My ZL1 Perspective...

[Blueclyde]

We live in an interesting time with lots of information available at the click of a button, whether that be on a cell phone, iPod, iPad, laptop, desktop, tablet, etc. etc. Information is available to we the consumers at a level unmatched in history.

With this incredible amount of information comes misunderstanding and speculation from the majority of people that lack the proper perspective from which to process the information available. That’s not meant to be a negative statement at all. That just means that a lot of information available is in short form. Without knowing all that drives the information presented it is difficult to keep it in the proper context.

The information available to all of us on the ZL1 launch is a classic example of this. There is so much that goes into designing, engineering, developing and producing an automobile that the general “car guy” consumer has no idea about. I am not trying to be all high and mighty here but the average user on this forum has no clue about how much work has gone into the development and launch of the ZL1 Camaro. That is just a fact. This isn’t an easy process. There are hundreds of thousands of man hours applied to this effort.

That all comes together with the start of production and subsequent production validation procedures that take place ahead of the ship to consumer gate. Everything that is happening is supposed to happen. Has GM found a problem during their production validation procedures? I do not know, but I certainly hope they have. That is the point of the process and it is always a part of a product launch. Will they have to rework cars that are built? I do not know, but who cares if they do? Again, that is the point of the exercise. We want them to make sure everything is correct.

In today’s time we the consumers have been able to stay very connected to the proceedings of this process and quite frankly for the majority it is simply information over load. Do any of us really need to know that they have cars made sitting bayed in QC at the plant? Not really. It doesn’t change anything. Just makes people anxious. Should it matter to us that GM has issued the communication yesterday that we all saw? It doesn’t change anything. It just makes people speculate about things they do not know. No value at all in this wild speculation.

10 years ago we would not have known if the plant even started production. We would not have access to track our order numbers. We wouldn’t know our VIN’s the day after the car was produced and we would be able to post that VIN in our signature on an enthusiast forum. We wouldn’t be agonizing over the fact that our car was sitting in the snow in the plant’s parking lot. We certainly would have seen pictures of them. We wouldn’t have worried about our car’s tires being in weather that was too cold. We couldn’t track our rail car. We wouldn’t have second guessed our decision to order because we know too much about the manufacturer’s launch process and progress. We wouldn’t have speculated about this or that or what if and “if this happens...” and “I sure hope...”

We should all feel very lucky to know what we know. GM doesn’t owe us anything and the input we get from people like Scott, Al, Mike and all Camaro team members that frequent this forum is quite exceptional. They do not have to do that but guess what. These people are passionate about what they do and pour their heart and soul into making this car something to be proud of.

We should also all sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t speculate. If you are truly unhappy and can’t stand the wait go cancel your order. Somebody else will be happy to buy your car. Let’s try to deal with facts and keep all of this information we have access to in the proper context.

Here is what I know for sure:

1.) I have a ZL1 on order.
2.) I am extremely lucky to have been able to order one.
3.) I am excited about it and can’t wait to get it.
4.) It will get here when it gets here. I can’t change or influence when it arrives.
5.) I want it to be perfect when it gets here.
6.) I completely trust GM to follow their process and do what they need to do. I’m pretty sure they do not want to sit on $20M-$25M of unsold inventory any longer than they have to.
7.) When we all receive these cars they will be everything that GM has told us they will be.
8.) GM has met every commitment they have made with the Camaro.

This is a great time to be a car enthusiast. Enjoy this process and patiently wait for your ZL1 to arrive. I feel the enthusiasm from everybody. Keep the faith and it will all work out.

[Happy_Dan]

Thanks for this post. It sums up a lot. Especially true that if there is something wrong, the process is proving to be worthwhile because it caught it and will be fixed without great expense. Imagine the car shipping and then finding an issue. That very same information exchange would make that point in a nano second across the entire world.

Now having said that, there is one more point to make that I think is obvious. It does put pressure on GM about the quality since they are so focused. It better deliver the highest quality when it does ship.

I am very confident that it will be a top quality car when it finally gets to our driveways and garages.

[jazznurse]

Ditto!

[GoldenBear]

Originally Posted by Blueclyde

With this incredible amount of information comes misunderstanding and speculation from the majority of people that lack the proper perspective from which to process the information available. ...

The information available to all of us on the ZL1 launch is a classic example of this. There is so much that goes into designing, engineering, developing and producing an automobile that the general “car guy” consumer has no idea about. ... the average user on this forum has no clue about how much work has gone into the development and launch of the ZL1 Camaro. That is just a fact. This isn’t an easy process. There are hundreds of thousands of man hours applied to this effort.

That all comes together with the start of production and subsequent production validation procedures that take place ahead of the ship to consumer gate.

Most individuals who are not involved with the development, design, verification, validation, and production of a mass produced, federally regulated product don't understand the complexities and efforts that are required to successfully bring such a product to market.

I have occasionally attempted to briefly describe some of the processes involved, and why seemingly simple things to some can't always be easily implemented or changed in a mass produced product such as the Camaro, being mindful that there are always trade offs involved with designs and changes, and because of stating those realities I have been told by some here that I'm just another Camaro fan who is making excuses for GM as to why the Camaro isn't offered with this or that option or why it isn't simply produced exactly how they want it to be produced.

It's refreshing to see a rational perspective with regard to the design, production, and release of the ZL1.

[hognutz]

all I want is a date or real details but it does not sound like that is going to happen so I will whine and cry tell the hold is lifted.

To me that is how you manage customer expectation effectively. you say curent cars will ship by march 15th. Or you say they are oh hold for reason " " and they will ship when that reason is worked out.

saying they are on hold thank you drive through in the moder era leads to speculation. I am not ignorant enough to think they would ever listen to that advice but I feel just saying what is happening manages expectation better than vauge wishy washy statement.

no everbody chime in disagree. ha ha. I for some reason just want to know why it would not make me mad if there was an issue. other people might be the opposite though. they would rather not know why.

[Happy_Dan]

Originally Posted by hognutz

all I want is a date or real details but it does not sound like that is going to happen so I will whine and cry tell the hold is lifted.

To me that is how you manage customer expectation effectively. you say curent cars will ship by march 15th. Or you say they are oh hold for reason " " and they will ship when that reason is worked out.

saying they are on hold thank you drive through in the moder era leads to speculation. I am not ignorant enough to think they would ever listen to that advice but I feel just saying what is happening manages expectation better than vauge wishy washy statement.

no everbody chime in disagree. ha ha. I for some reason just want to know why it would not make me mad if there was an issue. other people might be the opposite though. they would rather not know why.

Simply my opinion, but part of the problem is that for every answer you give there are 100 more questions and it goes on forever and if you happen to misstate something, it is quoted millions of times on the internet. So, you tend to say as little as you can while still trying to let people know some of the story. You can't just be transparent because people won't let you.

I know I have a little over 100 people on my team in work, and every comment and every statement is interpreted and repeated and changed a little. I say we are moving a few people around to be more efficient and prepare for more volume and at least some people want to know if I am lying off people even though I state there is more than enough work for everyone and we are growing our business by 40%. I can't imagine dealing with statements to the public! YIKES>

[Sven59]

Originally Posted by Blueclyde

We live in an interesting time with lots of information available at the click of a button, whether that be on a cell phone, iPod, iPad, laptop, desktop, tablet, etc. etc. Information is available to we the consumers at a level unmatched in history.

With this incredible amount of information comes misunderstanding and speculation from the majority of people that lack the proper perspective from which to process the information available. That’s not meant to be a negative statement at all. That just means that a lot of information available is in short form. Without knowing all that drives the information presented it is difficult to keep it in the proper context.

The information available to all of us on the ZL1 launch is a classic example of this. There is so much that goes into designing, engineering, developing and producing an automobile that the general “car guy” consumer has no idea about. I am not trying to be all high and mighty here but the average user on this forum has no clue about how much work has gone into the development and launch of the ZL1 Camaro. That is just a fact. This isn’t an easy process. There are hundreds of thousands of man hours applied to this effort.

That all comes together with the start of production and subsequent production validation procedures that take place ahead of the ship to consumer gate. Everything that is happening is supposed to happen. Has GM found a problem during their production validation procedures? I do not know, but I certainly hope they have. That is the point of the process and it is always a part of a product launch. Will they have to rework cars that are built? I do not know, but who cares if they do? Again, that is the point of the exercise. We want them to make sure everything is correct.

In today’s time we the consumers have been able to stay very connected to the proceedings of this process and quite frankly for the majority it is simply information over load. Do any of us really need to know that they have cars made sitting bayed in QC at the plant? Not really. It doesn’t change anything. Just makes people anxious. Should it matter to us that GM has issued the communication yesterday that we all saw? It doesn’t change anything. It just makes people speculate about things they do not know. No value at all in this wild speculation.

10 years ago we would not have known if the plant even started production. We would not have access to track our order numbers. We wouldn’t know our VIN’s the day after the car was produced and we would be able to post that VIN in our signature on an enthusiast forum. We wouldn’t be agonizing over the fact that our car was sitting in the snow in the plant’s parking lot. We certainly would have seen pictures of them. We wouldn’t have worried about our car’s tires being in weather that was too cold. We couldn’t track our rail car. We wouldn’t have second guessed our decision to order because we know too much about the manufacturer’s launch process and progress. We wouldn’t have speculated about this or that or what if and “if this happens...” and “I sure hope...”

We should all feel very lucky to know what we know. GM doesn’t owe us anything and the input we get from people like Scott, Al, Mike and all Camaro team members that frequent this forum is quite exceptional. They do not have to do that but guess what. These people are passionate about what they do and pour their heart and soul into making this car something to be proud of.

We should also all sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t speculate. If you are truly unhappy and can’t stand the wait go cancel your order. Somebody else will be happy to buy your car. Let’s try to deal with facts and keep all of this information we have access to in the proper context.

Here is what I know for sure:

1.) I have a ZL1 on order.
2.) I am extremely lucky to have been able to order one.
3.) I am excited about it and can’t wait to get it.
4.) It will get here when it gets here. I can’t change or influence when it arrives.
5.) I want it to be perfect when it gets here.
6.) I completely trust GM to follow their process and do what they need to do. I’m pretty sure they do not want to sit on $20M-$25M of unsold inventory any longer than they have to.
7.) When we all receive these cars they will be everything that GM has told us they will be.
8.) GM has met every commitment they have made with the Camaro.

This is a great time to be a car enthusiast. Enjoy this process and patiently wait for your ZL1 to arrive. I feel the enthusiasm from everybody. Keep the faith and it will all work out.

I agree with you that things have changed, but why not take advantage of it. Human emotions will always play a part in issues like this. If we have the technology, why don't we embrace it like we obviously have on this forum. No, we may not understand the countless hours, proceedures and other things, but this sure gives us a way to learn. Myself, I have learned so much just from this forum. No matter what you do there will be some information that is incorrect, that is human communication. All you have to do to understand that is have a person whisper a sentence to another and do the same for ten people then lisen to the last person and see how different it is from the first. Thanks for the post, very thought provoking.

[super60]

Originally Posted by Blueclyde

We live in an interesting time with lots of information available at the click of a button, whether that be on a cell phone, iPod, iPad, laptop, desktop, tablet, etc. etc. Information is available to we the consumers at a level unmatched in history.

With this incredible amount of information comes misunderstanding and speculation from the majority of people that lack the proper perspective from which to process the information available. That’s not meant to be a negative statement at all. That just means that a lot of information available is in short form. Without knowing all that drives the information presented it is difficult to keep it in the proper context.

The information available to all of us on the ZL1 launch is a classic example of this. There is so much that goes into designing, engineering, developing and producing an automobile that the general “car guy” consumer has no idea about. I am not trying to be all high and mighty here but the average user on this forum has no clue about how much work has gone into the development and launch of the ZL1 Camaro. That is just a fact. This isn’t an easy process. There are hundreds of thousands of man hours applied to this effort.

That all comes together with the start of production and subsequent production validation procedures that take place ahead of the ship to consumer gate. Everything that is happening is supposed to happen. Has GM found a problem during their production validation procedures? I do not know, but I certainly hope they have. That is the point of the process and it is always a part of a product launch. Will they have to rework cars that are built? I do not know, but who cares if they do? Again, that is the point of the exercise. We want them to make sure everything is correct.

In today’s time we the consumers have been able to stay very connected to the proceedings of this process and quite frankly for the majority it is simply information over load. Do any of us really need to know that they have cars made sitting bayed in QC at the plant? Not really. It doesn’t change anything. Just makes people anxious. Should it matter to us that GM has issued the communication yesterday that we all saw? It doesn’t change anything. It just makes people speculate about things they do not know. No value at all in this wild speculation.

10 years ago we would not have known if the plant even started production. We would not have access to track our order numbers. We wouldn’t know our VIN’s the day after the car was produced and we would be able to post that VIN in our signature on an enthusiast forum. We wouldn’t be agonizing over the fact that our car was sitting in the snow in the plant’s parking lot. We certainly would have seen pictures of them. We wouldn’t have worried about our car’s tires being in weather that was too cold. We couldn’t track our rail car. We wouldn’t have second guessed our decision to order because we know too much about the manufacturer’s launch process and progress. We wouldn’t have speculated about this or that or what if and “if this happens...” and “I sure hope...”

We should all feel very lucky to know what we know. GM doesn’t owe us anything and the input we get from people like Scott, Al, Mike and all Camaro team members that frequent this forum is quite exceptional. They do not have to do that but guess what. These people are passionate about what they do and pour their heart and soul into making this car something to be proud of.

We should also all sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t speculate. If you are truly unhappy and can’t stand the wait go cancel your order. Somebody else will be happy to buy your car. Let’s try to deal with facts and keep all of this information we have access to in the proper context.

Here is what I know for sure:

1.) I have a ZL1 on order.
2.) I am extremely lucky to have been able to order one.
3.) I am excited about it and can’t wait to get it.
4.) It will get here when it gets here. I can’t change or influence when it arrives.
5.) I want it to be perfect when it gets here.
6.) I completely trust GM to follow their process and do what they need to do. I’m pretty sure they do not want to sit on $20M-$25M of unsold inventory any longer than they have to.
7.) When we all receive these cars they will be everything that GM has told us they will be.
8.) GM has met every commitment they have made with the Camaro.

This is a great time to be a car enthusiast. Enjoy this process and patiently wait for your ZL1 to arrive. I feel the enthusiasm from everybody. Keep the faith and it will all work out.

Blueclyde

Thank You from your ZL1 Oshawa Build Team I really can't say any more , other then i hope all of the ZL1 owners read your thread . Best Regards from Canada

Mike Judge
Super60

[OLD_GOAT]

Originally Posted by Blueclyde

We live in an interesting time with lots of information available at the click of a button, whether that be on a cell phone, iPod, iPad, laptop, desktop, tablet, etc. etc. Information is available to we the consumers at a level unmatched in history.

With this incredible amount of information comes misunderstanding and speculation from the majority of people that lack the proper perspective from which to process the information available. That’s not meant to be a negative statement at all. That just means that a lot of information available is in short form. Without knowing all that drives the information presented it is difficult to keep it in the proper context.

The information available to all of us on the ZL1 launch is a classic example of this. There is so much that goes into designing, engineering, developing and producing an automobile that the general “car guy” consumer has no idea about. I am not trying to be all high and mighty here but the average user on this forum has no clue about how much work has gone into the development and launch of the ZL1 Camaro. That is just a fact. This isn’t an easy process. There are hundreds of thousands of man hours applied to this effort.

That all comes together with the start of production and subsequent production validation procedures that take place ahead of the ship to consumer gate. Everything that is happening is supposed to happen. Has GM found a problem during their production validation procedures? I do not know, but I certainly hope they have. That is the point of the process and it is always a part of a product launch. Will they have to rework cars that are built? I do not know, but who cares if they do? Again, that is the point of the exercise. We want them to make sure everything is correct.

In today’s time we the consumers have been able to stay very connected to the proceedings of this process and quite frankly for the majority it is simply information over load. Do any of us really need to know that they have cars made sitting bayed in QC at the plant? Not really. It doesn’t change anything. Just makes people anxious. Should it matter to us that GM has issued the communication yesterday that we all saw? It doesn’t change anything. It just makes people speculate about things they do not know. No value at all in this wild speculation.

10 years ago we would not have known if the plant even started production. We would not have access to track our order numbers. We wouldn’t know our VIN’s the day after the car was produced and we would be able to post that VIN in our signature on an enthusiast forum. We wouldn’t be agonizing over the fact that our car was sitting in the snow in the plant’s parking lot. We certainly would have seen pictures of them. We wouldn’t have worried about our car’s tires being in weather that was too cold. We couldn’t track our rail car. We wouldn’t have second guessed our decision to order because we know too much about the manufacturer’s launch process and progress. We wouldn’t have speculated about this or that or what if and “if this happens...” and “I sure hope...”

We should all feel very lucky to know what we know. GM doesn’t owe us anything and the input we get from people like Scott, Al, Mike and all Camaro team members that frequent this forum is quite exceptional. They do not have to do that but guess what. These people are passionate about what they do and pour their heart and soul into making this car something to be proud of.

We should also all sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t speculate. If you are truly unhappy and can’t stand the wait go cancel your order. Somebody else will be happy to buy your car. Let’s try to deal with facts and keep all of this information we have access to in the proper context.

Here is what I know for sure:

1.) I have a ZL1 on order.
2.) I am extremely lucky to have been able to order one.
3.) I am excited about it and can’t wait to get it.
4.) It will get here when it gets here. I can’t change or influence when it arrives.
5.) I want it to be perfect when it gets here.
6.) I completely trust GM to follow their process and do what they need to do. I’m pretty sure they do not want to sit on $20M-$25M of unsold inventory any longer than they have to.
7.) When we all receive these cars they will be everything that GM has told us they will be.
8.) GM has met every commitment they have made with the Camaro.

This is a great time to be a car enthusiast. Enjoy this process and patiently wait for your ZL1 to arrive. I feel the enthusiasm from everybody. Keep the faith and it will all work out.

A very well thought and mature post and I can't help but agree with your total post.

Given a choice of having a newly developed car 'today' versus getting some of the bugs worked out and getting it in a few weeks, I'll take the few weeks option.

[tmandoug1]

I am good with the wait, just would like to have some idea of when. Not a big deal, just would like to know if it will be here by April 14th because that is when my loan expires and i need to resubmit.

[enk97]

They will get here when they get here. Sit back,relax and wait for your email or text from GM Connects saying it has been shiped. If your car has not been built yet I hope it is built as soon as they fix the problem. Thanks GM build Team for going over all your cars with a fine toothed comb.

[stymie]

How many CTF ZL1s are out there racking up miles? What is the grand total of miles, collectively? How close are they to that goal? Have any significant issues arisen with the CFT cars? Will a "fix" require another QC evaluation over a predetermined number of miles? Are the customer/dealer ordered cars in the initial run scrutinized after assembly by the same CTF guidelines or are they left alone until an issue crops up with a CTF car? Is the warning regarding cold temperatures & possible tire damage valid? Any chance that the 1st 500 2012 ZL1s will have a surprise in store for their new owners? You know... gas cards? ...a horsepower boost with a pulley/tune? State of the Art "detailing" (clean & hand wax... yeah, I'm dreaming.)

Yeah, I'd prefer to have any significant negative issues dealt with by the factory as opposed to taking delivery of a flawed car subject to recalls. To say that I'm looking forward to taking delivery of a ZL1 is a gross understatement! I'm going to have undergo some rather unpleasant surgery later this Summer & I'm dying to get behind the wheel, ASAP! Congrats to Al's Team for building the ultimate factory CAMARO of all time.

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by Blueclyde

We live in an interesting time with lots of information available at the click of a button, whether that be on a cell phone, iPod, iPad, laptop, desktop, tablet, etc. etc. Information is available to we the consumers at a level unmatched in history.

With this incredible amount of information comes misunderstanding and speculation from the majority of people that lack the proper perspective from which to process the information available. That’s not meant to be a negative statement at all. That just means that a lot of information available is in short form. Without knowing all that drives the information presented it is difficult to keep it in the proper context.

The information available to all of us on the ZL1 launch is a classic example of this. There is so much that goes into designing, engineering, developing and producing an automobile that the general “car guy” consumer has no idea about. I am not trying to be all high and mighty here but the average user on this forum has no clue about how much work has gone into the development and launch of the ZL1 Camaro. That is just a fact. This isn’t an easy process. There are hundreds of thousands of man hours applied to this effort.

That all comes together with the start of production and subsequent production validation procedures that take place ahead of the ship to consumer gate. Everything that is happening is supposed to happen. Has GM found a problem during their production validation procedures? I do not know, but I certainly hope they have. That is the point of the process and it is always a part of a product launch. Will they have to rework cars that are built? I do not know, but who cares if they do? Again, that is the point of the exercise. We want them to make sure everything is correct.

In today’s time we the consumers have been able to stay very connected to the proceedings of this process and quite frankly for the majority it is simply information over load. Do any of us really need to know that they have cars made sitting bayed in QC at the plant? Not really. It doesn’t change anything. Just makes people anxious. Should it matter to us that GM has issued the communication yesterday that we all saw? It doesn’t change anything. It just makes people speculate about things they do not know. No value at all in this wild speculation.

10 years ago we would not have known if the plant even started production. We would not have access to track our order numbers. We wouldn’t know our VIN’s the day after the car was produced and we would be able to post that VIN in our signature on an enthusiast forum. We wouldn’t be agonizing over the fact that our car was sitting in the snow in the plant’s parking lot. We certainly would have seen pictures of them. We wouldn’t have worried about our car’s tires being in weather that was too cold. We couldn’t track our rail car. We wouldn’t have second guessed our decision to order because we know too much about the manufacturer’s launch process and progress. We wouldn’t have speculated about this or that or what if and “if this happens...” and “I sure hope...”

We should all feel very lucky to know what we know. GM doesn’t owe us anything and the input we get from people like Scott, Al, Mike and all Camaro team members that frequent this forum is quite exceptional. They do not have to do that but guess what. These people are passionate about what they do and pour their heart and soul into making this car something to be proud of.

We should also all sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t speculate. If you are truly unhappy and can’t stand the wait go cancel your order. Somebody else will be happy to buy your car. Let’s try to deal with facts and keep all of this information we have access to in the proper context.

Here is what I know for sure:

1.) I have a ZL1 on order.
2.) I am extremely lucky to have been able to order one.
3.) I am excited about it and can’t wait to get it.
4.) It will get here when it gets here. I can’t change or influence when it arrives.
5.) I want it to be perfect when it gets here.
6.) I completely trust GM to follow their process and do what they need to do. I’m pretty sure they do not want to sit on $20M-$25M of unsold inventory any longer than they have to.
7.) When we all receive these cars they will be everything that GM has told us they will be.
8.) GM has met every commitment they have made with the Camaro.

This is a great time to be a car enthusiast. Enjoy this process and patiently wait for your ZL1 to arrive. I feel the enthusiasm from everybody. Keep the faith and it will all work out.

Well said!

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

Great post Blueclyde!