Until the Covette offers another pair of seats in the back, or joins the exclusive porsche 160k club, that isnt going to change Bob. The reason the age of the average corvette owner, is because the car has been America's sports car that people grow up aspiring towards, but are unable to buy due to price, or circumstances. I am entering the age that you claim GM needs to attract. The truth is, most of us are having kids, preparing them for college, and preparing for retirement. Two seat sports cars are still a dream until people enter their 50's and 60's, and are in a posiion to get them.

I dont know a young person now that wouldnt love to have a GS, a z06, or a zr1. Especially anyone that has ridden in them, or seen them in action. You are miaguided in what you believe GM needs to do.

 

Misguided? GM has said the Corvette needs to appeal to a younger buyer and I'm simply agreeing with them. It's true that other sports/luxury brands appeal to an affluent older demographic (late 40s and 50s) but it's not the same group of aging people with little back fill as the older ones stop driving. It's a doomed business model, the same one Cadillac finally abandoned ten years ago when they just about fell through the ice.

How to best accomplish this is open for debate but the requirement for it is not.

While it may be true that a ride in a new Corvette is a compelling experience, there is no line up for rides. Most younger folks simply have no awareness, let alone preference, for a Corvette. It's a serious problem for GM and a C7 Corvette that is much like a C6 with some different body work probably won't change anything.

 

One ad every five years and a steady stream of reviews that criticize the same unaddressed problems don't help, either.

 

Huh? And those folks opinion would be based on.............what, exactly?
And GM should consider that as being valuable input because......... ?
How are they "potential customers" if they "never even consider a Corvette"? You're gonna have to explain that logic thread to me!

 

It's the people who are buying other sports cars without even looking at a Corvette. They are the target market. GM needs to get their attention. The logic is not that complicated.

 

Right, I understand that. My point was/is - if they've "never even looked at a Corvette", what are they basing their opinion on? If they don't even look at the car, how can they have an opinion about the interior, or anything else? It sounds like the old adage of "my mind is made up, don't bother me with facts". That kind of person will always default to image and perception of status over actual value and substance.

The logic isn't at all complicated, it just doesn't make any sense. In fact, it seems overly simplistic. What am I missing here?

 

What you're apparently missing, though you alluded to it: image and perception of status are important to the sales of any sports car.

 

Right. So - how do you change that for people who "never even look at a Corvette"? What I think is that their "snobbery" will never change; that they have been preconditioned from a young age to automatically believe that anything European is better by definition.They will always believe that a BMW/Porsche/Audi/Mercedes is better than anything American. I think that is a lost cause, and attempting to cater to that mentality will only waste time and effort. Better to move ahead than look back attempting to fix a historical problem.

PS - I didn't "allude to it"; I said it - straight out!

 

Well, I hope you're wrong because, if you're right, the Corvette is doomed. The folks buying the Porsches and BMWs and other competitive sports cars are the target market. There's no one else to sell to - they are the people who are buying sports cars. It makes no difference how they formed their opinions and it certainly doesn't help to complain that these folks don't appreciate the Corvette's "actual value and substance". That's the problem GM needs to solve. Worse, many of these people have no opinion at all of the Corvette. None. They don't even see them.

Start with building a product that people notice and that grabs their attention. Then market it effectively. Both are required. One without the other is a waste of money.

It can take years to build brand preference just as it has taken years to lose it.

Time to get started.

 

We agree in concept but disagree on the approach. What I am saying is to make the changes in moderation without going so far upmarket as to lose the base of buyers. No need for a $20k interior base and $60- 70k base model MSRP; that will kill the Corvette for sure. Stick with the current demographic for now and evolve over time. Plan for the market 10 years out, not the current Europhiles. Evolution, not revolution.

Happy Holidays!

 

GM is right they have to appeal to a younger buyer. They need a buyer stream that will last another 20 or 30 years. They have a lot of what it takes to get there now but the price of the car has to drop and the image has to change from a rich old guys car to a young hip guys car. In the 60s a young blue collar worker could afford to buy a Vette if they stretched a little. With the lowest cost Corvette selling in the $40K range that will not happen when the buyers are only able to pop for cars in the $30K range. So the young buyers buy Subaru's, EVO's, etc. Ones I have met liked the Corvette but never even dreamed they could afford one. What is even more interesting is the number of younger people who think all Corvettes old and new are out of their price range. A younger member of our club purchased a 90 C4 when he was 28 told me all of his friends thought he was rich even though the car actually cost him less than the cars they were considering. They also thought it couldn't perform as well as the so called hot 90s 240SX (whatever) even though the C4 could run circles around it.

The interior of the current Vette is nice and compares well to other cars in its class. I spend a fair amount of time riding in them and I don't see anything special about their interiors compared to the Vette. One student who is an Orthopedic Surgeon owns a V8 M3. When I took him for a ride in my 08 3LZ his first comment when he got in the car was, "This is a nice interior, I thought the interior wasn't supposed to be this nice." The interior in his M3 was plain jane and the seat belts didn't have a cinch feature so you could lock them tight when pulling Gs. The seats didn't hold you in place any better than a Vettes and I had to use the door pull to hold myself in place in the corners.

Bill

 

I hope the C7 Interior designers are paying attention.....there has been some awesome new interiors revealed in some recent sports cars intros....and everyone has been using bright red......just check out this new Mercedes roadster.

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Very cool. Or is it hot...

 

The new Corvette should have a better interior!, not a complicated cabin with a lot of flashy new tech mods, simple but nice. I always thought if you want something luxury by a Lexus or a Cadillac.
Last month I was shoping arround to replaced my "daily driver" looked at the new Hyunday Veloster $20K let me tell you: awesome interior!!! that tells you that companies don't have to rise the price to offer a decent product. I ended up with a new Scion TC $22K, again, the interior is 10x better than my C6.

 

You gotta be kidding!

Whatever makes you happy, but you are delusional.

 

Over time, by not sucking.

No, you said "That kind of person will always default to image and perception of status over actual value and substance." What you didn't say, which is close and yet quite different, is the truth -- that image and perception of status are important to the sales of any sports car, not just sales to "that kind of person," but sales in general. For a very few, driving a car that other people openly deride and think poorly of is a badge of honor, but most people don't want to buy something that other people laugh at. Corvette needs to be a better more well-rounded car with an interior that satisfies (if not exceeds) most shoppers' expectations. And Corvette needs to keep up with those expectations every year, not stagnate. And when most of the reviews make a stink about something, Corvette needs to fix it.

"That kind of person" might never get over their prejudice, but when their criticisms are dated rather than still on-point, they can be silenced, or at least held down to the point that the non-fanatic can own and drive a Corvette without having to make excuses for it.


The Veloster is exactly the opposite of what you just prescribed for Corvette. Veloster is, at the $20K level, flashy new tech mods. Corvette needs the $50K equivalent. CUE is perfect -- not a bargain version, the real deal. And seats that don't have a flimsy handle and "did it just break" seatback adjustment, for Pete's sake.

.Jinx

 

I'm not comparing my new Scion with my C6, I'm just saying that the Scion has better interior than the C6, go and see one.....I bet you haven't!.... if you do please look at the steering wheel, look at the seats and obviously seat on it!, Pioneer radio from factory, even the start button looks better!...My point is that a $20k car can have that why a $50K+ can do the same? I can buy 2.5 Scions with the price of my Vette. I love my C6, as I did with my C5, but I hope the C7 has a better interior. We don't need to go and spend another $5k on aftermarket interior parts to make it look decent!

 

Wow, I guess whatever floats your boat! I'll sure keep my C6 interior, thank you.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

you had time to google the pictures!!!...... hahaha so go back and google the 7.0 TRD edition (that's the one I have) and please no black and white pics. so you dont waste your time googling all the pics just post the pics of both steering wheels! My apreciation is based on both cars that I have, that I own, that I sit on them, not on black and white pics!