Dear Bob,

The new Camaro has been outsold by the Mustang almost every month. What’s holding it back?

David Freedman, Detroit, Michigan

The minute I saw the new Mustang and the new Camaro, I knew Ford had won this round. The Mustang is a design masterpiece: sleek, semi-European, yet still a Mustang. Independent rear suspension or not, it is a winner. The Camaro, an even better car, sinks into quasi-irrelevance. You can’t tell it from the previous one. “The same as before, only smaller” has never been a winning formula in a fashion-conscious segment. The current Camaro, although fabulous, missed the mark.

Ford has a nice rear-drive, independent-rear-suspension platform for the Mustang. Why not leverage that, like GM does, and make a sweet family of sedans? I could see an entry-level, high-performance Lincoln in there also.

Keith Caulfield, Houston Texas

That was the plan for the stillborn Pontiac G6: leverage that excellent Alpha architecture. Ford did it in the past, when the Mustang had to share the Fox platform with prosaic LTDs, Grenada station wagons, and the like. These days, I’m sure Ford has concluded that the synergies are greater by just leveraging its front-and all-wheel-drive architectures. Plus, all the money is flowing into SUVs and crossovers.

What about a Mustang shooting brake? My first and second cars were a 1968 Highland-green fastback and a 1969 SportsRoof in Winter blue. More recent Mustangs lack cargo room.

John Bryans Fontaine, Westport, Connecticut

A nice idea, but not a good one. Sales would be low, not worth the investment. Vehicles of that type (Volvo 1800ES, Reliant Scimitar GTE, MGB GT), rare as they are, have never been successful. You have to pick: emotional or practical? Smoking-hot babe or sweet homemaker? You can’t have both in one. But, unlike marriage, you CAN have two cars.

I love wagons. I’m on my third Subaru. Why do many carmakers shun them?

Joe Gruce, Milford, New Hampshire

You love wagons, I love wagons, car magazines love wagons, designers love wagons, and, in the U.S., that’s about it. I thought the Cadillac CTS wagon would be a hit. Despite media acclaim, it was a flop. GM is trying again with the 2018 Buick Regal, a nice piece done by Opel for Europe, where wagons sell.

Why doesn’t automodom wrap today’s vehicles with cool classic bodies?

Dennis Richards, Harrisville, Rhode Island

Your vision lives on in the Dodge Challenger and the Chrysler 300, a production version of the Chronos concept, itself a throwback to the Fifties. I wanted to do a sort of updated De Soto Fireflite while at Chrysler. The designers hated the idea; they want to go forward, not back. It was all I could do to sell the PT Cruiser at Chrysler and the Chevy HHR at GM: Both were roundly hated internally. Plus, with bumper regulations, roof-crush requirements, and external-protrusion mandates, you could only do a pale imitation anyway. In sum, an interesting thought, and that’s about it. Trust me; I tried.

Bob Lutz has been The Man at several car companies. Ask him about cars, the auto industry, or life in general.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io