Walter Raulerson

My '15 Z51 with comp seats,2LT, PDR, BLACK WHEELS, A8 WHATEVER WAS 75,055.00

RandomTask

My wish list? Eleventy billion HP, manual, CF tub, active aero, center seating, and <$60k

BAMF AE

Rapid Fred

That makes the most business sense to me. They will learn which way the market moves and react accordingly. A bit like "New Coke." EVERY taste test they did, it won against "Old" Coke. You can be they are happy they figured out "Plan B".

Maybe a bit of an anology to the 928 Porsche as well. For obvious reasons, they wanted to phase out the rear-engined dinosaur 911. 40 years later, it is pretty obvious that expanding, rather than revamping, their lineup made them big winners in the marketplace.

Rapid Fred

Of course -- but MANY buyers do factor that in and wind up in Vettes for that very reason (I am one of them). The volume GM needs out of the Vette means they have to weigh a lot of factors. The BG expansion sure argues for an expansion of the line; not just gambling on a hard-core ME Vette, no matter how spectacular and well-priced it may be.

elegant

With the fall’s physical Plant complete makeover, the maxiumum hourly capacity of the Plant has been revised downward from 17.2 Corvettes per hour to now just 14.0 (and that 14.0 is the “red line” maximum paint shop output), with typical production now at just 11.6 Corvettes per hour.

The source of preceding information was a public presentation of Kai Spande in late August (still on YouTube and earlier posted here thanks to jagamajajaran).

Kai’s particular comment was in close proxmity to his statement that GM is rightsizing the Plant for complete-Corvette-generation demand. It suggested to many of us present that GM has finally realized that its past practice of max overtime the first two/three years, producing more than the market can absorb during that time period, with consequent massive dealership sales discount andGM incentives-to-dealers, was not the most fiscally-non-prudent approach (understatement from a GM and dealer point of view).

So maybe, or perhaps probably, GM is going to only produce around 25,000 Corvettes per year from now on? [11.6/hour X 8 hours per day X 270 days per year = 25,000 Corvettes per year.]

Rapid Fred

How did he explain what looks to be 2X the footprint? Are they knocking older plant assets down? Or, was this clever language focused on capacity to continue producing C7’s for a while while finessing the new car (about which I believe there have been no official statements).

ShahulX

so... no manual on a c8 is the rumor?

JoesC5

There are not 270 "work" days in a year. By the time you deduct holidays and the plant shutdown for vacation, you have more like 223 "work" days per year. Additionally, while the lunch break does not count against the 8 hour day, the morning and afternoon breaks and the end of shift work area clean up reduces the 8 hours "work" day to around 7 hours and 20 minutes of actual production time.

elegant

Just proving the point Joe that there is much less capacity now than before the Plant re-do, e.g., summarized by the hourly run rate dropping from 17.2 to 11.6 per hour. So regardless of the number of annual days (and I am not disagreeing it could be significantly lower than 270, maybe even toward the 223 you estimate), going to be a lot less Corvettes made annually now than in the past.

CaliforniaJack

I have a C5 daily driver and a Gallardo for weekends. If the C8 is a combination of the two, I would jump at the opportunity to combine the best of both. The C5 is easy to maintain (and I've had to fix a lot) while the Gallardo is more elegantly finished, but hand over your wallet to maintain it.

Jinx

My wish list is a V8 with two seats and three pedals and a clean sports car design.

I am prepared for the possibility that I've already owned my last new Corvette.

sunsalem

I would never keep a Euro car beyond its warranty just for that reason alone.

gliot1

I hope many aren't under the belief that a mid-engine will have a bigger trunk......I just finished the book "All Corvettes Are Red" and one of the major issues that killed the mid-engine Vette years ago was the marketing requirement that the trunk has to hold (2) sets of golf clubs. With a mid engine there will be no rear trunk, just a trunk up under the hood, and with a low front hood, the trunk space will be very limited! It is the nature of the beast.

Rapid Fred

Yep! Great read BTW.

Only way for a decent-sized trunk would be an Acura NSX-sized rear with the trunk behind and above the tranny. That look will be tough to make attractive for today's design tastes. Spy shots tell me there will be a trunk back there -- but it would only fit 2 sets of clubs if you take them out of the bags and wrap them together with bungee cords.

I'm sticking with my bet they are expanding the line, with the C7 continuing at least 2 years in parallel. After that, perhaps a Panamera competitor???

Atari_Prime

Steal any of these concepts, drop the price to $50k and I'll have four please.

ShahulX

This has me thinking in case I dont love the new vette... granted IM keeping my c7 for the next few years..

https://www.carscoops.com/2018/01/mo...sche-roadster/

the new GT4/Spyder will have 400-450hp, high revving engine from the GT3 (NA flat 6 4.0), a manual trans, great seats, light weight etc...

May be a contender...

hrt vlv

A HUD display on passenger side. So they can help with navigation, able to see MPH, G force during turns braking and acceleration, oil water temps. Easy access to radio controls. Cameras out front, rear and sides that would help with security and able to record drive, similar to blackvue camera systems.Accessed by cell phone.

elegant

That would be terrific for driver/navigator rally driving, but I am not wanting any passenger knowledge/input for the rest of the time.

Walter Raulerson

I hope like hell they don't build a car with golf clubs as one of their priorities.