GM VP: Camaro Z28 confirmed (again)! 6th Gen Camaro on Alpha platform.
As reported on CAMARO5 HOMEPAGE.
It's been quite awhile since the last Camaro Z28 grumblings, so we're happy to send you off to the long weekend with some exciting Camaro Z28 (and just general Camaro and GM news)!
Motortrend recently had an opportunity to interview GM's Vice President of Global Vehicle Engineering, Karl Stracke. In this interview, two open-secrets were once again confirmed:
- The return of the Camaro Z28 (said out of earshot of his PR person :D)
- The 6th gen Camaro will be on Alpha platform.
This isn't the first time the Z28 has been alluded to of course, with past mentions by Al Oppenheiser, Ed Welburn, and GM Officials @ Carlisle.
The Z28 test mule car was even spotted earlier this year during track testing in THESE PHOTOS.
Here are other recent Camaro Z28 and 6th gen Camaro alpha news/rumors from our homepage:
http://www.camaro5.com/index.php?s=z28
http://www.camaro5.com/index.php?s=alpha
Here is the full Motortrend article:
Quote:
GM VP: Z/28 Coming, Cadillac Gunning for BMW, next-gen Camaro to Alpha
“Our goal is Cadillac against BMW -- very clearly. We will bring performance to these cars…and be on par or better than BMW. That is our plan.”
Those fighting words came from Karl Stracke, GM’s Vice President of Global Vehicle Engineering, who stopped by this week for a meet-and-greet and to check out the Motor Trend HQ in El Segundo, California.
A mechanical engineer of German extraction, Stracke is the type of auto exec who makes auto journos happy and PR guys cringe. Five minutes into the nickel tour of our facilities and out of earshot of his PR handler, Stracke casually served up unprompted confirmation of the return of the Camaro Z/28. Not exactly breaking news -- while GM has yet to officially confirm it, the Z/28’s resurrection is something of an open secret -- but Stracke’s casual bomb dropping set the tone for the rest of his visit.
We popped into our photo studio for a quick look around, but ended up staying on to watch a Hot Rod photo shoot, as you can see from my grainy cell phone pictures. Moments later in our company garage/tech center, he threw a leg over a racy MV Agusta crotch rocket, which instantly gave me empathy for his PR handler as the $18,500 motorcycle is on loan to our sister pub, Motorcyclist (sorry guys!). But hey, he’s a gear head through and through; Stracke owns a Harley-Davidson V-Rod and has a Corvette Grand Sport as his daily driver. The man likes 'em loud and/or fast and clearly has a passion for wheeled product.
Between bites of lasagna at lunch, Stracke constantly asked us for feedback on his cars, and returned refreshingly blunt answers. He is outspoken; a bit like Lutz, but with a German accent. Since being promoted to VP of Global Vehicle Engineering in December of 2009, Stracke has already started stirring the pot, Maximum Bob-style. Earlier this month, in an incident reported in The Detroit News, Stracke soundly trashed the outgoing Chevy Cobalt with the statement, “Look at this car, it’s horrible. How did this get through so many people?”
Stracke went on to shed bit more light on just how such vehicles can sometimes slip through the cracks when I brought up a topic we’ve moaned about here at Motor Trend – the Chevy Camaro's interior.
When I quizzed him on two of the most galling parts of the Camaro cockpit -- the stale jelly donut-shaped shifter knob and oddly contoured steering wheel, Stracke didn’t strike the usual defensive posture of an auto exec, but nodded his head in agreement. He went on to say that, in addition, he found the steering wheel controls set too far inward, necessitating the removal of hands from the wheel or an awkward reach with the thumb. He claims to have fought to change this with the design team and his then bosses -- taking it all the way up (and out of his department) to guys like Lutz and Ed Welburn. But given the hugely popular response the concept Camaro received, Stracke said he was overruled and the product team was given marching orders to bring to make the production car as close to concept as possible -- with little regard for such practical tweaks.
Stracke said that kind of mistake won’t happen again. And that we’ll see hints of it starting with future models (hinting at the Z/28 again…) and when the all-new, Alpha-based (not Holden/Zeta) Camaro makes its debut.
“We need to win,” he said repeatedly. “Not just shoot for the middle.”
Our lunch topics ranged widely -- from A- and B-segment cars to trucks to Buick, Caddy, and the surging Chinese market. We also got pretty nerdy -- which should provide relief to the tech types who think GM has lost its engineering way.
Regarding his campaign to throttle BMW, Stracke says his performance division already has the technical firepower to easily put the Bavarians on notice. Unfortunately, some of those products and systems have been shuttered or shelved when GM was in the throes of bankruptcy, but Stracke is confident that even without them, Cadillac will prevail with an approach that relies on high technology and basics, like weight reduction.
“We will be better than BMW on unsprung mass,” he claims.
But it wasn’t all high-test, race- track talk either. Stracke spoke briefly about Buick’s resurgence and how the company wants to grow the brand into a full line up vehicles, starting with a compact sedan based on the same global architecture as the Cruze and a small crossover below the Enclave. He says Buick will slot in below Cadillac in terms of performance, but will be on par when it comes to NVH levels, etc. We also talked hybrid…tires?
Yup. One of Stracke’s boldest, most esoteric claims during our whirlwind lunch was that the Chevy Volt’s Goodyear tires will be “the best on the market,” with a combination of the “lowest rolling resistance, best stopping distance and impressive ride quality.” Those who know tires, know that these characteristics are usually in direct conflict. Although we can’t say we’re as excited as Stracke is, we’re certainly curious to experience them for ourselves.
The take-away message from Stracke’s visit to MTHQ is that the “New GM” no longer suffers from the problems of group think and buck passing that plagued the old GM. Stracke is confident that GM’s coming products are on target and ready to blow away the competition.
“We know what we need to do. Good products…strong products…with the right powertrain.”
Long time GM watchers and auto industry cynics might have a different view of Stracke’s outspokenness and New GM spin. After all, it’s not like he’s an industry outsider parachuting in to shake up The General. Stracke joined GM’s Opel division in 1979 and his worked his way up ever since. But my gut instinct tells me that any time you have a Harley-riding, Corvette-driving, plain speaking instigator in charge of making cars go at GM, that’s a good thing.
Good luck Karl.
Read more: http://blogs.motortrend.com/6650713/...#ixzz0pFjGlp8C
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