Retro Camaro is a Hit Thanks to Transformers -- But It's Not GM's Way Forward
Few cars I've driven in the last 10 years have excited quite as much admiration, especially from young people, as the new Camaro introduced last year. People beg me for rides and wave from the street. They get off their skateboards to offer thumbs-up. In the liquor store, a young woman with ear buds told me the Camaro was her "dream car."
I asked a 15-year-old of my acquaintance to explain the appeal. "It was in the movie Transformers," she said, "and it's the cars that transforms into one of the coolest robots. And it's fast."
It is fast. I just drove it 200 miles, and in a straight line the 304-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6, coupled with a six-speed manual transmission, does zero to 60 in 5.9 seconds. With those numbers, the V-8 SS version (4.6 seconds to 60) just seems like gilding the lily for up to $8,000 more. And the V-6 does get 29 mpg on the highway.
But a yellow SS is the Transformers car. For readers not up on the phenomenon, here's the lowdown, courtesy of Edmunds.com:
There are a shockingly large number of Transformers enthusiasts out there. Weaned on the original Hasbro toys and several television cartoon series, plus comic books, these boys (and they have been virtually all boys) spent the 1980s obsessed with the battle pitting Bumblebee and the other Autobots against the evil Decepticons. Of course, every one of these Transformers geeks knows that the original Bumblebee was a Volkswagen Beetle. But the movie Bumblebee is -- purists be damned -- a Camaro. Actually two Camaros -- first a clapped-out '76 F-body that later becomes the '09 version.Does it matter what I think? Probably not, since I'm out of the demographic for this car. But my humble opinion is that, despite excellent short-term sales, the Camaro does not point the way forward for General Motors. Retro was the great idea of GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, but he's finally retiring and with him may go this strategy. The company can trade on past glories--the '57 Chevy! The '67 Corvette Stingray! The '64 Pontiac GTO!--for so long. And reviving muscle cars seems a rather pointless strategy as gas inches above $3 a gallon again. The utterly new Chevrolet Volt, which is finally reaching the media for test drives, is the future for General Motors.
Some 6,000 2010 Camaros were pre-ordered, and it has been moving briskly. But it's likely to fade quickly as movie memories grow dim. In an ominous sign for GM, Ford sold 1,000 more cars that GM in February (the first time since 1998). "This is huge," said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at IHS Global Insight. Ford has retro cars, too (the iconic Mustang especially), but it also has a strong EV strategy and two excellent Europe-honed small cars, the Fiesta and Focus, coming out soon.
A dissatisfied GM has shaken up its North American sales team, with President Mark Reuss taking over U.S. sales from Susan Docherty. This week, Cadillac (which underwent a 32 percent sales decline last year) was reorganized, with three marketing executives terminated and the sales manager demoted. These are good moves.
To me, the Camaro fails ergonomics 101, and that means it probably won't be a satisfying ownership experience for the people who buy it after being seduced by the sexy styling. For the record, here's my short list of grievances:
- Rear seat access is awkward, and there is very little rear legroom. The latch designed to slide the front seat forward for easy egress was jammed.
- The gauges are cryptic, and the extra gauge package on my $29,740 RS model was not easily placed for a quick scan. But I'm not sure how often I'll need to know the transmission temperature anyway.
- The doors are so long it is almost criminally easy to bang them into other cars in parking lots.
- The trunk is big enough, but it is shallow, with a very small, high opening that would make the loading of large suitcases and packages awkward.
- The door handles are placed far too low, and the seatbelts are a difficult reach.
Photo: Maya Motavalli