As you may have already heard, the all-new sixth-generation, 2016 Chevy Camaro will carry a starting price of $26,695. That’s nearly $3,000 more than the outgoing fifth-generation model. That’s because the base 2016 Camaro will be the well-equipped 1LT trim level, while the 2010-2015 Camaro was available with more plebeian and less expensive 1LS and 2LS trims. But if Chevy wanted to, it could still offer the new Camaro in the more accessible LS trims.
The 1LT trim level on the 2016 Camaro includes features like Chevrolet MyLink with Apple CarPlay connectivity (Android Auto will come later), 8-way driver and 6-way passenger power-adjusting seats, a leather-wrapped flat-bottom steering wheel, push-button start, and more. So what would a proposed 2016 Camaro in LS trim offer? Less of everything, and a lower price point to boot. Compared to the LT, a supposed sixth-gen Camaro LS could offer:
- A more basic set of exterior lighting elements (no LEDs in the front or the rear)
- Smaller wheels
- A more basic set of seats
- A less premium (non-flat-bottom) steering wheel
- A more basic Chevy MyLink infotainment system with Bluetooth for phone but without Bluetooth audio and without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto
- On models equipped with automatic transmission, different gearing and axle ratio to deliver higher highway fuel economy
… you get the idea. So, were Chevy to offer an LS trim level in the all-new Camaro, it would bring a lower price point to the new sports car, thereby making it more accessible to (some) potential customers. But whether or not that’s something that Chevrolet wants to do, however, is a different question entirely.
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Comments
An article the other day talked about trying to attract the younger crowd to Camaro by offering the turbo-4. Why jack up the price then? What entry price is the competition asking? Lower entry price lets people dump money in and customize the way they want it.
Totally agree. I thought by offering the Turbo-4 it would get young people interested in the Camaro. This was what I thought before they announced pricing. Not sure if young drivers will pursue buying a Camaro because of the higher price of admission.
I realize that you get alot of car for the money. However, Chevy might want to re-think their pricing stategy. It’s nice that certain things, such as the drive modes, are standard. But alot of people would gladly pay less to not have it as standard equipment. Time, and future sales numbers, will tell.
You both realize that with all the content being offered on the base LT, the entry Camaro comes with all the goodies and then some to compete with the lackluster and tiny Scion/Subaru twins at right around the same price. The 2.0l will more than likely blow the doors off them. I agree the Chevy lineup could use a Code130 type of platform, but that is not going to happen anytime soon. The Alpha platform is expensive and has to pay itself back, and the Camaro is not the place to lose money. Having driven a ATS a few times with the 2.0, I can tell you the Camaro will more than satisfy what you are complaining about.
Everyone wants GM to lower the prices on their vehicles from Chevy through Cadillac. Why is GM the only company that needs to do this? Toyota barely updates the Tacoma, raises the price, and nobody complains over there. Over the last several years, GM has shown they can make high quality reliable vehicles. The only place I think they may need to revisit pricing is in the truck and SUV lines, but why would they do that when most buyers in that market are willing to pay the price.
I think with what you’re going to get out of the new Camaro, the price of admission will be worth it. Its easy to get a Mazda 3 or Jetta up to 27K and even easier for a Mini, why should you be surprised a performance coupe like the Camaro with all the content standard would start around there. Chevy was probably just going off what most people were ordering into the Gen5 base and making the option sheet easier to deal with on the Gen6. If this starting price point is too expensive already then this car was never for you, and I doubt the Gen5 base was even in your wallets ballpark.
Or would they leave that room for compact/subcompact hot pocket rockets?
Not sure why this is disliked because I was talking about hot versions of new cruze and sonic but okay
Well while a gutted base car may appeal to some most find them rental cars at best. Out side fleets few are sold anymore.
Second the pricing and packaging is set to yield higher profits and better values for GM and the customer. GM did this on The Cruze with excellent results in not only sales and profits but for image as you never see a base car with nothing in it.
As for packaging and profits GM is not making money so much on the added content but the fact that it is cheaper to make them all with Power windows and tilt wheel than some without and most with. This goes for most options.
One thing people need to also understand the original intent is not to offer a Turbo to just the Tuner People. The real intent is offering a high mileage 4 cylinder that has enough power to make a Camaro with a 4 enjoyable to drive and yet get good MPG. Sure they could have put in a 2.5 but you think a Turbo 4 will be a challenge to market try a 2.5 as it is the Iron Duke do all 4 of the present times. Not a good match for a Camaro.
As for the Tuner people it just works out that it will be the cheapest car but also the easiest and cheapest to add HP to. You can add 55 HP or more with only a tune and two Maps for around $500. This is more a side effect of the Turbo engine in this car.
The truth is Turbo engines are going to become more and more the norm in many cars performance, Family and at some point trucks. It is a great way to enhance a motor that will set great CAFE standards and yet provide the power when called on.
Finally The Camaro has never been a car priced below the average price of a car in North America. at least recently. The car has always been a little more expensive and too often did not deliver on the areas of interior and quality at times.
Today for about the same place in the market we are getting a Camaro that has the refinement we have never seen and more options for about the same rate of price in the market.
The Camaro has not been an entry level car for decades and will never become one again as those days are over. It is really not even a Pony car nor has it been for decades based on a cheap Econo car roots.
I appreciate how people want to return to the past but it is just not going to happen as time has moved on as has the market. GM will sell well over 100,000 units this year and will remain steady even with the new increase.
The Turbo 4 really is a good value as cars are just not damn cheap anymore. The 80’s and 90’s are over and not much any of us can do about it. Today we have Sonics that can top $20K Cruze that can top $30K Malibu’s at are close to $40K and an Impala that can push $45 K in LTZ trim. These are just regular passenger cars. To expect a Camaro at a gutted Cruze price is not reasonable or logical in todays market. God knows I too would love to see it but look around and really realize what cars cost today and I think even though you may not like it understand times have changed.
Cars are just too damn expensive and they are just not going to get cheaper. Performance and V8 models will see even larger increases as time goes on as long as people continue to pay the prices and demand every option they can get.
The higher prices are a fear of the automakers but with the cost of materials and labor there is not much they can do other than cheapen the cars of build them where labor is cheaper. Neither is a great choice.
Very well said!
“The 1LT trim level has long been one of the most popular for Camaro. We expect it will be even more popular as the 2016 Camaro 1LT is priced less than the 2015 model and offers significantly more standard features and technologies.
The all-new 2016 Camaro builds on what made the Camaro the segment leader for five years. It will reset the bar in the segment with even greater levels of performance, new technologies not found on any other car in the segment, and more choices that enable customers to take personalization farther than ever before.”
Todd Christensen
Camaro Marketing Manager
Keep in mind one thing with the new car also many fail to remember with todays cars.
This is not like a 68 Camaro that if it was ordered with out a V8 the average guy with average skill is not just going to bolt in a V8 at home. Laws and computer technology both conspire to make this a much more expensive and difficult deal.
Not just engines but even more simple and basic things like gear ratio’s and even a simple radio change is not like it once was as even the Radio and other simple items in the car are now computer controlled and integrated into the computer system to give you features like speed sensitive volume and other things.
Might note that GM’s personalization items are mostly trim parts on the body, Engine covers and wheels. Most have nothing to do with real hardware that has to do with any of the performance or hardware features of the car.
Even putting in a Sun Roof today can hurt the value of a car as it is too often not as good and integrated as the one from the factory.
It used to be you could more easily buy things from the aftermarket and or even a Junk yard and add a long list of features to a base model and really enhance the car. Today you had better have a Tech 2 tool and know what the heck you are doing.
I have seen some mods on todays cars the owners have told me if they had to do it over they would have just spent the extra money and got the better radio or in many cases the V8 factory installed.
Today as a part of the performance aftermarket the main things we see are mostly exhaust and wheels on the cars with along with sorted bolt on body parts.
While we do still get people doing engine mods most are not doing them at home and if they are there are fewer doing them and most are much more highly skilled and spending more money than the option they skipped. But then again they are getting more power too in being fair here.
On the fifth generation Camaro what percentage were actually LS trim?
The LS trim would cheapen their brand image. I thought the gen5 base’s black wheels looked horrible. If all gen6 camaros look nice and upscale, people will want to be seen in them. And will be willing to pony up. Pun intended.