The Fifth Generation Camaro production schedule had been postponed many times and now the long awaiting revived muscle car legacy is finally back. Chevrolet Camaro had not been on production for 7 years. It was a bright red Z28 rolled off the assembly line at General Motor's Ste, Quebec, on August 29, 2002 as the last Chevy Camaro production. Ever since then its great archrival the Ford Mustang effectively has reigned as the market leader in pony car the sport muscle segment.
The American muscle cars in its heyday were dominated by the Pontiac GTO, the Trans Am, the Ford Torino, the Mustang, the Hemi ‘Cuda, whereby the top of the list was the Chevy Camaro. Why did GM ignore the outcry mourning of Camaro’s fans? Do they make the same management assumptions on Pontiac today? What really happened then which differentiate current gloomy auto market?
Scaling down on model or particular brand was never easy for GM or any other automaker nor reviving such brand back into the market. We all know what factors drove muscle car down in early 70s, early 2000s as well as the recent hampering crisis and the impact on “Cash for Clunker” with its curbing MPG criteria.
People may argue for Legacy, Quality production, Green Eco Car and so forth, yet in the end it is the market driving factors which counts. And ensuring market driven car production is the only way to survive for GM. Had it listen to DR Demming’s Profound Knowledge as the Japanese did in early 60s, it would be a different scenario then!
Acquiring the required production attitude and continuously making the right improvements is the most important factor to survive the hardship. Most automaker retains their successful formulas and prolongs the proven technology utilization rather than introducing new advanced technology which is not proven yet. For example the new Honda Accord model introduction has been extended from 4 to 5 years cycle.
And Volvo had only three body template from 1974 to 1997 as the production basis on series 200, 700 and 900s, where the last two are actually share similar main body structure. Despite of it is no longer sticking to “Over Engineering” motto, Daimler still clings to its 30 years Puch outsourced Mercedes Benz G Wagen production. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken!
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