Quote:
Originally Posted by gtahvit
thanks Congo,
I'm still wondering why CAFE for 2020 is preventing the possibility of a blown camaro today?
I've been to their web site and it is sooooooo confusing.
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This can be, in part, explained by speculation.
Ah, yes—speculation is everyone's favorite market phenomenon.
We'll use gas an the example. The following paragraph is not based on fact, so do not hold me to it.
Assuming that gas is someday going to peak, we can make several statements. If we know the time that gas will peak, prices will suddenly rise. It will be undesirable as a resource because it won't last forever. It doesn't have to rise when drilling production goes down. In fact, it will go down the moment that investors become aware that gas is not an infinite resource. They will try to liquidate their investment immediately, raising the value of a barrel due to its sudden historic rarity.
Let's apply this similarly to the Z28. Assuming that the Z28 violates GM's need to fulfill federal regulations, it must be produced in low volumes, driving up the price per unit and the price of production which further drives up the price per unit. In effect, the price per unit is now preposterously expensive, yet the desire to obtain a unit is very evident because the resell will be high. Just like a barrel of gas, the value will only go up, so people would want a CAFE-violating Z28 because it would be an instant classic. GM would love to produce an instant classic, but they have already done that with classics in the past all the way up to the modern ZR1. The problem with producing the instantly classic super Z28 is that such a car costs a lot to build. If there are only a few units, each has to be built specially, inspected differently than other models, use certain workers that could be doing something else, carry parts that only that car uses, take up spots on lots that aren't going to vacate any time soon, and have features to justify its ridiculous price. Every single one of these reasons is a reason that some great cars do not make production. They all come down to the money, and even the enthusiasts within GM know that they can't sacrifice the whole company for a legendary machine.
Be patient. There are a lot of good people in GM that would love to see a return to classic American cars. Some of those may already be on the roads, not being noticed today but becoming classics in a generation or so. I strongly believe some supreme Camaro will eventually be built.