elegant

While most of us thought the ME’s reveal would be right before the Detroit/NAIAS, January 14, 2019 auto show, and most similarly believed re-visiting that question was ad naseum beating a dead horse, the tide of major auto brands who have already announced that they will not be attending that show has today grown – when BMW said they are not coming. This following is the very sobering list of the brands who have now said no to appearing at the 2019 NAIAS show:

BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes and Mazda

Notice that no American brands are on that list.

We never knew for sure where/when the 2020 ME was going to be revealed, though January, 2019 NAIAS time was our collective best estimate, heavily based on two factors:

That is where GM is based, and, second, in reading the “The Making of the Seventh Generation Corvette,” the Stingray reveal team decided on Detroit for the 1.13.13 reveal as it was the right time prior to the delivery of customer cars, their specifically deciding that the LA was too early, and the New York show too late.

Does today’s BMW no-show announcement become the tipping point (again not that we knew for certain of that time/place), and we now collectively try and figure out where the ME’s reveal might instead be?

elegant

If the Corvette ME’s reveal might no longer be NAIAS, I would suggest the LA Show would be a forerunner choice for its location.

Why? We read the comments of Cadillac’s de Nysschen just two months ago about how aero is being ever more critically important for high performance vehicles, and that Cadillac will be removing camo earlier to best test/develop its final vehicles, and we already recently learned that Corvette’s Chief Test Development Driver Jim Mero has long and hard lobbied for such camo removal earlier in the development process — as such earlier removal is critical for handling, and for related final changes/adjustments.

If so, perhaps we might start to see teaser videos moved up from our earlier thinking —again based on the Stingray reveal’s process, of October to now perhaps August?

Keith@VetteFinders

The funny thing is that we say reveal at NAIAS and then it happens off-site at a very controlled event. As more brands do that over the years, I think it lessens the impact of a live reveal at the show. So if you have no new product news planned, why pay the expense to be there.

You could look at the news as automakers are anticipating a new Corvette at NAIAS which will suck all the air out of the room for other manufacturers like it did in 2013.

Plus, Detroit in January.

Talk is ongoing about moving the show to October, but 2020 would be the first opportunity:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...ove/111020696/

SBC_and_a_stick

Ok, I'm not in the loop, why are non-US companies avoiding NAIAS?

LA strikes me more as a green/clean car reveal spot.

elegant

Lots more Corvettes are sold in California than in Michigan and surrounding. And when I was at last fall’s LA Show in early November with 14 other forum members for the ZR1, we enjoyed wearing t-shirts — in the mid-70’s. (Again, I do not know, just thinking with you all.)

tooold2race

I agree with Keith..... With the large media presence in Detroit and the lack of Euro competition for their attention at the Detroit show, this may just be the right time. I personally don't have a problem if they want to pull it forward though.

C7pimp

Ford reveal the S550 Mustang on Good Morning America out on the street in New York City.


Social Media is changing the game too. The whole world can tune in from anywhere and be well aware of an event just days or even hours before it happens. Very few people relative to the general population actually attend reveal events and media gets notified well in advance anyways. So why should car manufacturers still default to reveals at large shows? They can create the hype regardless of that and garner the attention and attendance of all the media they want.

elegant

One other factor to consider, is that the videos of the Stingray reveal showed 90% gray hairs in attendance (yes, I was one). There were more than a few comments in social and mainstream media about that — especially contrasting with GM’s stated goal to lower the mean Corvette buying age.

Conversely, when I was at the pre-LA show, private reveal of the ZR1 in LA last October 28th, GM invited a total of 70 individual Corvette folks to attend, plus the media, and no surprise in view of past social commentary, deliberately and additionally invited around 200 young people (talking folks primarily 20-30 years old). Take a look at those videos compared to the 1.13.13 reveal videos, i.e., GM was targeting young, well to do LA types.

So while the reveal can truly be anywhere, including Geneva a year from now, etc., since GM is trying to again reduce the average age of Corvette buyers, specifically and additionally so with the ME, LA could again be a reveal spot. [Lots of Corvettes are sold in LA and surrounding areas.]

Walter Raulerson

I hope not dubai

tooold2race

My wife and I were at the Amelia Island Concourse a couple weeks ago and Mercedes and Porsche and Macleran all had 'drives' going for a few days.... (ie: just show up and drive a V12 MB, or any of the other offerings).

Corvette had a ZR1 coupe and an orange ZR1 'vert'. They were on display and available to sit in and play with, but not drive. They said their lawyers were a bit more conservative than the others, so look, feel, sit. but do not drive.....

Anyway, this was their audience, and they failed to impress...... dramatically.... Yeah. we have grey hair and we also have Ferrari's and Aston Martins in our garage,. but we also buy high buck Corvettes. Throw us under the bus.... but don't forget who will be buying the big buck ME Corvette when it's introduced. Yeah, everybody wants the young buyers. but don't forget who has the cash....

In Texas we always say. "Don't forget to dance with the one who brought you to the party".....

elegant

We just learned why one brand will not going to NAIAS next January.

He added that is was a difficult decision to make, even being absent for one year.

fasttoys

All good points. I still believe & hoping the ME will be reviled sooner than what we thought unless they have testing/reliability issues.

We all have read GM needs to shift and gain a younger audience with the new ME. Social Media is changing how content and marketing products is done. The traditional car introductions for the higher end cars has changed. I went to many McLaren, Ferrari reveals that were more private similar to the ZR1 release. Let’s think outside the box for this ME release. Could GM hold a special event at their facility? (they can control who is at the show and make it a big social media event? Example: Where was the 1st corvette produced? How long has GM been talking about producing a ME corvette. Put the car on a stage all by itself, invite media, new and old corvette fans and use social media to spread the word and build the hype. Then send it out to the Auto shows. BMW and the other manufactures have been pulling out of local shows and started using social media. Dallas Texas large Auto show (BMW was not at the event) ZR1 was at the show so was Bugatti and McLaren.

Time will tell

Jan/17 On this day in 1953, a prototype Chevrolet Corvette sports car makes its debut at General Motors’ (GM) Motorama auto show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The Corvette, named for a fast type of naval warship, would eventually become an iconic American muscle car and remains in production today.

Show
2018 International Motor Show Germany
Event
Image result for Frankfurt Motor Show 2018
Dates: Sep 20, 2018 – Sep 27, 2018

JerriVette

Who cares what BMW does with regards to no showing up at the Detroit show?

BMW is just following its german rival in its efforts to cut costs ...and find new ways to control the message to the news media..

A lot of wmanufacturers are running reveals in different areas of the city that auto shows exist in. The auto makers are better able to focus information to a select group of auto journalists and the auto manufacturers don't have to share the auto journalists like they do at the auto show reveal...

I don't believe any change of BMW s attendance would have any effect on what GM would do..

If that in fact was Detroit was the planned location for a reveal.

The big three would never pull out of the Detroit auto show and in fact MB and BMW s low sales numbers in middle America warrant their decision to safe money and not show up at Detroit..

GM, Ford and FCA sell a ton of vehicles in the mid west so any big releases will include the Detroit show...

Remember the Germans are in the ropes with American built Tesla model S outselling their top of the line sedans ..

That's embarrassing for MB, BMW and Audi...not to mention Lexus ...especially in their own countries..(Germany)

The funds are all being diverted to build battery electrics to compete....fast..

Tesla s eating BMW s lunch as the "ultimate driving machine" Tesla s eating into the halo that BMW used to have in the sedan market...

At least BMW still owns the subsidized lease market of sports sedans and god knows BMW sports cars are pretty lame. They always have been for some reason...

Pansey BMW two seaters not even up to their two or four doorsedan brethren ...in performance..

Maybe the upcoming new z4 will be even better than before..(yawn)

jimmyb

This is an interesting line of thinking that I had not considered.
Assuming they do intro the ME in Detroit 2019, the other car makers KNOW that they will be literally INVISIBLE. The C7 did "suck the light out of the room" in 2013, the ME will do that TIMES 1000.

elegant

GM has hundreds of thousands of miles of ME testing yet to do. I was told three weeks ago, that only half of the ME IVERS had yet been built.

Ask yourself why the ZR1 was delayed a year? It was because they smartly keep testing and refining it, especially when there were some issues in the early part of their testing. Rather than rush it to market, they took the time and worked through to satisfaction that it was ready to market as a 2019 model.

sunsalem

If it is Detroit, it will be the Belle of the Ball because of all the no-shows.
L.A. or NY would make more sense IMO.

elegant

New York makes sense except for two factors. First and most important, it is too close to customer deliveries of the ME. That is the reason why NYAS was rejected for the 1.13.13 Stingray reveal, and its March/April timeframe alone does allow sufficient time for non-camo testing — that latter critical for final developments/tuning of aero for the customer cars.

Second, it is too far away from now. With all they current hype and all, it is doubtful that GM will wait a full additional year before its reveal, for the longer GM waits, the greater the chance for leaked photos of the actual/final car.

Jinx

I don't think GM corporate culture is ready to debut The Next Corvette anywhere but Detroit.

But it hardly matters where or when they do it.

tbrenny33

C5Driver

Whats to say they wont spring it at the Bash this year? Maybe not the car but photos. OR a special showing in the no photo zone plant across the street? I have a funny feeling its going to show up at the bash in some way or form.