$50K '09 V-8 Camaro??? Awww, WTF?!!!
 

http://www.thecarconnection.com/blog/?p=759

General Motors has been forced to rework the investment case for the Chevrolet Camaro in the wake of new fuel-economy rules adopted this past December.
The Camaro will still be built, but higher-end V-8 versions likely will be priced higher than expected. As for other planned GM rear-drivers–a new Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse and the replacement for the Pontiac G8 due this spring–all have been dropped along with a new V-8 engine GM was contemplating building.
“You can’t kill something that was never approved,” said one GM official, who asked for anonymity but who confirmed the rear-wheel-drive projects are now dead.
Stew Low, a spokesman for GM of Canada, said the Camaro project is safe and is moving forward. The GM of Canada plant in Oshawa, Ontario outside of Toronto should be ready to build the first Camaro late this year, Low said.
Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said that GM is spending $2.5 billion in Oshawa - including $435 million from the Ontario and Canadian federal governments.
“We anticipated that would be followed by other rear-wheel-drive vehicles, but the money they spent on the plant makes it a flex plant, so you can build both front-drive and rear-wheel-drive in the facility,'’ Hargrove told reporters in Canada.
Only a proposal for new ultra-luxury rear-wheel-drive Cadillac seems to still have a chance of making it through GM’s product development process and into production. Even that project, though, may well depend on how the Environmental Protection Agency writes the rules enforcing the new fuel-economy standards.
The death of the other rear-drive GM vehicles also has implications for the final pricing of the Camaro when it goes on sale next year.
Last year, GM vice chairman Robert Lutz had told TheCarConnection.com that the rear-wheel-drive platform developed for the Camaro would support other vehicles as part of GM’s effort to make the project financially manageable. Spinning more vehicles from one platform spreads the costs around and is the most efficient and effective way for GM to use its available capital, Lutz has said.
As part of global product strategy GM plans to use fewer but more flexible platforms that would accommodate a wider range of vehicles and vehicle designs. Specifically, the new Camaro platform could be used for other rear-drive vehicles, Lutz said he said before the fuel-economy debate had heated up in Congress.
Part of the reason for the delay in moving forward with the Camaro project revolved around extending the utility of the fundamental architecture so it could serve as the platform for other vehicles as well, he said.
The new fuel-economy rules, however, have basically forced GM to reconsider its extensive plans for rear-wheel-drive vehicles. Rear-wheel-drive trucks and SUVs are safe for now because the new federal rules will allow some wiggle room for trucks. GM, though, is not in a position to absorb the roughly 1-mpg fuel-economy penalty that comes with building rear-wheel-drive passenger cars, GM insiders said in the wake of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
However, GM’s decision to scrap the other rear-drive models is putting an enormous cost burden on the new Camaro.
GM officials are saying they should be able to recover some of the investment costs in the new rear-wheel-drive platform by selling the vehicles in places such as Australia, the Middle East and China. Australia, however, has a new government that takes global warming very seriously. China is imposing new fuel-economy standards that are as tough as those found in the United States and one of the largest vehicle markets in the Middle East, Iran, is off limits to American car companies.
Nevertheless, GM desperately wants to price the new Camaro competitively against vehicles like the new Dodge Challenger and particularly the Ford Mustang, which pretty much inherited the segment after GM withdrew the Camaro earlier in the decade.
With a new generation of rear-wheel-drive vehicles consigned to the never-built file somewhere in the company’s engineering office, GM now is working on a plan B for Camaro.
GM chairman Richard Wagoner has already confirmed a V-6 engine will be part of the Camaro package.
While the concept Camaro has come with V-8 engine, a V-6 would serve as basic engine for the production Camaro and would help keep prices competitive.
Meanwhile, Tom Stephens, the head of GM’s Powertrain Group, told reporters recently that turbocharging can help boost both fuel economy and horsepower.
The V-8 version of the Camaro is very likely carry a substantial premium and GM is thought to have assigned a team of engineers to work out how to apply its new dual-mode hybrid system for an even more expensive version of the Camaro.–By Joseph Szczesny

Go V6 and enjoy the 300+ hp that will come with something thats got better milage anyway.

I'm still leaning towards the CTS now that I've seen the test mule and Camaro interior. I just don't like it.

I hope it dosnt cost 50 k to buy the v8 version for that price you could get a base model corvette.

they're gonna kill it again before it's even on the market with all this crap.

Well, i saw the 'vert version @ the show, and i have mixed feelings about the styling. I mean they're parts i like and don't like. The front/rear end is cool, but the side view kinda looks like a chop top; which i guess wouldn't be so bad if the car didn't look like the "Funk Master Flex DUB Edition". I mean, c'mon, those damn rims r HUGE!!!!

The interior is pretty cool i guess, i dunno, maybe too gaudy for me. Like extreme retro or somthing. $50K might be a stretch, but look at it this way: The new Vette with the 436HP LS3 is around $45K-ish, so unless the "SS" '09 Camaro (fully loaded with EVERY option) is $35K-ish, it ain't gonna be worth it. I don't see many ppl spending $40K for a fully loaded Camaro when they can spend $45K for a LS3 Vette.

Damn, i can take a loan out for HALF of what the new ones cost, mod my 4th Gen, and be better looking, and faster.

O, and a hybrid version???!!! Doesn't GM want to sell any Camaro's????

shhhhh you're giving away my plan :lol:

So is this why I havent heard anymore news on when the G8 is coming out, I thought it was coming out last month. And 50k for a camaro, yea right. The camaro will never last. At this point the 3rd gen is totally getting a make over

Typica GM runaround.

And they wonder why no one will buy their ****** cars....BECAUSE YOURE NOT MAKING THE ONES WE ****ING WANT!!!

If I wanted a japanese econobox, I would buy one from Toyota or something.

:roll:

If they price it even close to the vette it'll fail, horribly.

This stupid article has flown across the internet like wildfire.
The Camaro will not cost as much as a Vette. That asshat who threw that slop together is making major assumptions.
Camaro will be priced like Mustang.
/thread.

Makes sense Al, I hope you're right.

I know Im right. if Scott wasnt neck deep with Chicago, he'd come on and rip everyone a new *******.

1- Will Camaro reach 50k? For a 550hp supercharged Convertable leather Recaro seates, 6spd auto, GT500 killer....possibly.
2- Is Camaro hybird a bad thing? No. If you dont want it, dont buy it. I dont see Camaro getting Hybrid now that the other Zeta cars wont be there, so GM wont be able to leverage teh cost. But who's to say that GM cant make a hybrid Camaro? They make a hyrbid Silverado, and that doesnt take anything away form that truck? That mentality is a stupid one, and if a bunch of yuppie people can buy a sexy coupe with a hybrid powertraain, get the name out there, spread out the technology cost, and get the Gm Hyrbid system out to everyones face, then It hink thas awesome
3- This guy is assuming a lot...a lot. The Zeta chassis is actually one of the cheapest platforms GM has ever had to foot the bill for. The price of Camaro wasnt hinging on an Impala or anything like that. It would be nice to have a larger spread of parts bin stuff, but outside of that, Camaro's pricing structure will mimic teh Mustang.
Why would Chevy launch a Camaro that cost 50k? Why dont some ofyou snap the hell out of it, and come back to reality. Think "why would GM price Camaro at 50k? when they want to sell 100k of them?"
Well that doesnt make a drop of sense. I think he got his wires crossed. A top of the line, high performance V8 Camaro like that Supercharged car I was talkingabout, could very well reach 50k.
"Oh but why not get a Corvette?" Cause...Corvettes or for old men with small pee-pees. Camaro is for men with giant e-peni that bang supermodels on an hourly basis.
Really, Camaro and Corvette are two different people. Will the few thousand Camaro's eat into Corvette sales? No. People who want a Corvette will get Corvette. Who in thier right mind would pay 50k for a Mustang GT500, that is slower then a C6, uses a live axle suspension, cheap ass interior, 2 ton tank of a "supercar"?
Apparently a lot of people.

Are you sure you're ready for this?
I'll do my best.
Your "best"! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and **** the prom queen.

I think you people read into this stuff to much, its just internet jargon and I doubt it holds any weight, stuff like this comes out EVERY week!

BLAH

BLAH

BLAH.

I'll believe it when I see it. The same statement goes for the Camaro hitting production.

Nice comments about the Camaro and Vette, it's a shame the 'vette is more car than the Camaro will ever be :shrug: Vette owners might have small penises but I've seen some of the chicks that go after mullet-havin' Camaro owners....I'd rather stick with the small penis :lol:

;):D

***The previous comment was a joke, no need for the mulletmen to get upset***

:rofl: compensator

:-? Too much info

LOL

We have been talking about this around the office, for the new Camaro GM should offer more engine options like they did in the past. For the new Camaro offer a V6, small V8 (5.3 liter with the active fuel mgmt) and the LS whatever for all out performance. I bet most people would go with the small V8, 300hp, decent fuel mileage (for a v8 ) and Mustang like sticker shock. Works for me.

why woudl they wnt a 300 hp v8 when the v6 will be damn close to that?

everyone bashes vette guys, but fact is, if the people here had the money 80-90 percent would get one.......

jelousy is a terrible thing

What is the new 6 out of the box gonna put out?

*couch*Z06orZR1*Cough*

...not me!!!!! :shifty:

your completely right to a point... i had my choice when i bought my car nice clean low milage ws6 or a 98 vette with 60k miles.... i went with the ta just because of the styling and i see 50 corvettes a day in my area but maybe 5 firebirds 1 or 2 ta's and one ws6 a week... if i did have the money hell yea id pick up a vette as well like it was stated above 2 completely different cars

As far as the camaro costing 50k im sure theyll create a lsa camaro special edition of some sort that cost 40's and maybe up to 50k but like al said if they made regular v-8 camaros 50k it would fail... they will be priced just like the mustang maybe a couple k more