sly1

Chevy dealers have so many models in which they have to struggle to make a profit, I'm not about to begrudge them when the get a car where they can hit a home run, margin wise. Of course they won't make that huge profit from me, but they would be fools if they charged less than the market will bear.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule. If someone has been a loyal customer for many years, it would be bad business practice to charge that person over sticker. As a matter of fact in order to maintain good will, I'd probably give them a nominal discount. After all a loyal customer, especially someone who has his car serviced at the same dealership, should be given special consideration.

Jinx

I doubt C7 will be a unibody. The panels will probably be as easy to replace as they are on C5 and C6. If the market truly hates certain styling elements, they can be fixed, probably in a single model year. And I really doubt that there will be anything so fundamentally wrong with C7's design that anything more than tweaked fascias and front fenders would be required anyway.

.Jinx

tuxnharley

Didn't realize I had said or implied it would be a unibody??? I wish they would get it right now instead of waiting.............

jb_va2001

This seems like an untapped revenue opportunity for Corvette. They could change Corvette exterior styling more frequently, like in the 50s, and increase sales to the "gotta have the newest Corvette" crowd.

jackhall99

Jinx, Glenn never said anything about the C7 being a unibody at all. Anywhere. Ever.

zland

I am surprised with the design & manufacturing abilities of today they do not change exterior bodysyle designs much more often. Lets face it, the GS body panels were a vast improvement over the Base model with really little effort or cost.

Being the age of things like American idol, I am surprised GM does not select upcoming designers (not employees), have a TV program watching their designs develop each week (Corvettes & other cars on different years) & have people vote on which design elements they like after each show. This would be free promotion for their product(s) & they could steal those design elements they know the public likes & have their designers actually incorporate those elements into their actual car. I think this process would expand the interest in a car.

jackhall99

That's YOUR opinion sir. Many disagree with you.

AORoads

The cost or effort part may be correct, but I disagree with your opinion of one design being better than the other. After all, if it was better, more total cars would be sold, and they haven't been.

4xxk-C7-ZR7

Are you guy's asking they turn this car into some thing like COD were a "new" one come's out every year?

Jinx

You didn't. I'm just pointing out that the reason a lot of cars can be "stuck" with their styling for a generation doesn't apply to Corvette -- and yet comments along the lines of C7 styling being a disaster often cast a next-generation platform as GM's only hope to fix the disaster.

If sales are the yardstick, GM hasn't committed a styling disaster yet, but if they somehow do that this go-round, they can fix everything short of fundamental proportions PDQ with relatively little engineering.

And we'll probably call it C7.1... or just agree to never speak of the ugly version again

Let's hope they've gotten it right and all this worry we have can be chalked up to bad artists.

.Jinx

tuxnharley

Ah - understood and agreed. I am still somewhat uncertain and potentially concerned about that "basic proportions" issue tho.
Depending on the location of the rear halo, its integral dependency to the structural system, and the apparent stretch of the roofline and/or a theorized 2+2 configuration, the roofline length still looks a bit long/"off" to me.

As you say, hopefully that is just due to the quality of the artwork involved.

Jinx

I look behind my seats and don't see how they get a 2+2 out of that chassis.

One thing I noticed in the computer animation is that there's no real B-pillar. They rendered it as an actual window. (You can see through in a couple of shots.) That doesn't seem realistic.

I'm betting on the same basic fuel-tanks-behind-the-seats and halo-B-pillar chassis with a clever piece of glass stuck on as a disguise. I'm frankly surprised that the 2+2 idea gained so much traction considering the general speciousness of the first post that floated it. I mean, it's an... interesting idea, but even if it's a good one I look at the camo-in-the-snow photos and don't see how it's possible. I think everyone needs to take another look at those, and take another look at old images of the naked C6 chassis.

.Jinx

JerriVette

When the c7 releases andwe see the performance improvements, the handling and ride improvements, the interior improvements and the stunning beautiful exterior the dealers will try to get extra margins over marl.

Some will pay it while the rest will wait for msrp only.

Third or fourth year will bring some discounting.

Fifth year begins usual discounts before model update......meanwhile higher performance models will enter the market around the second year to lift individual trAnsaction prices

Jmo and third year usually a nice balance..IMO

jimmyb

Well, ok.
First, the various Corvette forum communities represent a TINY percentage of the total Corvette owners, just because WE'RE on a forum doesn't mean every Corvette owner is.

Second, you actually believe that the C7 will be cross-shopped with the Toyota/Subaru twins or the Evo???????

Third, where can I place the bet on C7's being $10K under sticker in "a few weeks". That's wishful thinking bordering on totally insane thinking.

Jimmy

BlueOx

When I think of the C7, I don't necessarily see the same chassis. If they did want to do 2+2 it would have to be significantly different.

It is a possibility that the C7 gen has been designed to have a single chassis that is strong enough to accommodate the convertible and eliminate the need for a halo or B-pillar. Or it could be a unibody.

SCM_Crash

The C5s were designed as roadster chassis and therefore it didn't matter if the car was a convertible or a coupe. The chassis was strong enough for any version of the Corvette.

I believe the C6s were the same, except they ended up using a separate chassis for the Z06 and ZR1 trims anyway. The aluminum frame for the Z06 is more rigid than the base frame and would have worked fine as a convertible frame from what I understand.

It would be likely that GM is going to do as they did with the C5s for the C7s to save money. Likely all the frames/chassis will be identical.

What I'm curious about is whether or not the frames will be made out of aluminum or if GM is going to use that new nano-steel they've invested into.