Chevrolet describes the fifth-generation of its Camaro as “a runaway success.” The automaker has moved nearly 500,000 examples of the pony car since it was first put on sale in August of 2009, enough to beat out the Mustang for the title of America’s best-selling performance car five years in a row.
Camaro marketing manager Todd Christensen says the fifth-generation car “clearly resonated with both long-time Camaro fans, and first time performance-car buyers,” a feat which they are proud of, but it also “sets the bar high for the next chapter of the car’s history.” Last Saturday, we saw exactly what the next chapter in the Camaro story entailed with the introduction of the 2016 Camaro, so can it top the success of the fifth-generation model?
There shouldn’t be any doubt the 2016 Camaro will be better than the model it replaces. As we discovered when we drove it on the track last Sunday, the new car is more nimble, faster, has an infinitely nicer interior and is packed with lots of new technologies such as a standard back-up camera, wireless charging pad, an optional performance data recorder and much more. Logic would dictate this should translate into more sales, but it may be hard to sell half a million Camaros once again.
If the sixth-generation Camaro isn’t enough to get fifth-generation owners to replace their car, this could have a negative impact on sales. On the contrary, the more comfortable, upscale interior may attract even more first-time Camaro buyers to Chevy dealers than the fifth-generation car did, which could account for existing Camaro owners who are not ready to replace their car this time around.
It’s hard to say for sure how well the sixth-generation Camaro will sell, but we can always take a few guesses. Let us know if you think the new model will be more successful than its predecessor by voting and commenting below.
Comment
i have a 2014 Camaro SS, Limited Spring Edition (M6). This is my third Camaro. My opinion is that the 2016 Camaro is a beautiful car with an updated interior, and a few other goodies. But in my case, as with many others, when you start adding your own goodies to your Gen 5 Camaro, such as: mgw shifter, kooks headers, kooks high flow cats, cold air induction, tune, hotchkiss 1″ lowering springs, and other goodies under the hood it’s probably going to take more than what the 2016 Camaro is offering for you to part with your Gen 5 Camaro that you have made one of the family. Maybe people that don’t modify their cars, or people who replace their cars often will trade for it, but i have a habit of getting personal with my vehicles and that makes them very hard to part with.