Joel Ewanick, General Motors' new Chief Marketing Officer, said on Twitter tonight that GM will bring back the El Camino if 100,000 people say they want it. We'll call that bluff. UPDATED (05/08 — 6:11 PM EST)
This all started when I noticed Joel Ewanick, the brains behind Hyundai's wildly successful "Hyundai Guarantee" program, joined Twitter earlier today. I tweeted out a welcome to Ewanick, urging others to follow him.
As you can see, I also playfully suggested my followers — and Jalopnik followers — tell Ewanick they want him, and by extension, GM, to bring back everyone's favorite truck-car, the Chevrolet El Camino.
While many tweets whipped across the twittersphere, one Twitter user, @chevalanche, elicited a response from GM's new Mad Man on a topic other than openly mocking Scott "Montey"(sic), Ford Motor Co.'s chief twatterer. sex tapes.
Here was the full back-and-forth:
Well fine then. We'll call your ridiculous bluff, Ewanick. We'll keep track here — in the comments section of this very post — and see just how close we can get to 100,000 people raising their hands to say they'd be willing to buy a new El Camino.
I mean, how hard can it be, right? We've already got some practice in trying to bring back the El Camino. Although the Carpocalypse — and a Pontiac marketing twerp — killed that one, what's the harm in once more heading unto the breach? That time we had 80,000 fans interested. This is just that plus another 20,000.
Hey, I figure if the Nissan Leaf can get 250,000 hand raisers, we should be able to get 100,000 for the most awesome form factor of any vehicle ever!
Let's find out. Start by raising your hands in the comments below, then drop it into the forums you visit, send it out to your Facebook friends and Twitter followers, and let's see if we can make this dream — no matter how ridiculous it is — a reality.
UPDATE (05/05/2011 - 10:45 AM): Less than 12 hours in we've already got over 1,200 comments here. Keep it coming — drop a link to this post into car forums, reddit, stumbleupon, twitter and Facebook. Let's maintain this momentum and GM will have to follow through on Ewanick's flippant response.
UPDATE (05/05/2011 - 2:49 PM): Four hours later and we're now up to almost 1,800 comments! More importantly, as you can see over on the right, Mark Reuss, the President of GM North America, has added his voice to those looking for GM to build a new El Camino. Hmm... methinks he should just do it, shouldn't he?
UPDATE (05/05/2011 - 4:35 PM): We just broke 2,000 comments! Keep sharing this post with your friends — and get them to share it with their friends. Let's show GM 'merica wants the only car that's business up front with a party in the back!
UPDATE (05/06/2011 - 3:50 PM): We broke through 2,700 of you who're proudly waving your mullets wildly for a new El Camino. Let's keep it going. We've even been written up by PickupTrucks.com, MLive Torque News and LSX TV! Keep the pressure on GM by having your voice heard in the comments below!
UPDATE (05/06/2011 - 3:50 PM): We blew past 3,000 and 3,100. Let's keep it coming! Send this post to your friends and have them comment!
Photo Credit: Geoff LMV / Flickr; Chad Horwedel / Flickr