The El Camino could make a return

CrzRsn

So long, and thanks for all the fish
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Mark Reuss, General Motors' newly installed president of GM North America, says the Holden VE Ute may still come to the U.S. If it does, it could wear the famed Chevrolet El Camino badge.

Reuss raised hopes for a resurrected El Camino during an interview at the North American International Auto Show.

In January 2009, GM killed plans to sell the Ute as a Pontiac.

?I think another brand with the Ute would be pretty attractive,? Reuss said. Asked whether the potential brand for a U.S. VE Ute was GMC, Reuss volunteered ?or Chevrolet?, raising the prospect that the model could be sold with the El Camino nameplate if it were to make it Stateside.

Reuss knows the Holden VE Ute intimately. He was the president of GM?s Australian division at the time the company developed its U.S. export program.

GM had announced that it planned to bring the VE Ute to the U.S. as a Pontiac G8 Sport Truck during the 2007 New York Auto Show. U.S.-specific development work, including engineering side airbags to meet federal safety standards, was carried out but the project was cancelled before a single ST made it into showrooms.

Reuss indicated he wasn?t convinced that the original plan to bring the Ute into the U.S. as a Pontiac, to be sold alongside the VE-based G8 sedan, was the best solution.

?I thought we?d have a hard time putting Ute into Pontiac, but I know it was part of the broader strategy of doing that because they were both VE, there are reasons why you do that, but I think another brand with the Ute would be pretty attractive,? he said.

Reuss said that, if anything, bringing a VE Ute and sedan to the U.S. was more compelling than it was the first time around given the cars now run upgraded V-6 engines, as well as a V-8.

?We didn?t have direct injection in these cars when we?re looking at this the first time,? he said.

?You have to look at this strategically and say, VE has got to be able to stand on its own on the world stage and I think now it is getting to be able to do that, from a fuel economy (perspective) and you will see mass come out of the car,? he said.

?It only gets more attractive on an export basis.?

As for a possible time frame, Reuss wasn't specific and mentioned he had a lot to do in his new role.

The business case for the Holden El Camino will be assisted by the fact Reuss is also looking at ways to return the VE sedan-based G8 to the US market.

Reuss indicated the VE models would need a significant redesign before re-entering the U.S. market.

?The exact G8 car coming back, I don?t know that we?d do that because we would get crucified for not having some of the uniqueness for another brand designed into that car that we did for Pontiac and we designed a lot into that car for Pontiac. It wasn?t just a facelifted VE, it had colors, dials, ride and handling that was different and it was for the American market,? he said.

Reuss was asked whether it be tailored in a similar way for another brand?

?If we did something with VE it would be the same approach with integrity of another brand,? he said.

GM Holden president, Alan Batey, who worked under Reuss as his Australian sales and marketing chief, said he was hopeful Commodore Ute and sedan could both be sold in the U.S.

?It is too early to say what is definitely going to happen, all I can say is that there is absolutely ongoing discussion as you heard from Mark,? Batey said. ?He sees possibilities, we have to wrestle those down in the next few months, find out what we can do and when we can do it and come out appropriately with the right product plan,? he said.

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2010/0...o-the-us-as-a-chevy-el-camino-reuss-says.html


Hmmmm. Weren't they going to do this 3 years ago with the Pontiac G8 ST.
 
GM can either do the proper thing and do this, or be their ususal, blind-ass self and decide that there is no market for a small, RWD, V8-powered truck. i do hope they go the right way
 
Gm can either do the proper thing and do this, or be their ususal, blind-ass self and decide that there is no market for a small, RWD, v8-powered truck. i do hope they go the right way

You mean spend a ton of money to do research and market studies, find out that people will buy it, make a concept, truck it around to a bunch of shows, get great positive feedback, and then decided there's no market for it and scrap the project.
 
Probably never would of really fitted in with the marketting strategy they were giving the G8 anyway so it may work as a chevvy
 
They'll bring that over when they bring the Middle East/Asia market Lumina S/SS models over. In other words, not happening. Would be nice to see something cool, or heaven forbid, some logical decisions from FUGM.

I'll give you logical.

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/commodore-for-the-us-camaro-for-australia-20100113-m5c1.html

The one bit that sticks out
Charismatic General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz has today confirmed Chevrolet's interest in the Holden Commodore as a "four-door Corvette" sports model in the USA and also revealed the new Camaro muscle car is likely to be sold in Australia.

Impala SS already tarnished but the 8th and 9th generation Imapals, so lets now destroy the Corvette name.

https://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/01/14/corvetta.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/01/14/copyofcorvettagt.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/01/14/500x_four_door_vette_real.jpg

Yes I know its going to probably be a reincarnation of the G8 (Holden Commodore) with a bowtie, but why even bring the Corvette into the conversation.
 
^this, make it a bit wider and reduce the front grill for awesome looks.
 
I'll give you logical.
Chevrolet Panapidvette.

This sounds eerily like the talk Lutz used with the G8. Of course it's going to be a successful car, it's a fantastic machine and not making available for non-LEOs is idiotic. I wish what Lutz said came true, but we can't take his word for it as it's ultimately not his decision. And I'm not worried about the Corvette mention, I am however, worried that it might get some sort of badging like a 'Vette. Just make it the Lumina and update the styling.
 
I want this El Camino to finally make it. It's steal some of Ford's light truck thunder(which they got from the Transit Connect), and prompt them to wither bring the Falcon ute, or finally redesign the Ranger.
 
Ugh, I cannot unsee what I have seen. That sedan Corvette is wretched. :puke:

Anyhow, I won't believe anything GM says until they release it. Every time Maximum Bob tries to do something cool he is stopped by a bean counter.
 
I'll give you logical.

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/commodore-for-the-us-camaro-for-australia-20100113-m5c1.html

The one bit that sticks out


Impala SS already tarnished but the 8th and 9th generation Imapals, so lets now destroy the Corvette name.


Yes I know its going to probably be a reincarnation of the G8 (Holden Commodore) with a bowtie, but why even bring the Corvette into the conversation.

Why bring it into the conversation? Because it's the closest thing they've got to a four door corvette. Simple as that
 
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Yeah but he is kinda right. I mean...a car that has been hyped to the tilt, had people create a dance and a song for it, been taking 3 too many years to make and is frankly boring and crap compared to the concept (surprise? not really).

I kinda want the Volt to fail horribly, but then again I'd rather it succeed more than the Prius (which I don't think is possible).
 
Whatever. I'm sick of GM's bullshit hype and "leaks". I'll believe it when I see it. Especially considering this seems to the the third or fourth time (in that many years) that GM has talked about bringing the ute over.
 
Fuck you, GM, the government has already helped you out a lot more than they should have. Maybe if you didn't build such utter shit and maybe if you didn't run the company as well as lolpear probably could have since its very opening, you wouldn't be on your knees begging for more handouts. FUCK. YOU.
 
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