[garfin]

All’s I can say is what an incredible weekend! Wish I could have posted a bit earlier, but it’s been a whirlwind of family stuff happening since arriving home yesterday…

I can’t decide what impressed me most – the people or the cars!! Others have covered pretty well everything that can be covered in their posts on this board and others and I’d like to echo their positive impressions about the car! We definitely learned a lot this weekend, which reinforces the hopes that we all have about how fantastic this car is going to be. Obviously, certain specifics and facts about the vehicles will be made public by GM when the time is appropriate, (looks like this may be sooner than later!) but I gotta tell ya that these guys and ladies have really done their homework and have gone the extra mile to bring us the car we want! Granted, the car isn’t perfect, but it does what is supposed to do – in spades!

The people involved in the development of this car are passionate car people who are extremely proud of what they’ve achieved – and rightly so. What a tremendous privilege to be able to sit down and talk with all these people in a small group or in a very informal one-on-one setting. Lots of opportunities to do both this weekend. All the team members are great listeners and are truly interested in hearing our input. Brett Vivian, the vehicle line director from Australia and I found ourselves on same flight to Toronto yesterday morning and I asked him what the biggest surprise of the weekend was for him… to which he immediately replied, “You guys are just like us and we better deliver a good car if the passion you have is so strong, that people are putting tattoos on themselves in honor of the car and GM.”

The biggest surprise for me this weekend was the V6 car! It totally blew me away! I think people are gonna just flip when they find out the content of this car, and of course, the performance!! A beautifully balanced machine that is simply amazing… this car, in my opinion, will set a new benchmark for entry level cars in this segment. I’m not a V6 person, yet I was truly flabbergasted! GM is gonna sell a whole whack of these cars and that bodes well for the success of this Camaro since as we are all aware that its success is dependent upon the success of the V6. GM has made sure that there are no doubts about achieving this goal!

The V8 was somewhat less of a surprise, since with all the speculation out there about drivetrains and whatnot, the bar had already been set pretty high in my mind. Certainly no disappointments there… and some pretty cool stuff included as standard equipment as well as optional equipment.

No disappointments either for me in the area of how GM intends to market the car with options and packages – definitely some nice surprises for me there!

... and thanks to all who participated in this by posting your input and suggestions for me to take to the team. What I can say is that is was certainly acknowledged by the team as well as appreciated!

I’d like to say a huge thank you again to GM and the whole team for making this experience happen for us, for listening to the enthusiast community and for having the passion and motivation to bring a car like this to market!

Best regards,

Elie