http://www.superchevy.com/features/camaro/...tion/index.html
Death of the New Z28 Camaro
writer: Jim Campisano
photographer: Jim Campisano
No sooner did our news story come out about the supercharged 2010 Camaro Z28 in the August Super Chevy ("Bow Tie Briefs") that we got a call from a panic-stricken source at General Motors.
"The Z28 is dead. Call me back," the message stated.
A little history: In said news article we talked about the late-2010 introduction of the top-of-the-performance-ladder Camaro named Z28. The base V-8 Camaro would be the SS with a 400-plus-horsepower LS3, but for those who wanted to go hunting for Shelby GT500 and GT500KR Mustangs, there was the Z28, which we heard would have a 500-550-horse version of the CTS-V supercharged LS engine. Now we have more information on it: The engine was a supercharged 6.2-liter LSA and it made 550-horsepower. Transmission choices were to be a 6-speed automatic or 6-speed manual. It had a bigger, beefier independent rear suspension to handle the massive quantities of torque and horses.
During durability testing in Arizona this year, the car made 200 dragstrip passes, the slowest of which was a 12.40. Most of them were in the 12.0 range. The plan was to produce 5,000 of them annually--less than what Ford sells of its blown Mustangs.
And now the Z28 is supposedly dead, the victim of political correctness, rising fuel costs and economic pressures. All this happened in the last two weeks. It seems some people at GM think it's not the right time to introduce a 4,000-pound, 550-horse supercar that doesn't get 40 mpg.
Worse, we hear one executive hates the Camaro so much that he'll sign its death warrant after the first year if the car fails to sell 80,000 units (essentially, the car's break-even number).
Originally, there was a $25-million dollar development budget for the Z28, which was made into a $12 million program--no worries. Just de-content the car (less body kit fluff, fewer bells and whistles). While this might seem like a lot of money, in automotive development costs it's nothing, the proverbial drop in the bucket. It's less than some of the empty suits at GM get for their annual bonus. There's no question GM is in dire straits. Fuel costs are rising, the stock price is in the toilet and the company's hemorrhaging red ink. Truck sales are dead and so are the high profit margins that come with them. They are afraid the Z28 might hurt its corporate image further in these "green" times. But the way to battle back isn't killing the cars that people want to buy because the tree-huggers might whine. They're going to whine anyway. Besides, none of them buy Chevys or any other GM product, so who cares?
When was the last time you saw a commercial for a Cobalt, an Aveo or other high-fuel economy product? All I see here is commercials for the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and other Japanese brands.
Chevy's ad agency, we're told, broke the potential Camaro customer down to three segments:
1. Those who want a V-8.
2. Those who want more excitement in their drive and will get the V-6.
3. People who want a car that "shocks their social network, like Nissan 350Z buyers." Nissan 350Z?
"I didn't once in their report see how they would pull on the car's legacy, like Ford has done with the Mustang," said our source. "They don't know there's a whole market for people who want a weekend car like the Z28 and don't care that it gets 15-20 mpg."
It's time to shock these people into reality. We need to band together and save the Z28, and in doing so, we might just be saving the Camaro. We want to be able to buy a supercharged Camaro. We want to keep the legacy of Chevrolet high performance alive in a new modern automobile. We think 15-20 mpg is great and absolutely palatable compared to our 5-8 mpg hot rods. Most of all, we want to buy a Chevy Camaro, not a Ford Mustang or a Dodge Challenger. Don't force us to defect to other camps.
We did hear from another source at GM that the Z28 is not dead. He said that "every program is on the table, but, frankly, it's premature to post an obituary." He noted that the Z28 could simply be delayed six months. Let's hope. Once upon a time, in the late 1980s, the Mustang was going to be converted to a front-wheel-drive car. There were prototypes running around with Mustang badges on them. There was enough of an outrage from enthusiasts and friends of the car that Ford reconsidered and kept the Mustang rear wheel drive in 1994. (The front-drive car eventually became the Ford Probe.)
Please e-mail me at
[email protected], put "Save The Z28" is the subject line. I'll forward all your e-mails to the appropriate people at General Motors. Together we can save this car. But we have to act quickly. There's no time to waste.
