Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

[Brian J.]

Chevy needs something to compete with the new mustang. I have been a Chevy fan all my life, but the new mustang looks pretty cool. They dropped the Camaro and replaced it with the SSR pickup, what is that all about? Replacing a 20K car with a 45K, that doesn't even come close in terms of performance. I am a dedicated Chevy fan, and hope Chevy comes back with the answer to the Mustang. Maybe a retro Camaro or Chevelle? Until they do I'll have to say Ford has a much better design team. The Corvette is nice but not as cool as the retro style of the T-Bird or Mustang, I will not buy a Ford, but Chevy needs to do something better than what they offer, in a performance car. They come out with a Cobalt, isn't that just a high perf Cavalier? Front wheel drive? Brian

[Pat L.]

Re: Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

I think what Chevy needs is a new design department with some creativity or the common sense to figure out what the sporting public would buy.

[Tony Merendino]

Re: Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

There is no doubt that the new mustang will be a formitable competitor for Chevy. It has been for over 40 years. What you have to remember is that most cars are marketed for the mass markets not the enthusiasts. The enthusiast market is making a comeback but mostly with the young and unfortunately economically challenged. The performance mustangs will be out of their reach financially and most of its sales will come from 6 cylinder economy models direct competitor for the Cobalt. Chevy is hanging a lot of hopes on the Cobalt as you can see from their commercials claiming it is the younger sibling of the Corvette.

While I liked the retro styling of the Tbird and the SSR I think both of them are proving that their market is limited. The Tbird is dead and the SSR is not too far behind. The only retro that has sold was the PT Cruiser which was far from a high performance car. It was a Neon with a facelift but it was cheap enough for the mass market.

Sales are a key to success and most of the general public can't afford a Corvette, Tbird, SSR, or a Mustang Cobra. That is the reality of the car biz.

[Mike M.]

Erector Set styling-GM needs a fresh base design..

from one of the Italian designers, someone like pininfarina. Fat Aussie Cavaliers with V-8's aren't the answer either. Remember when you were proud to drive a GM car. GM lost it's pride (or sold it), allowing bottom line to drive marketing.
H. a. N. D.

[Tom Freeman]

Re: Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

Ford will sell quite a few of the new Mustangs but the market for retro styling is limited and the sales will not last. With the T-bird, Mustang, GT, and the 500, Ford is betting way too much on the past. Hints from the past are okay but something that looks totaly like the past is limiting.

The new C6 has a lot of hints from the past but the overall style to moving toward the future. It is time for Ford to hire some stylest that have ideas for the future. In the meantime Chevy needs designers that can do an extiting passanger car. Right now all Chevy has is the Vette and trucks.

tom...

[Wayne K.]

Insurance cost also keeps the young buyer out. *NM*

[G B.]

Humped and dumped

I think GM made a decision back in the eighties to steer their product design group away from hard core car people like us.

Why? Well, we don't buy a new car every year. We do much of our own repair work. We loudly bitch and moan when we think a new car is defective. And, worst of all, we order our vehicles just the way we want them rather than buy stock off the lot. They view us more as a pain in their ass than loyal customers.

I remember when the '84 Corvette was introduced. Designed, built, and marketed especially for elderly pimps. That thing had it all: mandatory full options, assembled so it couldn't be modified or repaired easily, and priced too high for kids. It didn't have to be that way to meet emission and safety standards either.

I've lost hope that GM will produce a neat car in the near future. They had their chance with the GTO and even the SSR. Both of these vehicles will have good engines in 2005, but the price will kill off most sales. The new Mustang GT has a list price of $28,000 loaded out. The GTO? It only comes one way for close to $34,000. But, with the GTO you do have the option of picking from several different emission control systems!

[lyndon Sharpton]

Re: Humped and dumped

Jerry you are so right about the 84 vette. GM wanted to market it up scale, when I was at a chervolet dealer in the early eighties they was a internal note to all the dealers about the reason it was so much higer than the last car. they wanted to go after that upscale market segment.

[Donald M.]

Re: Humped and dumped

Jerry, You are right about the GTO, however, it sorely needs a restyle to justify its price. It can't be distinguished from the other Pontiac models like Gran Prix, G6, etc. The TV commercial with the three cars in the garage next to each other only serves to emphasize that similarity. The SSR is "the answer to a question nobody asked"! I don't recall hearing a clamor for a convertible pickup truck that you wouldn't dare carry anything in. It is an oddity at best and GM should drop it like a hot potato and spend the money restyling the GTO and bringing back a Camaro-type pony car to trounce the Rustang. After all, Chevy has always been about affordable performance. Even the Corvette is a bargain compared to the European competition.

[Paul B.]

What CHEVY needs........... *NM*

[Clem Z.]

what i have posted before

is that GM does too much wind tunnel car design. that is why they all look the same. the new D/C 300 looks like a checker cab with a chopped top and has the C of D of a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood but it is different looking than all the other cars out there and that is why it is selling. the new caddys are a step in the right direction but GM needs a lower priced car in the chevy line like the caddy with RWD and enought V-8 HP to spin the tires. people who buy V-8 powered cars do not worry about gas milage and GM has to get that thru their heads. they need to get their D on D engines out there also if they are worried about their CAFE. GM has been talking about D on D engines for several years BUT D/C has them on the streets.

[John H.]

Re: Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

Jim Campbell, the Chevy Car Marketing Manager, was interviewed recently by one of the trade journal reporters, who asked him what Chevy had coming in the pipeline to compete with the new Mustang, now that the Camaro is gone. He replied that "We have that segment well-covered with the new Cobalt and the Monte Carlo, which has been very successful in NASCAR".

[John H.]

Re: Humped and dumped

Yup, the SSR is a real marketing coup, all right - 5,300 pounds, no bed space, two seats, "stone" performance, didn't have a decent engine until the second year (apparently a GM rule), all this for only fifty thousand dollars (ignoring the $10K-$15K the greedy dealers tacked on them), and they're wondering why there's a 335-day supply of them rotting on dealer lots? My local dealer has had three of them for months (which he didn't want), and his "deal" is $1000 off sticker. Is there ANYONE in GM Product Planning or Marketing who knows what a car (or play-truck) should be? Apparently not.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

And that would be the anemic-POS-front-wheel-drive segment?
I'm not sure quite how that covers the muscle/pony car segment....

Dork.

Patrick

[Richard D.]

Re: Will Chevy compete with new mustang?

If this Mustang is anywhere as near as successful as the original (when introduced in 64) then we'll probably see some kind of response from GM would be my guess. That's how the Camaro came about, as a response.

I have never owned a FORD in my life, but I must admit, the new Mustang looks good, and the pricing is right (Still won't buy a FORD though).

Rich