GM Closing Oshawa, Other Plants

[protovack]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeROC

I've been saying the exact same thing. They have priced new V8 Camaros outside of the core demographics that really want them, younger people who are cash strapped and people with families who want a toy car on the side of all of life's other responsibilities and expenses.

Not quite true. A new camaro in 1968 ranged from 3000-3500 dollars, which in today's money is between 20,000-25,000 so yes, the price of the camaro has increased. However, you can still get a base Camaro, LS or LT, for around that money very easily. And that camaro will have FAR better performance than any 1968 Camaro ever did. Also, it is safer and much less likely to kill you, and has far more standard features. So you get what you pay for.
Also, you don't get to have a modern supercar with a V8 engine just because you "want one." Young cash strapped families don't get to have high performance super cars, as a general rule. I spent many many years wanting a V8 camaro, yet driving a used toyota corolla, because that's what I could afford.

[Camaro_Corvette]

It's sad to hear. My 2013 1LE Camaro is still performing flawlessly to this day. And I have them to thank for that.

[396ssrat]

GM is failing in the overall styling department. This is why the Mustang and the Challenger are outselling the Camaro. It may be an excellent car but the buyer either buy's it or another brand. The Camaro is in 3rd place.

[cbr1100xx]

GM products suck for the most part in terms of quality/reliability/quality control. The only GM car I'd consider is a Camaro/Vette.

[Sledgehammer70]

I might be the tinfoil hat guy here with this statement, but I still have a small hunch a 7th Gen is not coming or if it is, it's going to be a long time. I am simply hoping for a Z/28 still and even that seems out of the question.

I truly feel for everyone who is losing their jobs. I have been there in life and it sucks. Best of luck to all finding new job and positions. I can only hope the car world is like the gaming world and other companies reach-out with potential openings.

[AZCamaroFan]

Originally Posted by 396ssrat

GM is failing in the overall styling department. This is why the Mustang and the Challenger are outselling the Camaro. It may be an excellent car but the buyer either buy's it or another brand. The Camaro is in 3rd place.

that literally has nothing to do with these plant closings

[dpevans]

Originally Posted by Nsxmatt

America is losing out more, and their major reasoning is they lost 1 billion in profit because of tariffs imposed on steel by trump.

The reason behind all the plant closings are GM is transforming just like Ford to reflect the consumer which is SUV, truck, and electric vehicles. Parts imported from Canada do not have additional tariffs with the new agreement and in fact are less. The only impact are with parts made overseas in China. The cost of purchasing US steel to use in production has minimal impact on the cost of a new car.
Quit reading all the propaganda.

[Chevmaro]

Originally Posted by Doc

Unfortunately it may already be too late. If they knew how to save the Camaro, they would have done it already. The lead time takes too long to make significant changes and they need to make significant changes.

For the last few years in Camaro5 and this forum, I've been harping on the need for them to get a vision of what a great pony car is and should be, and reinvent it. I got all kinds of flak from the fan boys who insisted they loved the bunker housing cabin, big hips, transformer toy looks. That's great except it completely misses the mark. GM priced the Camaro out of the range of its former Camaro base, and we saw the effects of that last year when 4 months of unsold inventory was sitting on dealer's lots. Those cars didn't begin to sell until they drastically reduced the prices, which probably didn't make any money for GM and made it clear price was an issue.

GM is a business, not an emotional passion club. If it doesn't make money they aren't going to continue it, as we've seen in the announcements today. By making the Camaro an expensive track toy, they nailed the 2% of the market base that wants that, which is most of what's in here. It's probably not enough to keep the car alive. They could keep those cars, but should have also (maybe they are but we haven't seen it yet) reinvented the pony car and made it affordable again for the market base they used to have; the 98% that isn't/didn't buy the Camaro as it is now.

They're caught in old-school thinking of one-customer, one-vehicle buyers. That's no longer the case today. Yes SUVs and trucks are selling, but those buyers also have more than one vehicle. If they'd position a reinvented pony car as a second or third car choice, and put it in a price range that makes it appealing for that purpose, they'd see a lot more sales. This won't be a track monster; there won't be videos of it at the 'Ring setting lap records. The 98% doesn't even know what that is, nor do they care. They're never taking a car to the track. While appealing to them might seem like sacrilege to those in here, if the 98% decide to buy in big numbers, that's what will keep the Camaro track cars in business that you guys like and buy.

GM is in real trouble. What they announced today wasn't a growth strategy. Blaming Trump or anything else is a fatal mistake; the problem lies within. They're carrying a huge amount of retirement costs. They're not leading anymore, they're following; design by trend rather than by vision. What they announced today is their plan to make the company appear profitable by amputation. That has absolutely no vision for future growth.

I saw this coming and was warning about it years ago; it makes me terribly sad to see it happening. I feel terrible for the employees; there's nothing like finding out you're losing your job right before Christmas.

GM... don't blame; think and change. GM execs... drive around neighborhoods and notice what customers are actually buying. Don't put all your eggs in the SUV/truck basket because that basket is getting close to saturation. Think; look ahead. People aren't going to be replacing those expensive SUV/trucks every year. That market is going to experience an adjustment, and it'll be pretty severe. If you think electric is going to save you, take a look at Tesla; business-wise it's a crap sandwich. It can't stand on its own without subsidies. If you're going electric, you need to start NOW with a dealer/support/charging infrastructure so that by the time you go 'all-electric' the way you think you want to, it will work. As a poster already said in this thread, how is the electricity generated? You want to sell electric? Make solar charging stations at every GM dealer, and make it free to charge there; that would be a good start. Start negotiating NOW with a major gas company to invest in solar charging units at their gas stations. You have to do more than follow trends, or you'll follow them right over the cliff.

Very well written

[Chevmaro]

Originally Posted by Memphis SS

Not sure if I missed something here in the thread but the Camaro is currently built in Lansing, so nothing to do with the current closing.

I do hate to hear the loss of jobs..

What you say is true but car sales are dropping and the Camaro's sales have fallen more than Mustang and Challenger over the past few years. There were no Camaros for model years 2003-2009. I hope GM does not kill it again but the handwriting might be on the wall soon. Rumor is that the Ford Probe was supposed to replace the Mustang long ago but letter writing helped prevent that. I know the fan base for the Mustang is more vocal than the Camaro's and letter writing does not change sales figures or corporate strategy but what else can we do but pray?

[Aqua Blue RS/SS]

All in the name of autonomous and electric driving...Isn’t that wonderful!

[Rock-It Man]

Sad to see these layoff, even though my 2010 was far from flawless.

[maraging]

I blame the "real people" commercials.

[protovack]

Wow. Some people here seem fairly out of touch with reality. If you think a plant closing means GM is "failing" you're crazy. Look up some basic economic concepts and keep up with the state of the world. Companies adapt and change. The fact that GM is making decisions about downsizing certain segments, closing some plants and focusing more resources to other ones, means they are a dynamic company which is adapting to a changing world. That is a sign of a healthy company not a failing one.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/gm...roduction-cars

This explains precisely why GM is making these changes, and they have good reasons to do so, just like Ford.

The Camaro is not going away, none of these changes even come close to touching the Camaro. It's a niche product that sells itself and GM made good profit off the 5th and 6th gen camaros.

Quit the doom and gloom already!

[Vtor_ZL1]

You can graduate college today with no debt too.. but that means getting a job along the way and not partying monday thru saturday. That means going to a school WITHIN your means.. not some far away out of state school with MUCH higher tuition.. again choices. Make better choices.