Snowwolfe

February Corvette sales down 35% compared to same period in 2017.
http://media.gm.com/content/dam/Medi...ruary-2018.pdf

JJAY

interesting ...

Petaluma

Could be that most interested and funded buyers are awaiting the very long awaited appearance of the mid engine Corvette. Even those who know for sure they couldn't afford one, they still hope they might be able to acquire one. I have loved my Corvettes since 1971 when I could finally acquire a USED one at age 25. And, I've never had any problems with them, but have noted periods of unexplainable poor marketing and late release dates. When I decided in 2010 to purchase a new 2011 Z06, I waited and waited for the Carbon Edition. The release date kept changing, so I purchased a 2011 SS Blue Z06 with carbon package and Z07 performance upgrade. There was many of us waiting to acquire the Carbon Edition, who ultimately stopped waiting. Thus, the sales of the Carbon editions were far less than expected by GM.

The most recent years included not making ZR1s; Then making them again, along with the added confusion of the 5 year old or more rumors of a mid engine model. And, what appears to be a future crescendo of marketing a ZR1, Z06 and a Mid Engine Model.

I love my Corvettes and than GM for creating my 198 mile per hour factory car that can get 24 miles to the gallon, but I sure wish the marketing division would become as good as the engineering and pricing of these super cars.
Thank you for this Forum!
www.gt40zone.com/C6_Vet_Project.html

Billy346

Petaluma

By George you're probably right; I did not consider the whole US weather conditions; I'm a spoiled Kalifornia kind'a guy.

3 Z06ZR1

Love the Forum!
They waited too long for the new ZR1 release they should have done it 18 months ago

Foosh

These are February 2017 to February 2018 comparisons. Winter is usually harsh in many parts of the country in February, so I don't think winter weather is the reason.

If anything, it should be the opposite. I saw stats last night indicating that February 2018 was the 4th warmest February on record in the densely populated Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US.

ZR1 release has nothing to do with it either. In that price category, it's only going to be responsible for a small fraction of C7 sales.

thill444

They will continue to drop. None of this should be a surprise:
1. Car sales continue to fall as the trend is to buy trucks and SUV's.
2. The C7 hit dealer lots in 2013. It's 2018 with very little changes since 2013. Most people who bought a Corvette by now did and with little changes there is not much reason to trade up.
3. Used market. There are tons of low mileage used ones. Some people (raises hand) went that route vs buying new.
4. There are 2017's, 18's, and now 19's on the lots with not that much difference in pricing. It's a bizarre time to buy a new Corvette for sure.

Snowwolfe

C7 is almost to the point where 460 HP is ho hum and the performance numbers from 0-60 and 1/4 mile are no longer super impressive. If GM would pump up the HP and Torque above 500 they would sell like crazy until the C8 is released.
That’s my opinion Yours may vary.

JALLEN4

To attribute poor sales to weather, you would need to go state by state results...year to year...weather comparison to weather comparison. This is something that GM does and at the end of the day I think you are going to eliminate that as a major reason as has been already stated.

This large drop in sales is nothing new and has in some form been going on for decades. Sales peak at the beginning of a generation and then consistently fall off until another new generation or radical change. Corvettes are desire items, not need, and once the rush to the "latest" takes place, competition for the expendable dollars becomes increasingly fierce. Corvettes don't generally get worn out and high mileage and new competitive cars are continuously coming along. That reluctance to commit becomes even more pronounced when it is known a new generation is close as the C8 seems to be.

This is another reason dealers are reluctant to get on the Corvette treadmill and invest the money it takes to be competitive in that market. The big boys can do very well when the generation changes but also can suffer mightily when the cycle is about over. It is expensive to keep stocking and advertising the vehicles in volume when you must make major discounts to shed the inventory that starts building up. Long term, few last in the game and if you were to compare the top fifty dealers of twenty years ago with those today, there has been a great deal of change. This is not as pronounced with dealers as a whole.

Steve_R

Is it really a surprise that year-over-year sales of any model decrease? That's been happening since the advent of the Model T and isn't going to change now. It's certainly happened with every generation of the Corvette.

Petaluma

I was under the impression that a 'surprise' was most often a F_ rt with a lump in it.

jimjimsC7

Well we went Vette shopping on February 3 in 15 degree weather here in Ohio, placed my order for a 2019 GS Coupe the same day so you can't blame me.

Foosh

Me neither, I took delivery of a new one on Feb 8 in the "frigid" part of the country, and it already has 600 miles on it..

Bavaria

I'm totally satisfied with mine - it's been almost flawless.
In the meantime, without Cyber Gray or Night Race Blue returning, I'm not interested.

jimjimsC7

I'd bet sales were higher last year because dealers wanted to boost their inventory up due to impending plant shutdown.

TXshaggy

LT1 Z51

This is a non-issue. MOST cars after 3-4 years get a "refresh" where they swap out front and rear ends, change the interior a little, but for the most part keep it the same car.

Customers, news flash, are not super intelligent in this regard. The "refresh" to most people looks like a new model. So then it stimulates buying again. There is a reason for example the S197 Mustang had two refreshes (one in 2010, the second in 2013). It was so the car would continue to sell over it's 10 year life. The 2009 and 2010 changes are also significant.

GM just DOES NOT do this for Corvette (since the C4 generation), and so after 4-5 years sales take a dump. GM I think doesn't care about this, as you can see the new features they offer are minuscule. There is no reason for a person who has a 2016 or a 2017 to upgrade to a 2019 (of the same model). The car is 99% identical.

JoesC5

Several of us had a mid February trip planned in Durango, Colorado to ride the narrow gauge steam powered train in the Winter Wonderland.

Canceled the trip because there was no snow and temps were in the 50's most days. Not exactly a Winter Wonderland.

That was typical weather for the southwestern US this February. Warmer than usual and a drought. Perfect weather for buying/driving a Corvette.

vader86

Seems normal to me to see sales of a model decrease several years into production. C4s started out sky high and declined, C5s and C6s did the same. Once rumor is out of the next gen, it gets tough for the dealers to move the current model. Thats why they always release new editions and such like the ZR1, it motivates sales.

But it works for me just fine since I want to buy a GS late this year, so I should get a good deal on it. I wouldn't buy the first year of a new model.