How can the 6th gen Camaro recapture the youth crowd?

[Z284ever]

I'd like to see the next Camaro recapturing a younger age demographic. How can it do that? Ideas?

[mbukukanyau]

Simple, by getting old and getting on the used car market circuit

[chevytodd]

Huh? Seems pretty popular with the younger crownd here. Especially since it was in the Transformers movies. It's probably just beyond what most young guys can afford. I'm sure younger guys get nailed with high insurance premiums..... And, for the most part I would say it's a summer car. So, most young guys can only afford one vehicle...

[balthazar]

What's the current ABA and where do you wish to see it, and why?

[Live001]

Huh? Seems pretty popular with the younger crownd here. Especially since it was in the Transformers movies. It's probably just beyond what most young guys can afford. I'm sure younger guys get nailed with high insurance premiums..... And, for the most part I would say it's a summer car. So, most young guys can only afford one vehicle...

+1.. pretty much sums it up

[mgescuro]

I'd like to see the next Camaro recapturing a younger age demographic. How can it do that? Ideas?

1) Styling that is modern and not derivative of some Camaro from long ago.
2) Twin-turbo 4 (~280HP) and twin-turbo 6 (~350-380HP) and then the V8's.
3) Advanced V8
4) Actual modern technology in the interior
5) Interior that isn't some designer's wannabe retro vision of his/her old high school days.


Thing is, it's doing ok with a "younger crowd," I think. It just needs to be a little more relevant. That way, it can skew even younger.

[FenwickHockey65]

MOAR TRANSFORMERS!

[Phoenix]

A stripped out V8 version around 25k and I would already have one. I would rather have a 300hp V8 than a 330hp V6. This is a MUSCLE car.

This will never happen and the Camaro will continue to be a middle-class, middle-aged man (who can't quite afford a Vette) weekend car.

Had the Firebird stuck around, it would have been perfect for the modern design, tech crowd with turbo 2.0L and twin-turbo 3.6L engines.

[Z284ever]

What's the current ABA and where do you wish to see it, and why?

The last numbers I saw had it as being pretty soft with the under 35 demographic.

I remember the old addage: "You can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell an old man's car to a young man". The demographic sweet spot on the current Camaro seems to be 45-55 year old males.

[FenwickHockey65]

I kinda wonder how many young people would go out and buy a Camaro...if they had the cash.

I mean, sure, I see kids here on campus with Camaros all the time. Maybe some of them paid for it themselves...but a lot of them probably had their parents pay for them.

So if you're like me who's already saddled with a metric crapload of student loan debt, a Camaro is completely out of the picture, no matter how well you design/market it. Sonic/Cruze maybe.

[MalibuMan2010]

Here are some reasons the younger age demographic may not be buying Camaros at desired levels:

1. Teenage Wasteland: Jobless Rate For Young Is 25%—and Rising

2. Starting price for an SS is over $30,000.

3. 17 miles per gallon City (16 mpg for the SS). Average price of gasoline $4.23.

4. Insurance rates for males under 25 driving 300-450 hp cars.

5. Younger people are disproportionately members of the Church of Mother Earth. After 13+ years attending government run indoctrination centers, they have learned that Camaros are a violation of Church doctrine.


The current print version of Automobile has a little blurb comparing the demographics of the average Camaro owner with the average Corvette owner. The average Camaro owner makes over $85,000 and is around 55 years old.

[Z284ever]

Here are some reasons the younger age demographic may not be buying Camaros at desired levels:

1. Teenage Wasteland: Jobless Rate For Young Is 25%—and Rising

2. Starting price for an SS is over $30,000.

3. 17 miles per gallon City (16 mpg for the SS). Average price of gasoline $4.23.

4. Insurance rates for males under 25 driving 300-450 hp cars.

5. Younger people are disproportionately members of the Church of Mother Earth. After 13+ years attending government run indoctrination centers, they have learned that Camaros are a violation of Church doctrine.


The current print version of Automobile has a little blurb comparing the demographics of the average Camaro owner with the average Corvette owner. The average Camaro owner makes over $85,000 and is around 55 years old.

Your last point especially hits home. Camaro's buyers are getting older. Way older. I just don't see that as a healthy thing for the brand.


Obviously, the cheapest base Camaro has to be a bigger hit with the younger folks. $40,000 Camaros are not going to get them to buy. The base car has to be appealing, affordable and easy to live with. mgescuro makes some good points. It needs to knock down some really impressive FE numbers, better than the real world numbers the current car gets. And it needs to do that with a power level below the threshold where insurance companies start gouging the under 25 year old buyer.

[Tone]

Bottom line -- it would have to be substantially cheaper to buy, insure and operate and that's not going to happen. Better Chevy make its sporty/cheap offerings (Sonic, etc.) have something in common with the Camaro to encourage buyers to 'move up' as they get older and more affluent. Too bad GM doesn't have a cheap RWD architecture on which to create a four-cylinder, smaller/cheaper 'junior Camaro'.

[mgescuro]

You don't want the Camaro to be too cheap.
Starting at $22,000 is not a bad proposition, if you ask me, especially at 312 HP.
But using a Turbo 4 in that base model, with a smaller, (presumably) lighter Alpha platform, would also make sense. That would help fuel economy numbers, without hurting performance credentials.

i'm not sure what the demographic numbers for Camaro are. but if they skew older, then that means buyers are mostly trying to live out their high school/college years. and while that is fine, it doesn't leave the Camaro room for growth.

The reason Camaro died in the first place what that it couldn't look beyond its own niche and kept the technology on the low side.

[free_energy0]

Trying to be cool by spending a lot of money on a Camaro is decidedly uncool. An ostentatious car on most campus's just is an advertisement for how much of toolbox you are. The exception might be in high school; when I went (albeit 9 years ago in a hick red-state) there was a fair amount of sports car lust, but this went away quickly as taste grew more sophisticated.

The stereotype in the movies is that people who grew up in the late 60s were all into cars. I'm sure most of that is just the fog of nostalgia, but there is probably a kernel of truth to it.