitability, sports cars are not notoriously known to be such things, and generally are an image product. GM has that in the ZR1, and adding a similarly powered vehicle to the product line is redundant. Sports cars are not going to save GM. Its the Camry buyers, the Accord buyers, Odyssey buyers, that make up the bulk of automotive sales. Thats the war that GM has been losing, the one that matters.

 

GM has a whole image they need to improve on. They could build the greatest car in the world and it would take years to detach the stigma they've built for 30+ years. In fact, if GM continues business as usual, which they probably will, "Stigma" would be a fitting name for their next car.

GM probably needs to focus on doing one or two things better than everyone else instead of doing everything half-assed. But the first thing they need to do is fire all their accountants.

 

Specialty cars like the z28 are actually very profitable. The Base camaro sells for what about 23k? The SS and Z28 use the same chassis and they use a motor that already is used in multiple other cars. Adding some "leather" maybe some outsourced brakes (brembo's) and revised suspension then selling the thing for what i would assume be around $45k ish (considering the ss can get up there in price) makes good business sense. There's a much larger profit margin although they will sell less units than the base cars. That being said, they do need to offer appealing cars to buyers who are either not interested in performance oriented cars or can't afford them. Once they have that down, some of those cars could benefit from specialty models.

 

GM will do what GM will do. But as LuckyH pointed out these cars sit on the same chassy and use common engines and transmissions. GM would be better off making the car available as a "made to order" vehicle, just like the C5 corvette was when it was introduced to the market.

 

I think you're missing the point. GM was once one of the largest auto makers in the world; today, it does not sell high volume type cars. I feel like I keep repeating myself: GM needs to focus on selling cars that will win back buyers that are currently buying Camry's, Accords, Odysseys, Corrollas and Civics. Those are your bread and butter products that make the bucks. Think outside of the scope of what WE would want, and more about what the average car buyer buys, because they outnumber us at least 15:1

 

the 2010 mustang came out later than the camaro i think (camaro has been out for more than a month i believe)...

 

but it is one way to guage popularity of a car in one area? i drive about +/-1000 miles a week.

 

This is GM...

GM tries to pitch Camaro to gay men - Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

Now, how many muscle car enthusiasts and traditionalists is this marketing campaign gonna alienate?

What a bunch of fucking knuckleheads. It's no wonder they're going outta business.

 

I don't disagree with what you're saying, but the other side of the coin is that sports car enthusiast are much more brand loyal than the average grocery getter customer. The vehicle in the garage next to the Z28 is liable to be a Silverado, while the vehicle next to the Camry could be an Accord or any other brand.

In fact, brand loyalty is the only thing that has kept that shitty GM alive for the past 30 years. It sure as hell hasn't been exciting cars.

 

Could have sworn I covered that when I stated

It seems like most the US companies have more success selling cars that were designed in other countries. The Focus was much better than the escort it replaced and the LX platform uses technology from the previous gen Mercedes Chassis.

I think they should bring the ford mondeo back over here as a contour again.




And they definitely need to bring the falcon. RWD, Choice of n/a or turbo I6, and also v8.





Shit there is an upscale model too. Just re-badge that as a lincoln or something.