Camaro and Firebird going going gone? YUP!

DETROIT, Sept 25 Reuters reported today that the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird, two vehicles that helped define ``muscle cars'' for generations of American teenagers, will die next year at the age of 35 They went on to report that both models were launched in 1966 as a response to the wildly popular Ford Mustang, the Camaro and Firebird twins and their high performance Z28 and Trans Am variants were killed by changing industry economics that made selling large numbers of 300-horsepower sports coupes to men under 35 nearly impossible. Jim Wangers, an auto industry analyst and former advertising executive who helped launch the Firebird in 1966 was quoted “The two have literally been stopped dead in their tracks, the sales drop is so significant it becomes economically unwise to make those cars.'' GM said it was closing the Canadian plant where the two models are built next September, ending production after more than 6.6 million vehicles. The Camaro and Firebird were first introduced in 1966 as 1967 models, and have had only four major updates since, the last in 1992. None tinkered with the basic formula for success -- a big V8 engine powering the rear wheels in a package made as cheap as possible. Like all muscle cars, the Camaro and Firebird were hit by the oil embargos and clean-air restrictions of the early 1970s, which forced less-powerful engines under their hoods and dampened sales. But they remained popular through the decade. The pinnacle came with the 1977 film ``Smokey and the Bandit,'' featuring Burt Reynolds in a black Pontiac Trans Am complete with gold ``screaming chicken'' hood decal escorting a truckload of beer across the country. Five years later, another Trans Am was the co-star of the popular television series ``Knight Rider.'' CUTE AND MODEST But for the past several years, the Camaro and Firebird have been lagging further and further behind the Mustang. Through August of this year, GM has sold 38,564 Camaros and Firebirds in the United States, while Ford Motor Co. sold 112,242 Mustangs here. Wangers said one reason why the Mustang has flourished is because it's no longer a true muscle car. Last year, over 70 percent of Mustangs were sold with a V6 engine rather than a V8, he said, and over 60 percent were sold to women. ``They've built a cute coupe that's trendy but not particularly high performance,'' Wangers said. ``Ford has done a good job of transferring the Mustang's image.'' By comparison, the Camaro and Firebird are still mostly known for their high-power variants that appeal to men under 35, Wangers said. Even if those younger buyers can afford a $25,000 to $30,000 sticker, insurance premiums of thousands of dollars a year make the purchase harder. As for customers over 35, ``most of those folks have already had one or two in the 1970s,'' Wangers said. ``When they look for fun, they look for Lexus, Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz -- something with more image, and a little more expensive.'' HIATUS? GM said in a statement that the Camaro and Firebird were on ``hiatus,'' but declined to say if or when the names might reappear. Paul Dettlaff of the Worldwide Camaro Association, a 3,000-member club of Camaro owners, said he'd like to see GM take a couple of years and think long and hard about ways to resurrect the duo, and then return with a better version of the old formula. The problem for GM is that unlike 35 years ago, only a small percentage of its cars are rear-wheel-drive, making it harder to cut costs by sharing parts with other models. GM has a new rear-wheel-drive platform called Sigma that will be the basis for a new Cadillac sedan later this year, but that's not seen as a likely choice for a low-cost sports car. However, Wangers said GM could not afford to lose brand names that still carry strong memories with thousands of customers. ``I feel they would be very foolish to allow those nameplates to disappear permanently,'' he said.