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How much would you pay for a modern day El Camino?

The El Camino is still dead. But what would you pay?

12K views 72 replies 30 participants last post by  T'Cal 
#1 · (Edited)
Inspired by the Carpoint story posted in the Holden News section, I just wanted to see where the El Camino faithful are on this. How much would you pay for a modern day El Camino?

Honestly, if such a product were to be built, it might make more sense to base it off that ulgly Colorado platform we're getting soon. Rebody that sucker completely. Give it a Nomad sister car, with a Gen 5 4.3 V6 and 5.3 V8 as engine choices and classify them both as trucks in order to ease CAFE concerns.

Kind of how the SSR was based off of the GMT360 Trailblazer, but without having a goofy retractable hardtop.
 
#3 ·
I'd be willing to pay mid to upper $30k's for a well-appointed V8 model. I'd prefer it to be lower than that, but given the realities of the current exchange rates, just trying to be realistic. If it would have to be in the low to mid $40k's for GM to bring it here, I'd hate to have to pay it, but I think I'd be in the number of people who'd pony up for one.
 
#4 ·
Basically, I just see no future in hanging onto hopes that an El Camino will come here as a Holden import. I mean, how big could the market be for a $40K El Camino?
 
#21 ·
People pay $80K for an Escalade.....stranger things have happened.
 
#5 ·
What about the option of "I have no interest in the vehicle" for those of us who'd rather see resources go towards something else?
 
#6 ·
I'd be willing to spend $30k-$35k for a 5.3L V8 powered El Camino, with a mid-level trim (i.e. cloth & stereo & 6spd auto), based on any RWD platform that achieves ~25mpg hwy.

Basing an El Camino on the new Colorado platform would be akin to the last gen El Camino, which was built on the mid-sized Malibu platform. They could even start with the floorpan from the Colorado 7 SUV.

Btw, SSR was based on the GMT360 Trailblazer platform, not GMT355.
 
#8 ·
Hey everyone Pontiac is coming back!
Oh wait.. no it's not...
Wait! It MIGHT be...
They did make a reference to the Firebird at the Corvette's reveal sunday night....
HMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

Hey, if El Camino people can keep their dreams up so can I for a brand that should have never been sent to an early grave.
 
#12 ·
A Camino would actually be perfect for me. I'm not off roading (and a open diff 2wd pickup isn't that hot in mud or climbing hills anyway) - I just want to have a locker for when it snows. A V8 in an elky would garner far better mileage than my Hemi Ram ST. The thing is, I absolutely must have the option for a third/middle seat and the current ute doesn't have that.

Z284ev, wrt to the 'low ball' price people will pay, remember that in AUS the ute is a budget vehicle too. Yes there are hot versions - but these are far less than the hot sedan versions. It's a budget supertruck. Again, the shipping and currency exchange remain as the vexing and unyielding obstacles.

If I can buy a '14 Silvy WT with a 360hp V8 for $26K, why would I pay substantially more for a vehicle with the same engine, seating for only two and far less capability?
 
#10 ·
I'd spend $40 to $45K on a Zeta based RWD 6.2 liter V8 with leather/fake leather and the updates to Zeta like the Chevy SS sedan is getting.

Putting it in this cost level makes it uber-niche though. If GM is so damn concerned about the exchange rate this would be the only way for them to make money on it. Then of course the haters would deride it as a sales failure even though they will go on in other threads about GM needing to be profitable on the vehicles they sell. Offering it for less would boost the sales somewhat but not get that higher ATP that GM thinks it needs.

We have to accept in the economy now that to get a niche product you have to pay MORE than its perceived worth. I don't like that but if its the only way to get the product I want then so be it.

IF..... it were based on the Colorado then I would be in the low $30's for a 5.3 liter V8 cloth or vinyl equipped RWD El Camino. Without the V8 I'm not game UNLESS a tt 3.6 was offered but that is a pipe dream.
 
#11 ·
Poll the same people and they'd probably only spend low $40's on a brand new C7 Corvette as well. The numbers they wish for are in economy of scale. If they would sell 50K Utes a year here then it would be plausible for those numbers. At 5K or less a year you are going to have to shell out low $40's to make it happen. I'll put my money where my mouth is. I WILL buy a Zeta based V8 Ute with the right options in the low $40K range.
 
#13 ·
Orbit, I think you have precisely put your finger on it. Any exported Holden El Camino would essentially be a super low volume, expensive, boutiquey product.
 
#17 ·
Not my market, but I get how this could be a successful niche product if positioned correctly. If imported from Australia, I could only imagine it as a high 30s/low 40s vehicle, likely V8-only. It could/would be a companion to the SS sedan (SS Ute?). I have a hard time imagining a volume much above 10,000 a year with that scenario.

In my mind, though, I see a bigger impact if they could somehow craft a Camaro front clip and dash onto the existing Ute and sell it as a companion to the Camaro. A Camaro Ute, as it were. Seems like the kind of people who like Camaros but have 'power toys' to carry around might like this.
 
#20 ·
Obviously, no one looking for a work truck could make the case of Silverado vs El Camino. The product would have to have certain unique attributes. High style. A car like feel. Stuff like that.
 
#27 ·
We'd like to think that but reference KingElvis's post earlier... He makes that exact case. And if that notion is out there it would be more prevalent in the "casual" buying public as well unfortunately.
 
#32 ·
Base model MUST start under $25k and be fairly well appointed
 
#34 ·
With a v-8 and decent equipment, I think 30-35k is reasonable.
 
#35 ·
I would see the El Camino marketed as a sports car capable of towing the speed boat to the lake VERY QUICKLY for the CORVETTE SET VS the Colorado being for the plumbers day job
and @ 40-45K full load 6.2 LT1 MRC suspension and other HSV parts like (hopefully) the Nascar SS sedan
 
#48 ·
Understandable. I see the Ute as a "lifestyle" vehicle. Not a truck substitute. I think that is what GM needs to make a new El Camino.
 
#47 ·
I actually think Dodge could pick up this niche if they wanted to. Base a Dodge Ute off of the LX (or is it LA now) platform. They could even bring back the Magnum Wagon at the same time. Economy of scale with this platform would make it cost effective. Call it the Dodge Rampage and own the niche. Heck, it could even be a Ram model called the Ram Rampage or Ram Page. It would even slot in the SRT line as a SRT Rampage. Ram doesn't even have the Dakota right now either. So there is not even a chance of it stealing Dakota buyers like some would thing a Ute would steal upcoming Colorado buyers. I've contacted them before with the idea. I'd love to see them beat GM to the punch.

I just want a shot at this vehicle, I don't care who makes it. I don't want a full size truck. I don't want a mid-size truck, I don't want a CUV based truck. I want a car based Ute with RWD and a high horsepower engine. (preferably a V8 but I'd settle for a turbo 6 or even a 300 HP turbo I4 if the vehicle was light enough (like an Alpha based Ute).
 
#49 · (Edited)
Bringing this in from another thread in the news ticker. I will bold some VERY interesting quotes.


Commodore could have life beyond 2016

Toby Hagon
15 January2013
www.drive.com.au

Holden has left the door ajar to continue producing Commodore-based vehicles after the locally-engineered model ends its stint in dealerships in 2016.

While no decisions have been made, Holden says it can respond to US demand for the car: a version of the Commodore is currently sold as a police car (police patrol vehicle, or PPV) and, soon, as a Chevrolet SS performance model.

After a slow start, sales of the police car are picking up and General Motors North American president Mark Reuss says one option it to continue production of the PPV in Australia beyond the 2016 local life of the Commodore.

“That’s a champagne problem that we’ll deal with as this goes,” says Reuss. “We have a lot of time to see how it goes.”

Reuss emphasised it was only one option but that it would be a relatively affordable one that would be easy to implement.

“It’s all paid for, it’s all there. The plant has space. We’ll deal with it at a later time. We want to be flexible.”

Holden chairman and managing director Mike Devereux – who will begin selling the heavily updated new VF Commodore in May – says the company has the luxury of time on what would be a significant decision for the company’s troubled local manufacturing operations.

“We don’t have to make that decision right now - we can gauge what happens with PPV sales,” he says. “We have some time on the export potential on VF [Commodore] to figure out what we want to do post its Australian life cycle.

Devereux says a decision to continue producing vehicles on ageing “legacy” architecture that is almost exclusive to Australia could also give longer life to the Commodore-based Holden Ute.

Ute sales last year grew 15 per cent to almost 175,000, representing 17 per cent of the market. And while Holden Ute sales have been sliding the 7925 sales still represents respectable volume.

Keeping the South Australian Holden plant producing Commodore-based utes after the end of regular Commodore production could bring incremental sales for minimal investment.

“It’s a conundrum,” says Devereux. “Those are decisions we’d have to make because if you did a Caprice PPV to the States theoretically could you [continue to] build a ute [for Australia]?


“If the market screamed for it it is something we would have to analyse.”

There are plenty of ifs and buts, though, many of which will be influenced by outside forces.

“That decision really will be based on the currency and what the general acceptance of that cop car is,” Devereux said of the US police car sales.

Any longer term production of Commodore-based vehicles would be on top of the two models Holden has guaranteed to produce until at least 2022 as part of a billion-dollar-plus investment guarantee in exchange for $275 million in taxpayer funding.

However, Devereux says Holden may also need to re-evaluate one of the two models it has promised to produce due to the rapidly changing new-car market that last year set a sales record of 1.11 million.



..... (referring to the second bolded quote) ..... and theoretically build the Ute for America as well. Because as Ruess said "its paid for".


I don't see what the holdup is. Its beyond me.
 
#50 · (Edited)
It is what the SSR should have been, an Impala with a pick up box.

Yes Sir do you need seating for 5, or to take garbage to the dump 2 times a year, and 2 seats? Do you need to haul Gas in Jerry Cans? or Haul Kids and Inlaws?

Are you going to drive yourself to work in this vehicle, or the Kid's to Soccer?

It's really a No Brainer. Build it and they will come. Build it Not as some Semi Exoctic, but as a Usuable Utility Vehicle. Priced the same or less than it's Sedan Cousin.

It is really a No Brainer. Coming from someone on the Front Line, trying to sell Detroit's Finest offerings.

Will a Ridgeline Tow your 5th wheel? No. What will it do? Haul 5 in comfort, take the Dog Do Do to the dump, and get decent mileage. What will it do over a TK/tc 10543? Better mileage, softer ride. And still haul something.

An El Camino, on a Car Based ride will do all of that except the hauling the people. Thats what the Impala/Traverse is for.

Ok Ford, bring back the Ranchero. Taurus based. Seating for 2. Can tow my 2000lb boat, and haul my Lawn Tractor home from the shop. Let GM chase the Ranchero again.
 
#51 ·
Mike Devereux told us as much at the Colorado 7 launch. Holden actually worked out they could compress the new VF works and the existing/future Delta (Cruze) works into the existing two bodyshops. That means the new, extended one they've just turned the first sod on can be dedicated to the new, new platform they are building.

Work on the G8ST had progressed to Job 1 stage: welding programs for the autobots had been completed for NHTSA rollover-spec tests. But, the issue was, the G8ST was going to cost more than the equivalent sedan and sell a tiny proportion. Whereas, in Oz, the Ute is the cheaper of the two. HSV sell more Maloos than sedans, because it's approx $5K cheaper. SS or SS-V ute is thousands cheaper than sedan.

And comparing the Ute to the SSR? The Ute is a car that seats two with a big trunk - that can lay 50 metres of rubber. But still transport you in IRS handling and comfort. The hotrod truck was - well, it was for looks.

The Ute is for looks - it looks great at the Wallmart, or Home depot, but also looks great hauling your dirtbikes or jetski. And still laying rubber, and bothering Bimmers on twisty roads.
 
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