CPTAHAB

I read this today from someone who spoke with a "young designer" in Detroit...really? an old guys car? I'm 38!
I'm sure this gel-haired, iphone using, West Coast punk was exactly what I pictured...and I'm sure he drove a hybrid...
I hope GM does not screw up a classic shape/concept with the C7. There is no need for a rally-car, Euro-trash design...In addition, I read something that the GM CEO stated that the rear end of the C6 Vette was "too wide" - since when do these overpaid idiots have any say in the design...we have all seen it before, a suit tries to leave his mark on the corporate culture...PLEASE, let's all hope it's a great design without any crap!

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zland

I personally do not get the goal for young guys to buy Corvettes when you consider the demographics for Porsche, Ferrari etc is just as old or older. The bottom line is simple; when a car cost more then the majority of consumers can afford they do not buy it & the reality is younger buyers cannot afford a Corvette, Porsche, or Ferrari.

So unless they price a Corvette so it cost no more than $32K, it really does not matter what a young buyer thinks of it because they cannot afford it.

BobRBob

This is not correct. The average Corvette buyer is mid 50s. Average Porsche buyer is mid 40s. Same for Ferrari. Clearly, the message isn't to sell to people who can't afford the product. Quite the opposite. The demographics problem for Corvette is real and will do nothing but get worse unless changes are made. Cadillac figured this out ten years ago. Not sure what the problem is for the Corvette team but they had better get a move on.

Kevin_NYC

Avg College Grad salary is $45K

You cant afford a new Vette on that.

Thats a $1350 Paycheck every 2 weeks

-Rent in any metro area is min $1000-1350
-$5K down (99% college kids dont have) is a $750 Car payment
-Student Loans/credit cards: Avg $13K; avg pmt $300

So
$2700 Pay
-1350 Rent
-750 Car
-300 Loans
---------
$300 net
-$300 Gas [1 tank/wk is $75]
=
$0 Zero for food, life, clothes, etc

sirrob

Not to mention car insurance!!!

Silver99v6

It appears you're in NYC. You should move south. My house is just under 700 a month. I worked all through college and have no college loans or credit cards. So... at your same pay which is about right...

$2700
-700 house
-750 car
---------
$1250
-$180 Gas [ 1 tank/wk is $45]
= Very reasonable living. At least for me.

*I know this doesn't include insurance or other bills. You must take that into account.

jackhall99

Look guy, you are twisting things a LOT.

Even in your scenario, $1,250 discretionary doesn't allow for savings, insurance, insurance deductibles, food, utilities, cable TV, cell phone, clothing, etc.

And if you came out of school with zero debt, God bless you. You are the rare grad today.

Dime

I'm 21, own a 91 zr-1, and think the corvette is one of the best damn looking cars ever made. ALL of them.

They should ask me and not some know it all "designer."

Silver99v6

I know I am twisting things a lot pal. However, my point was that it could be done if someone wanted to do it. Personally, I would not pay $750 a month for a car. To me, that is too much of a liability.

As for no college loans, I have been working full time since a week after I turned 18. My parents all but kicked me out of their house. If I wanted to go to school, I had to pay for it.

CPTAHAB

Geez, I'm sorry I brought it up!

semaj

I don't necessarily think the corvette looks like an old guys car. It is very sporty, and it's not like it has wood grain interior or look like a 06 Ford Thunderbird! It's just typically older guys have more money. I am 26 and have an 06 vette. I am looking forward to the c7. I think it will just be a refined c6 just like it has been in the past.

jackhall99

Hell, just another thread in the Corvette Forum. For the most part we all get along OK with no hard feeling.

rjwz28

I'll be 26 in a couple months. I've loved the Corvette since 9th grade. When the 2001 Z06 came out I was ecstatic, and when it got a 20-horse bump for 02 I was thrilled. That was my dream car until the C6Z came out for 06. I would have bought an 06 or 07 this March if my daily driver hadn't bit the dust permanently (I broke the frame on my Cherokee playing offroad :-/). I will get one by the time I'm 30, although at that point I may be shooting for a 2010+ Z06 or maybe a used ZR1. I make decent money. The biggest thing the younger guys scoff at is the unavailability of options that the foreign sports cars offer.
Grippy seats for the people who drive hard are at the top of the list, along with some premium interior finishing. Charge more for the interior treatments to offset the cost, but seriously, there needs to be some no-cost seat with sport bolsters so that people who drive hard aren't constantly complaining about the seats. I thought that complaint would begin to fade with the newly available sport seats, but I just read a test in Motor Trend where they got a brand-new Centennial Z06/Z07 with the optional Pilot Sport Cup tires, and GM sent them one with the standard Z seats! The car pulled the highest g, quickest figure 8, and fastest track times by far, and the most talked-about aspect of this astonishing performance was the inability of the pro drivers to control their bodies within the vehicle! Absolutely unacceptable. This level of oversight by GM's media liason or whoever supplies test cars to auto mags just amps up the negative perception that the Corvette is merely good, not great.

PLRX

Can we have the C7 "spy photos", engine specs and price?

TBIRD57

as i've posted before. PORSCHE WAS DYING BECAUSE THE 911 COULD NOT GENERATE ENOUGH PROFIT. PORSCHE CHANGED:
the boxster arrives=cheaper younger demo numbers
cayman arrives=more of the same
suv=golden goose even more of the same
panamera.....let's just say a work in progress
911's with so many variations they are almost running out of numbers and letters. )at least we only have ZR1,Z06,GS )

so when somebody says they have a Porsche, you need to ask which KIND

SAY CORVETTE=aMERICAN.2 seats SPORTS CAR,FAST PRICEY and the demographics stay the same.


GM may have to follow the PORSCHE biz model....

take the sky/soltice plans out and create an entry level Corvette and
later take a srx and tweak it to fit the vette style(like the porsche suv is based on a volkswagen suv )
may want to skip a luxury sedan for now.

so i've given GM the answer on how to appeal to a younger group,and how to at least double sales/profits by including an SUV.

...or just keep the Corvette what it has always been, a toy for the boy in all of who us who can afford one. i don't care if i am responsible for
making the demographic age higher if that's the plan.

IMO OF COURSE!

Reciprocal

I was at Spring Mountain and flung the ZR1 and GS around as hard as anybody and never once did seat support cross my mind, I felt planted. You gotta adjust them right but they are supportive.

And then for everyone expectantly waiting for the C7 to transform all the ills of the C6 seat, GM has already modified the seat of the 2012 C6 so there's your peek into the future, looks like it cost them about twenty bucks, scant difference but I'm sure its everything to its owners, at least until the first moto pundit writes that GM still needs to upgrade the C7 interior again. I'm sure it will happen cause it never stops.

Dime

But I'm no know it all designer.
I'll give them a young guys opinion on the car, but I don't think I can draw them one.

SouthernSon

What else can the pundits complain about? The performance is measured by finite numbers as is the price. So, they have to 'knock' the interior which is a very subjective matter. The vette wins every category but the 'subjective' opinion of things. Personally, some of those interiors on foreign vehicles that get a pass from the writers look really bad to me, not nearly as nice and functional with practical layout as the vette.

ockie

The *** of the C6 is a little big, but that was something I liked. However, most people do not realize or can not see that the corvette is small like the other sports cars...except the visual makes it appear bigger.

And people assume bigger means slower or less track worthy.


Lets just hope this does not translate into smaller cabin interiors.... or else I would be out of the run for sure. Corvette was one of the few cars that allowed my lanky *** to fit into.

geezerman

abso-freakin'-lutly true!!!!,...why are you going to cater to a segment of the market that can't even afford the cars!?,...that's whats happened to nissan's gtr,...the kids who love that car can't afford it,...and us, shall we say "mature" folks, loath that thing,...although a fair chunk of us could afford it if we liked it,...whence thay sell 100 a month on a good month!,...NATIONWIDE!,...even porsche's 911,...costing the same or more!, sells 600 a month in this ****** economy,...DON'T CATER TO MARKETS THAT AIN;T GONNA BUY YOUR CAR!,...that's the lesson there!