CAMARO COME LATELY; IS GM'S COUPE TOO LATE TO CATCH THE WAVE?

Byline: BOB GRITZINGER

One school of thought says the Chevrolet Camaro will arrive in spring 2009 in a market already saturated with sport coupes and full of buyers seeking fuel economy, not fuelish muscle cars.

A contrary opinion suggests the car will catch the crest of a wave full of Camaro enthusiasts and buyers stepping out of their sport-utility vehicles and pickups and back into sport coupes.

Regardless of what shakes out when the first 2010 Camaros hit the highway, analysts generally agree that Chevy will have about 18 to 24 months to make hay on the car before interest withers. In addition, General Motors' early suggestion that it might sell 100,000 Camaros annually is about as likely as gas prices returning to sub-50-cents-per-gallon levels typical of the late 1960s, when Camaro was in it heyday.

"I don't think they could have predicted $4-per-gallon gasoline and the poor economy,'' said analyst Joe Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Inc. "With consumer confidence where it is, it's probably going to be a tough go in the first year.

"How many Camaro loyalists are out there?''

GM has to hope there are plenty, and that they've been biding their time. They've been waiting patiently as the Chevy has made its way from star concept car at the January 2006 Detroit auto show (and the AutoWeek Editors' Choice "Best in Show'' winner), to star convertible concept at the January 2007 Detroit show, to star production car when it was officially revealed July 21, to actually going on sale next spring.