GM must not like the Camaro very much — or maybe never intended
to sell many of them, at any rate.
Last week the automaker revealed pricing details about its
soon-to-be resurrected Mustang-fighting pony coupe that indicate
Mustang may not have to do very much fighting at all to hold on
to its crown. The 2010 Camaro’s base price will be $22,995 —
which isn’t so bad. But the one that everyone wants — the V-8
powered SS — will start at $30,995.
Those numbers spell an early knockout for Camaro — which I doubt
will last two years on the market, if that.
For openers, times are about as bad as they possibly can be for
any car like Camaro — not merely Camaro. Useless back
seats and tiny trunk; terrible in snow (being rear-wheel-drive),
fairly expensive — and hungry for gas. Not a winning
sell when gas threatens to needle up to $4 per gallon at any time
and, more significantly, most people simply don’t have either the
disposable income or the confidence in the economy that’s
necessary to support the market for what are, at the core of it,
frivolous cars purchased because they are fun.
When people are worried about the mortgage, keeping their jobs,
decimated stock portfolios and finding a way to fund their kids’
college tuition, buying a car — any car — is low on the list of
things to do. Buying a high-performance/sporty two-plus-two
doesn’t even register.
So, Camaro starts out with one foot in the grave before the first
one even reaches a dealership.
GM’s insane pricing structure merely slams the coffin lid shut.
The V-8 SS starts at nearly $31k — before adding a
single option, before the inevitable dealer gouging.
Expect the “out the door” cost of a new Camaro SS to be closer to
$35k — if not $40k.
Meanwhile, Ford is selling new Mustang GTs for $26,775 — and
that’s very negotiable.
Now, it’s true the SS Camaro will have a larger engine that makes
considerably more horsepower than the Mustang GT’s V-8. But GM
has a short memory — and forgets the same was true from the
mid-late 1980s all the way through 2002 — when the previous
Camaro (and its now-defunct corporate cousin, the Pontiac
Firebird) were canceled. The much less powerful Mustang GT
outsold the Camaro and Firebird combined by a margin of
3-1.
History is about to repeat itself.
GM continues to obsess about the Camaro’s cojones — but history
and current market facts prove that horsepower isn’t everything.
It’s the total package that sells the car, not just
what’s under the hood — and Ford continues to bitch slap GM on
this point, even if the Mustang loses to Camaro on the drag
strip.
For one, $31k is way too much money. By pricing the SS
almost $4,500 higher than Mustang — its obvious and primary
competitor — GM has assured Mustang will continue to not merely
outsell Camaro, but to outlast it as well.
Again.
IT’S POSSIBLE FOR large numbers of under-35s to buy a new Mustang
GT. They can - and they do. But a $35k Camaro is a car for the
over-40s and those guys (if they have the money) tend to want
something more age-appropriate. A BMW 3-Series or Infiniti G, for
instance.
Or they have kids — and have to have four doors.
The base Camaro, meanwhile, is almost as badly gimped from the
get-go as its SS big brother. GM chubbs up about the fact that
the base V-6 Camaro will have as much rated hp (300) as the V-8
powered Mustang. That is indeed impressive. But GM forgets
that high-horsepower is not a priority for people who buy the
base versions of cars like Camaro — and Mustang.
What they want is an affordable sporty coupe — emphasis on
affordable.
But the Camaro V-6 starts at nearly $23k - which is more than
three thousand dollars higher than the base V-6 Mustang’s MSRP of
$19,995. Three grand is no small change at this price point. Bet
your bippie it will be a huge factor when it gets down to making
a buying decision.
GM thinks the extra power justifies the extra cost — but let me
say it again: The people who buy the standard version of cars
like Camaro and Mustang are not looking for sizzling 0-60 times
and rumbly exhaust notes. Frankly, they don’t care
what’s under the hood (so long as there’s adequate power to move
the car comfortably).
What they care about is on the window sticker.
Think I’m wrong? Then check how many base Mustangs Ford sells
each year. The base car is the volume car — not the GT. And it
is the volume car because — say it again, Sam — it is
inexpensive. That is what people who buy the base car
care about. Few of them seem to mind at all that the base car has
“only” 210 hp. It seems to be plenty.
And they also care about, you know, fuel economy.
A 300 hp V-6 is going to cost a lot more to feed than a
200-something hp V-6. The figures aren’t yet available, but the
same basic 3.6 liter V-6 engine GM will use in the 2010 Camaro is
currently in service in some other GM models — where it gets
about 16 mpg in city driving and 25 on the highway.
That’s not awful — but in a word of $4 gas, it’s not acceptable,
either. Not when there are literally a dozen other sporty
two-doors available that are equally cute and fun to drive but
which also deliver closer to 30 mpg. (Speaking of which: Ford
reportedly will offer a high-efficiency V-6 as the base power
plant of the next-generation Mustang, scheduled to appear in
2010.)
Add a much more expensive sticker price with a higher cost to
feed and what do you get?
Lots of Camaros sitting on dealers lots.
