With a new model due in 2015, the folks at General Motors are facing a conundrum — how do you fix something that isn’t broken. The current-generation Chevrolet Camaro is the best-selling RWD performance coupe on the market now, so how to make the next generation just as successful?
In an interview with Automotive News, Camaro’s chief designer Al Oppenheiser said weight reduction and styling are among his primary considerations.
“We always get hammered for mass,” he said, “and that’s not going to be getting easier going forward” with expected stiffer corporate average fuel economy regulations. “Displacement, number of cylinders, all of these things you need to think about.” He said in some ways it will be tougher to design the upcoming sixth generation than to create the current, reborn iteration.
With 40% of the market compared to 35% for the second-place Mustang, GM has a lot to lose. A new-gen Mustang is also due in 2015, and it will mark the venerable pony car’s 50th anniversary — nothing like a little pressure to keep things interesting.
“We always have to stay fresh and ahead,” Oppenheiser said. “But we do not want to lose the fact that we have nearly 40% of the market.”
Source: Automotive News
In an interview with Automotive News, Camaro’s chief designer Al Oppenheiser said weight reduction and styling are among his primary considerations.
 |
| 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Photo: General Motors) |
“We always get hammered for mass,” he said, “and that’s not going to be getting easier going forward” with expected stiffer corporate average fuel economy regulations. “Displacement, number of cylinders, all of these things you need to think about.” He said in some ways it will be tougher to design the upcoming sixth generation than to create the current, reborn iteration.
With 40% of the market compared to 35% for the second-place Mustang, GM has a lot to lose. A new-gen Mustang is also due in 2015, and it will mark the venerable pony car’s 50th anniversary — nothing like a little pressure to keep things interesting.
“We always have to stay fresh and ahead,” Oppenheiser said. “But we do not want to lose the fact that we have nearly 40% of the market.”
Source: Automotive News