The Big Picture

“THE AMERICAN AUTO MARKET HAS BECOME A TRULY GLOBAL MARKET, WITH EXCELLENT VEHICLES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD FIGHTING FOR THE HEARTS AND POCKETBOOKS OF THE AMERICAN CONSUMER. ”

running scared

Is Detroit afraid of competition?

YOU WON’T find a back-to-back comparison between Hyundai’s new Genesis Coupe and the 2010 Mustang in this issue. The folks at Hyundai were all for it: “Bring it on!” they said, offering us a choice of cars, colors and locations—whatever we needed. But when we called Ford to ask for a Mustang GT, telling the Dearborn PR folks—as per our usual policy of full and fair disclosure—that we wanted to test it against Korea’s first-ever reardrive coupe, their response was: “Uh… we’ll get back to you.”

We played phone tag the next couple of weeks. This was a story worth chasing, because on paper the Genesis Coupe looked to be a carbon copy of the highly successful Mustang formula, offering sporty, standout styling and decent, fun-to-drive performance at an affordable price. Could the Koreans have pulled off something the Japanese last seriously tried in the 1970s with cars like the Datsun 240Z?

But Ford didn’t want us—or you—to find out. “If the Mustang wins,” said a PR flack at one point during the tortuous back-and-forth negotiations, “it’s still the king. If the Genesis wins, we’ve only made a hero out of a Korean upstart.” The Blue Oval folks had us over a barrel, because we also needed a Mustang GT to make the deadline for the test you read last issue. To get the car, we had to agree not to do a back-to-back comparison test with the Genesis.

We told Ford that, as we would’ve driven and extensively tested both cars by the time this issue went to press, we would be able to draw some pretty solid conclusions. They still nixed a direct comparison. So we’ve kept our word, but as you’ll read in Ron Kiino’s story on page 40, we know which is the better car of the two, and why.

The whole episode left me pounding my office table in sheer frustration. Running from a fight seems precisely the wrong message to send at a time when America’s automakers are asking American taxpayers to believe they build globally competitive cars and trucks. True, Ford hasn’t actually taken any federal loan money, but that’s because Ford got lucky before it got good—Alan Mulally mortgaged the entire company for $24 billion in late 2006 and has since sold off Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover, plus part of Mazda. Bottom line: Ford has cash. But in the current economic climate, all that means is it’s the healthiest guy in intensive care

But there was something else about all this that bothered me. In the same string of e-mail exchanges, Ford promised—promised—a Mustang GT would be made available for a comparison test against the new Camaro. Wait. So it’s okay to pit the Mustang against an American car, but not a “Korean upstart”? This seemed much the same thinking that helped get Detroit in such a mess in the first place, when it refused to take those funny little Japanese imports seriously. Haven’t these guys learned anything?

In 1955, GM, Ford and Chrysler owned 95 percent of the U.S. auto market, but not because their cars were so much better than anyone else’s. It was an accident of history: America was the only major country that had survived World War II with its industrial infrastructure intact and had an economy built on cheap energy and abundant natural resources that created a large middle class able to afford expensive consumer goods such as automobiles. Detroit’s automakers just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and grew fat and happy on the profits.

A lot has changed in the past 50 years: The American auto market has become a truly global market, with excellent vehicles from all over the world fighting for the hearts and pocketbooks of the American consumer. It’s no place for the timid or the insular. Because if you’re running scared, there’s nowhere to hide. ■

what we’ve been up to...

SUGGETT, Loh, and Lago savor adult tropical beverages at the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood (far left). Markus occupies perp seat in Carbon Motors’ police car. Bad, bad boy.

It’s f itting that the earliest sketches were done in an airpor t,

The handful of designers who gave bir th to the all new Camaro were a diverse group. That theme continued as it was developed all around the globe. When Design Director Tom Peters got a hush-hush assignment from Ed Welburn, VP of Global Design, to come up with a new Camaro to be shown at an upcoming auto show, he was beyond excited. The chance to redefi ne an American icon is ever y car designer’s dream. Tr ying to keep his project top secret, he assembled a small team of his most talented young designers.

They were SangYup Lee and Steve Kim from Korea and Vlad Kapitonov from Russia. Tom wanted a diverse group who didn’t grow up with the Camaro in their backyard — who would bring a fresh perspective to the design. He asked his team to design “the meanest street-fi ghting dog they’ve ever seen” and to look at modern aircraf t for infl uence. He did this right before a holiday break.

since it ended up traveling the world.

SangYup took that directive literally, feverishly sketching at the airpor t on his way to visit family in Korea. Vlad and Steve sketched over break too, and when ever ybody regrouped at their design lair known as Studio X, Tom knew he had picked the right guys. Sketches were chosen — SangYup’s for the front, and Vlad’s for the rear. Designer Micah Jones nailed the interior, fusing high design with high technology. Using these sketches as a guide, the car was fast-tracked to a full-size clay and then fi tted with an engine and drivetrain so that it could swagger onto the world’s stage at the 2006 North American International Auto Show.

And that’s where the stor y really began. Tom and his team now had to build a production car that would lose none of the jaw-dropping style of the concept — a job that would require a fl awless blend of engineering and technology.

The team crisscrossed the world in this e or t, beginning in Australia. There, the engineering group at Holden were chosen because of their rear-wheeldrive prowess. Working closely with Tom’s team, they created a platform that delivered the pure power any car bearing the name Camaro would need. The Camaro took plenty of other side trips on its journey from concept to production car. It was cold-weather tested in Sweden. Warm-weather tested in Death Valley. And the mighty SS was track tested at Nürburgring, where it clocked a world-class 8:19.

The last leg of its journey to production is starting now — in a state-of-the-art assembly plant in Nor th America. A place where the tool and die engineers obsess over ever y millimeter, just like clay modelers, fussing over ever y die to make sure they deliver a perfect surface and do justice to ever y beautiful body panel. This includes a challenging one-piece body-side panel that not only eliminates unsightly panel gaps but also gives the car’s structure incredible strength and a quieter ride.

The result of all this combined passion is nothing shor t of spectacular. You might see a beautifully modern American car when you look at the new Camaro. But Tom Peters sees a car drawn by a Korean, engineered in Australia, tested in Germany, and built in North America. Because he knows fi rsthand that the only way to build a world-class car is to have the best people in the world build it.†

Continue the Camar o s tor y with cons tantl y uploaded v ideo chap ter s at chev y.com/camaro. Hear the chief engineer talk about getting the perfect exhaust note, listen to interior designers extol the virtues of high technology and fi nd out how the team squeezed an estimated 27 MPG hwy. out of a 304 hp V6.**

* As shown $26,850. MSRP. Tax, title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment extra. †Built in North America using North American and globally sourced parts. **With available TAPshift automatic transmission.

Estimate based on GM testing. EPA estimate not yet available. Chevrolet and Camaro are registered trademarks and Chevy is a trademark of the GM Corp. ©2009 GM Corp. Buckle up, America!

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