The Camaro Homepage Interview Series #2

Camaro Product Manager, Cheryl Pilcher Part 3
by the CHpg Staff

Image: Campbell-Ewald

In this third and final section of our three-part interview with Chevrolet's Camaro Marketing Manager, Cheryl Pilcher, we start by trying to pin her down on the new V8 Camaro's performance. CHpg: For a V8 car, what's the development group's goal for curb mass, 0-60, 1/4 mile accel, handing and braking? CP: I can't tell you all those gory details but, at this point in time, I can say that it's our intention to be the best out there.

CHpg: What's best out there, now?

CP: Within our particular segment, the regular sports, not the high-sports (Corvette, Porsche, Jaguar, etc)--Mustang GT.

CHpg: Over at Corvette they focus on weight. At Camaro, are you guys focused on weight?

CP: We're thinking about weight within our segment. The fact that we now have an independent rear suspension is going to make our job more difficult because that's an inherently more expensive suspension.

CHpg: "Expensive"...weight-wise, not cost-wise.

CP: Yeah. Well, it is both, but in this context, I'm talking about mass. Also, as more and more safety features get rolled-in as standard equipment, they add mass.

Mass is important and we're going to manage that to make sure it's the best it can be, but Corvette will always be a lighter vehicle. It doesn't have a rear seat, doesn't have a lot of other mass inherent in a four-seat, sporty coupe. Mass is something we're going to keep our eye on and we'll do our best.  

CP: They have a (VE Commodore) SS model. I was just down in Australia a few weeks ago.

CHpg: Didja drive one?

CP: It is awesome! The one that we borrowed had a manual transmission, too. It's just a terrific car. The Australians, the team down at Holden, they know what they're doing.

They are performance car, rear-wheel-drive enthusiasts. The Commodore would be like an Impala for us, but it's rear-wheel-drive. It's roughly a 115" wheel base. They do SS’s like Chevrolet does here in the United States. The Commodore SS is even a bit more dramatic than what an Impala SS is, today--much more prominent spoiler, very low profile tires. They are phenomenal cars that give us the warm and fuzzy feeling that this Camaro we're working on down there is going to be phenomenal.

CHpg: If you had been Tom Peters' consultant, name a styling feature you'd have suggested which is not in the Concept Cars' exterior design.

CP: My first response? 'Nothing. I wouldn't change a thing.' But then, I wish we coulda done something to have a sun roof or t-tops. That would have been great...but then we would have missed what Tom Peters calls the "reverse mohawk" on the hardtop roof which is so cool. So, overall, I don't have anything I'd change.

CP: It was a high-running option. The majority of folks, on a coupe, wanted T-tops.

CHpg: So there is thought to making that available.

CP: Yes.

CHpg: Generally, describe goals for rear seat room and luggage/cargo space?

CP: Purchase of a car like a Camaro is primarily driven by styling. Everybody wants a great looking car, inside and out. The next reason is: driving performance, 0-to-60, ride-and-handling and braking.

It's interesting what trade-offs you make relative to rear seat roominess and cargo capacity. That's not the reason why somebody buys the car...

CHpg: ...but it can be a reason they'll be unhappy, after they bought it.

CP: Exactly. When you stop by our local grocery store to pick-up a few items, you want room to put groceries in your trunk or the rear seat.

Few people take a Camaro with four people and drive from Michigan to Florida but, you still want to be able to take two couples and run out to a local restaurant and not have someone feel extremely cramped. We try to manage those trade-offs as we do the interior styling and packaging in the interior and the trunk--I'm used to calling it the "boot", now, working with Australians.

CHpg: (laughs) The boot! Opposite end from the bonnet, right? Open the boot will ya mate. See if there's any kangaroos or wallabies in there.

CP: (laughs) You got it. Anyway, we know that styling and performance are key reasons for purchase, but yet, we don't want to do a rear seat that’s just absolutely ridiculous.

CHpg: Safe to say that you're gonna do a better job with this issue this time than last time?

CP: I hope we do a better job. Obviously, one difference between the 4th Gen car and the Concept Car is there was a hatch back then whereas this car will have a more traditional trunk.

CHpg: A lockable trunk might be a better idea.

CP: Yes.

CHpg: Advantages and disadvantages of developing the car in Australia?

CP: It's been interesting. Some of the advantages are: it's a new team of engineers down in Australia. What they do, they do extremely well.

It's amazing the differences of how things are done in North America vs. Australia. In the U.S. we have more temperature extremes. We have states that get very cold in the winter so our cars need to perform to those kinds of requirements. For example: bushings. Suspension components might squeak in cold weather, so we test extensively for that and develop suspension parts that don't squeak. The Australians might not do quite as much on that.

CHpg: It doesn't get cold in Australia?

CP: Not to the extent like we do. They have snow in Australia, but it's unusual. You have to go way up in the mountains to see snow. I think Melbourne, where we do our work with Holden, in wintertime, which is our summertime, gets down to 50 degrees. It's not a very cold environment.

(That affects) things like floormats. This sounds very simple, but here in the United States, we always have rubber-backing on our mats. In the wintertime, you're gettin' snow on your boots and whatever and you're gettin' it in your cars and so the rubber backing not only helps with grip on the carpet, it helps prevent water seepage through the mat, into the carpet. The Australians just have foam-backing on their mats.

We have speed limits here in the USA, but as we all know, people have a tendency to exceed those speed limits sometimes, so when we do our testing in North America, we really monitor what happens to vehicles at high speed.

CHpg: They don't do that kind of development?

CP: They are more strict on speed limits. They're monitored more. It seems odd because Australia is a very large with a lot of open space. The State of Victoria, where Melbourne is, has strict speed limits. I'm sure there are folks down there who speed, but it's not quite as prevalent as it is here.

Door-glass blow-out, off the weatherstrips (when low pressure caused by high speeds "sucks" the top of the glass away from the weatherstrips), we pay a lot of attention to that. I think they pay attention to that, but maybe it's not as tough as a requirement.

CHpg: So you guys are bringing new things to their table.

CP: Exactly. And they're helping us, too. Because they look at things differently. That's the advantage--the new perspectives. But, I'll say the distance can be a disadvantage.

Chpg: How long does it take to get down there.

CP: From Detroit, it's about 24 hours. I fly out usually on a Friday evening. I arrive in Los Angeles and, then, there's a direct flight from L.A. to Melbourne. We take an 11:30 PM flight, on a Friday night out of L.A. and arrive Sunday morning in Australia. It's a 15 and a half hour flight.

When I was down there last, I got to see some of the first bodies in white (the first bare, body shells off tooling that is close to production intent) of the Camaro.

CHpg: I want to address some misconceptions a few readers might have. Some may think there's no Americans working on this. How many are down there on Camaro?

CP: Excellent question. There are quite a few on ISP assignments (GM's acronym for overseas assignments). They're usually down there for two-to-three years. The Vehicle Line Executive, Gene Stefanyshyn, came from the U.S. and he's down there. GRWD Chief Engineer Doug Houlihan is also in Australia. A lot of our manufacturing representatives are there, too, so there's probably more than a handful of people.

Say they're doing chassis tuning on the Camaro. I know that there's enough of our team represented--the folks who are used to United States roads--that the chassis tuning will meet our goals.

CHpg: So, a mix of Aussies and Americans work on this project.

CP: Mostly Aussies, but it's not as if there are only two people from North America down there. There are quite a few.

CHpg: Summarize your feelings about developing a new product in Australia.

CP: It's gonna be the way to go--definitely a benefit. It's been a great learning experience for me as well as for the team at Holden to see how North America does our business and what's important to us. It's not always the same as what's important in their market but, it's been a good experience.

CHpg: Currently, what's Chevrolet's most significant challenge in bringing the new Camaro to market?

CP: I think our most significant challenge right now is to keep our future Camaro buyers engaged and enthused.

While start of production in the last quarter of 2008 seems far away, people would be amazed at the incredible amount of engineering, development and validation that will go into this new Camaro and into every other product GM makes. That work takes time--time to ensure that the Camaro meets or exceeds all of GM's engineering specifications and customer requirements.

We're just as excited as the enthusiasts that this car is comin' back. We still get the same goose-bumps when we see the Concept Car. We all wish we could have this car tomorrow. I wish I could turn the car over to you tomorrow. Unfortunately, it can't happen that quickly. So we'll get it out as quickly as possible.

 Click Here for Part1 of this Interview