Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen
GM executive who left for Ford
As Chevrolet's general manager, Bunkie Knudsen reportedly rejected an early Camaro-precursor clay before the Mustang-driven revival of the project. Passed over for the GM presidency (it went to Ed Cole, who revived the Camaro program), he left GM in February 1968 to become president of Ford, where he was responsible for the Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustang programs before losing a power struggle to Lee Iacocca.
The clay Knudsen turned down was an early Chevy II-based sporty car, shown to him before the Mustang existed. His answer, "the one thing we don't need right now is another car," reflected GM's caution about adding models beyond what it believed the market could absorb.
That judgment looked very different after April 1964. The program revived only once the Mustang had proved a market GM had no answer for, which is the sequence set out under Ed Cole and in the first generation.
His Ford years are why his name also appears on the sibling site.
Did you know
- The idea he turned down came back in public anyway: Chevrolet showed a Nova-based personal car called the Super Nova at the New York Auto Show in early 1964, and the Camaro was approved for production in August 1964, four months after the Mustang's debut.
- His Ford presidency ran from February 6, 1968 to September 12, 1969, according to his 1998 obituary. He was dismissed after about nineteen months amid infighting with career Ford executives.
- At Pontiac, where he became general manager in July 1956, Knudsen pushed performance and racing, and by 1962 the division had climbed to third in industry sales. He brought the same taste to Chevrolet, where he added Super Sport versions of the Impala and Chevelle before the Camaro joined them.
- After Ford he became president of White Motor Corporation in Cleveland in 1971, then its chairman, and retired in 1980. He died July 6, 1998, at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, at 85.
- Semon Emil "Bunkie" Knudsen was the son of William S. Knudsen, who ran General Motors as president from 1937 to 1940. He was born October 2, 1912, in Buffalo, took an MIT engineering degree in 1936 and joined Pontiac's inspection division in 1939.
Sources for these details
- Ate Up With Motor - Chevrolet Camaro (first generation) Reference
- The Auto Channel - Knudsen obituary Period reporting
- Wikipedia - Semon Knudsen Reference
- Find a Grave - Semon Emil 'Bunkie' Knudsen biography Reference
Key beats
- Early Camaro-precursor skeptic
- Left GM for the Ford presidency (Feb 1968)
- Took Larry Shinoda to Ford; Boss Mustang programs