Directions: Think about individual products and the company that makes them. Describe three generations of that product (past, present, and future). Then in a multipage write-up, answer why was there change, what changed, and what will be the challenges and issues (business and technical) of the future generation.

On September 12, 1966, General Motors first displayed a preview of their next generation car, the Camaro. There were two main reasons why General Motors came out with this car. First, General Motors was trying to create a new type of car to satisfy consumer’s desire for a strong and faster type of car. Second, it was General Motor’s way to compete with Ford’s new Mustang. When the Camaro first came out, it was classified as a compact car. However, they later changed the classification to a pony car, and it has been seen more as a touring car, sports car, or muscle car. Along with the changes in names, there have also been many changes in style, technology, features, and specifications. General Motors is now in production of their 5th generation Chevrolet Camaro. On January 6th, 2006, General Motors started brainstorming ideas and concepts for this new generation car with a new body, wheelbase, engine, transmission, suspension, and much more. After two years of designing, engineering, manufacturing, and problems, on July 21, 2008, General Motors officially unveiled the production of the 2010 5th generation Camaro. This new generation Camaro was able to enhance or surpass most, if not all, of the 4th generation’s features. Starting off with the body, the 5th generation created a slicker, more aerodynamic, and arguably a more appealing body. Then they created a 110.5 in wheelbase, which was 9 in longer than the previous generation, which gives more stability at higher speeds as well as helps the car preform higher on inclined and declined surfaces. Also, they included a higher powered, more efficient 6.2L V8 engine with active fuel management equipped with your choice of a 6 speed manual or automatic transmission, while the older generation had an inferior engine with only the choice of 4 speed automatic or 6 speed manual transmissions. Next, they included independent rear and front suspension for a smoother ride and larger disc brakes from increased handling and safety. There are many other changes that were made, but the thing to note is why all these changes were made. First, consumers constantly have a desire for a better, more efficient, and more powerful car. Second, as technology increase, the cars are updated and changed. Third, there are more regulations cars must satisfy and they achieve this through their evolved improvements. Even though the 5th generation Camaro completely dominates its 4th generation counterpart, that does not mean, the 4th generation Camaro wasn’t an amazing car. When the 4th generation came out in 1993, in incorporated all of the state of the art specs of its time. This Camaro had one of the top ranked engines of its time and the brand new 4L60E, electronically induced, automatic transmission. They also equipped it with a new dual catalytic converter as well as a high performance on-board diagnostic system, the OBD-II. However, in 2002, sales started declining to the point where General Motors was considering canceling the production of the Camaro, and production was actually paused for seven years while they reconstructed the Camaro to create the 5th generation. As great as the 5th generation Camaro is, technology is still advancing and people’s expectations are still increasing, which is why General Motors plans to come out with their 6th generation Camaro in 2016. The main technical problems with this new design is consumers want a lighter but stronger car, so what they are planning on doing is using lighter and stronger composite materials to cut down on weight, and as for the performance, they plan to use either a V6 turbo engine, due to its light weight and high fuel efficiency, or a 5.5L V8 direct injection engine due to its incredible power output, which either would be equipped with a dual clutch transmission that can handle up to 590lb-ft of torque. As far as the business problems go, they need to be able to compete with the new Ford Mustang in performance, customer satisfaction, and price. As far as price goes, the Camaro is able to produce more output per dollar, but the high end Mustang is more powerful than the high end Camaro, but one of the biggest things Camaro needs to work on to compete is their weight. Mustang is a lighter car than Camaro, which from both a business and performance standpoint is a major draw back. So with General Motor’s new 6th generation Camaro, they plan to produce a stronger, lighter, and more efficient car to exceed everyone’s expectations and create a new standard of designing, engineering, manufacturing, output, and performance.