What if Corvette became a separate brand?
07-05-2018, 01:00 PM
#61
I don't believe GM would ever spin off Corvette into its own brand, nor should it. The Chevrolet connection is what helps keep the Corvette affordable, and it does represent a "halo car" for that division. GM would be foolish to tamper with a system that works so well. If you don't like the Chevy dealer that services your Corvette, find another dealer - preferably one that sponsors a local Corvette Club and actually has techs that own and drive these cars.
07-05-2018, 03:16 PM
#62
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In my opinion, no. Chevrolet already builds multiple lines of SUVs. The introduction of these vehicles by the brands you mentioned is an attempt to increase their sales by tapping into the lucrative SUV market where they had no presence. That is not the situation at Chevrolet.
07-05-2018, 05:28 PM
#63
Drifting
07-06-2018, 12:35 AM
#64
I'd buy a Corvette SUV in a heartbeat (of America 
)
My wife has a Mercedes ML350 diesel (Ford Explorer size one). The dealer experience and service run circles around the local Chevy store I use. Annual service is $250 one year and $400 ish the next. Usually a $50-$100 off coupon can be found. You get a free loaner and they detail the car every time. The service writer is a true professional and they have their own offices vs. the hurry up of the Chevy service lane kiosk. Plus, never had a parts or service issue with the MB (it's a 2012). With Chevy I've had new parts come in damaged multiple times. They've had to order me a 3rd suede flat-bottom wheel for my C7. First had the suede come loose and 2nd came in with loose carbon fiber trim. The Mercedes store was doing a seat repair and blotched the seat skin from too much dye... they replaced the entire skin free of charge to us... Chevy would never do that.
My $0.02 I gladly pay a little extra for the peace of mind with MB service, the professional experience, free loaner, etc. Oh and we get MB roadside assistance included forever so long as the dealer does the annual maintenance. Nice for our road trips if ever needed.
)My wife has a Mercedes ML350 diesel (Ford Explorer size one). The dealer experience and service run circles around the local Chevy store I use. Annual service is $250 one year and $400 ish the next. Usually a $50-$100 off coupon can be found. You get a free loaner and they detail the car every time. The service writer is a true professional and they have their own offices vs. the hurry up of the Chevy service lane kiosk. Plus, never had a parts or service issue with the MB (it's a 2012). With Chevy I've had new parts come in damaged multiple times. They've had to order me a 3rd suede flat-bottom wheel for my C7. First had the suede come loose and 2nd came in with loose carbon fiber trim. The Mercedes store was doing a seat repair and blotched the seat skin from too much dye... they replaced the entire skin free of charge to us... Chevy would never do that.
My $0.02 I gladly pay a little extra for the peace of mind with MB service, the professional experience, free loaner, etc. Oh and we get MB roadside assistance included forever so long as the dealer does the annual maintenance. Nice for our road trips if ever needed.
07-06-2018, 02:00 PM
#65
Le Mans Master
I'd buy a Corvette SUV in a heartbeat (of America )
My wife has a Mercedes ML350 diesel (Ford Explorer size one). The dealer experience and service run circles around the local Chevy store I use. Annual service is $250 one year and $400 ish the next. Usually a $50-$100 off coupon can be found. You get a free loaner and they detail the car every time.
)My wife has a Mercedes ML350 diesel (Ford Explorer size one). The dealer experience and service run circles around the local Chevy store I use. Annual service is $250 one year and $400 ish the next. Usually a $50-$100 off coupon can be found. You get a free loaner and they detail the car every time.
Free as in:: they hand you the keys and you don't have to sign anything.
The service writer is a true professional and they have their own offices vs. the hurry up of the Chevy service lane kiosk. Plus, never had a parts or service issue with the MB (it's a 2012). With Chevy I've had new parts come in damaged multiple times. They've had to order me a 3rd suede flat-bottom wheel for my C7. First had the suede come loose and 2nd came in with loose carbon fiber trim. The Mercedes store was doing a seat repair and blotched the seat skin from too much dye... they replaced the entire skin free of charge to us... Chevy would never do that.
My $0.02 I gladly pay a little extra for the peace of mind with MB service, the professional experience, free loaner, etc. Oh and we get MB roadside assistance included forever so long as the dealer does the annual maintenance. Nice for our road trips if ever needed.
07-06-2018, 06:49 PM
#66
07-06-2018, 08:33 PM
#67
07-07-2018, 12:38 AM
#68
Race Director
I'd buy a Corvette SUV in a heartbeat (of America )
My wife has a Mercedes ML350 diesel (Ford Explorer size one). The dealer experience and service run circles around the local Chevy store I use. Annual service is $250 one year and $400 ish the next. Usually a $50-$100 off coupon can be found. You get a free loaner and they detail the car every time. The service writer is a true professional and they have their own offices vs. the hurry up of the Chevy service lane kiosk. Plus, never had a parts or service issue with the MB (it's a 2012). With Chevy I've had new parts come in damaged multiple times. They've had to order me a 3rd suede flat-bottom wheel for my C7. First had the suede come loose and 2nd came in with loose carbon fiber trim. The Mercedes store was doing a seat repair and blotched the seat skin from too much dye... they replaced the entire skin free of charge to us... Chevy would never do that.
My $0.02 I gladly pay a little extra for the peace of mind with MB service, the professional experience, free loaner, etc. Oh and we get MB roadside assistance included forever so long as the dealer does the annual maintenance. Nice for our road trips if ever needed.
)My wife has a Mercedes ML350 diesel (Ford Explorer size one). The dealer experience and service run circles around the local Chevy store I use. Annual service is $250 one year and $400 ish the next. Usually a $50-$100 off coupon can be found. You get a free loaner and they detail the car every time. The service writer is a true professional and they have their own offices vs. the hurry up of the Chevy service lane kiosk. Plus, never had a parts or service issue with the MB (it's a 2012). With Chevy I've had new parts come in damaged multiple times. They've had to order me a 3rd suede flat-bottom wheel for my C7. First had the suede come loose and 2nd came in with loose carbon fiber trim. The Mercedes store was doing a seat repair and blotched the seat skin from too much dye... they replaced the entire skin free of charge to us... Chevy would never do that.
My $0.02 I gladly pay a little extra for the peace of mind with MB service, the professional experience, free loaner, etc. Oh and we get MB roadside assistance included forever so long as the dealer does the annual maintenance. Nice for our road trips if ever needed.
of course with more GM dealers the actual number of less than satisfactory dealers would be greater than the actual number of poor less populated Mercedes dealers.
this type of scenario does occur quite often in the german brands which I don’t personally find at occurring at my Chevy dealer.
which many find at german dealerships with their luxury appointments.
ill take the honest two decade long service at dealerships like
www.jacksonchevrolet.com any day of the week. Middletown ct.
Delivering excellemce is number one priority there.
thats my personal opinion.
my local Chevy Cadillac dealer ten minutes or so from my houseat grand prize Cadillac Chevy service department are criminals in the service area so I give you it exists in any brand of course.
the german vehicles out of warranty are brutal with individual exceptions of course. Their parts costs is ridiculous and labor rates often astronomical.(double the hourly rate sometimes)
my spouse was egging me on to buy a porsche or jaguar sports car but those two factors as well as my personal leaning towards corvettes superior performance kept me from the European brands.
i did just lease a little Alfa Stelvio ti sport for my wife but its a lease so who cares..
i expect oil oil changes and that’s about it over the next three years.
fun car to drive.
if corvette offered a vehicle of this type I would have surely bought the corvette crosstrek instead of the Alfa..
Last edited by JerriVette; 07-07-2018 at 12:50 AM.
07-07-2018, 12:56 AM
#69
I would personally prefer if Corvette was its own separate brand under the GM umbrella with a bumper-bumper warranty worthy of a premium brand (4 yr 48K), an elevated dealership experience, etc.
07-07-2018, 01:22 AM
#70
Race Director
For an extra 1450 dollars I bought a GmPP now gmepp warranty and got a total of 7 years 78k mike warranty for my corvette....
and a seperate dealer network would add thousands to the cost of corvette if not tens of thousands and it would negate part of the reason corvettes exist in the first place to create a halo effect the entire Chevy pedestrian lineup..
although that new 2019 Chevy blazer RS did look dam good...
https://goo.gl/images/vbdciC
and a seperate dealer network would add thousands to the cost of corvette if not tens of thousands and it would negate part of the reason corvettes exist in the first place to create a halo effect the entire Chevy pedestrian lineup..
although that new 2019 Chevy blazer RS did look dam good...
https://goo.gl/images/vbdciC
Last edited by JerriVette; 07-07-2018 at 01:23 AM.
07-08-2018, 11:54 PM
#71
Burning Brakes
I'm going to pop in here again just to really say and stress how much a Vette crossover would freaking sell. Porsche has the Macan priced at 47,800 and the Cayenne at 65,700. Corvette would come in cheaper/faster I'm sure as always. How many guys in the country have always wanted a Corvette or something similar, but just can't afford it or have a 3rd car for family/cost reasons. This way he could get his "corvette" or it would allow your every day guy to get a cool/fast car to drive, and the average car cost 30-40k now....if a Macan starts at 48k, you know a Corvette version will start under 45k...thats certainly a doable price for a LOT of Americans. A *LOT* of Americans.
Now maybe, they come out with an "in-between" version and it's more like 50-60k....still, I really feel like it will sell like MAD. I really feel like when a family/guy/dad goes shopping for a new ride, its automatically going to be a crossover/SUV 80% of the time or more. He's going to look at whatever the normal choices. Porsche wouldn't even cross the average man's mind in anyway. I'd say most either don't realize they make a CUV, think it costs 100k and owning a Porsche is just for "rich people" and it wouldn't be on the radar, and the wife would shoot it down lol....
But if the same person was looking in a 40-60k price range or so, and he knows that Corvette has this new cool fast CUV, its sitting at a GM dealer even if he doesn't know much about it....and in my mind, He thinks in his head man it would be really cool to get that over the other boring regular crap I've thought about. I could name off 50 reasons why he'll want to get the Corvette CUV over a Explorer or Acadia or Jeep. It's got plenty of room and sits up high and blah blah, so it keeps the wife happy and she'll begrudgingly sign off on it a good portion of the time if its not way over/out of their budget
I just really see similar scenarios like this happening a ton if they do this.
Porsche sold over 35k CUVs last year, imagine what Corvette could do with the right CUV/pricepoint!?!?!
Now maybe, they come out with an "in-between" version and it's more like 50-60k....still, I really feel like it will sell like MAD. I really feel like when a family/guy/dad goes shopping for a new ride, its automatically going to be a crossover/SUV 80% of the time or more. He's going to look at whatever the normal choices. Porsche wouldn't even cross the average man's mind in anyway. I'd say most either don't realize they make a CUV, think it costs 100k and owning a Porsche is just for "rich people" and it wouldn't be on the radar, and the wife would shoot it down lol....
But if the same person was looking in a 40-60k price range or so, and he knows that Corvette has this new cool fast CUV, its sitting at a GM dealer even if he doesn't know much about it....and in my mind, He thinks in his head man it would be really cool to get that over the other boring regular crap I've thought about. I could name off 50 reasons why he'll want to get the Corvette CUV over a Explorer or Acadia or Jeep. It's got plenty of room and sits up high and blah blah, so it keeps the wife happy and she'll begrudgingly sign off on it a good portion of the time if its not way over/out of their budget
I just really see similar scenarios like this happening a ton if they do this.
Porsche sold over 35k CUVs last year, imagine what Corvette could do with the right CUV/pricepoint!?!?!
07-09-2018, 12:16 AM
#72
16 Vettes and counting…..
In my opinion, no. Chevrolet already builds multiple lines of SUVs. The introduction of these vehicles by the brands you mentioned is an attempt to increase their sales by tapping into the lucrative SUV market where they had no presence. That is not the situation at Chevrolet.
^ This
07-09-2018, 09:05 AM
#73
Melting Slicks
I would agree with you, but....
I think morphing the XT5, would be a very easy solution to putting an SUV in the Corvette lineup. Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet have been sharing platforms for years with minor modifications, In my mind, it would be an easy profit enhancement without a lot of R&D, etc.
I think morphing the XT5, would be a very easy solution to putting an SUV in the Corvette lineup. Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet have been sharing platforms for years with minor modifications, In my mind, it would be an easy profit enhancement without a lot of R&D, etc.the reason i am I am suggesting GM produce a corvette or at the very least a gmc competitor to the Porsche macan or jaguar I pace. thats where the money and more importantly halo vehicles are going.
the traditional srx type and the new sport cuv market..(heavy on the sport aspect like the macan, the jaguar I pace and the Alfa Stelvio..( admittedly a little player with tiny sales etc for the Alfa)
the traditional srx type and the new sport cuv market..(heavy on the sport aspect like the macan, the jaguar I pace and the Alfa Stelvio..( admittedly a little player with tiny sales etc for the Alfa)
You guys must be on drugs - that would be the fastest way to kill the Corvette "brand". If GM wants to sell more cuvs/suvs, it just needs to build one that is worthwhile, and that means an all new rwd/awd chassis capable of handling 700 hp - just like Jeep builds for the Grand Cherokee (Track Hawk) and many of the foreign high end competitors do.
Last edited by LIStingray; 07-09-2018 at 09:06 AM.
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07-09-2018, 09:47 AM
#74
Team Owner
Reading through this thread, I got to wondering just how many of those that want the Corvette to become it's own brand with high powered sedans and SUV's actually drive high powered sedans and SUV's from Porsche, etc and would trade then in on a Corvette sedan or SUV?
Or how many would trade in their current GM sedan or SUV for a Corvette brand sedan or SUV? It would not do GM any good if a Corvette Brand just stole customers from it's other brands and not from it's competitors brands.
Or how many would trade in their current GM sedan or SUV for a Corvette brand sedan or SUV? It would not do GM any good if a Corvette Brand just stole customers from it's other brands and not from it's competitors brands.
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07-09-2018, 11:13 AM
#75
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and a seperate dealer network would add thousands to the cost of corvette if not tens of thousands and it would negate part of the reason corvettes exist in the first place to create a halo effect the entire Chevy pedestrian lineup..
although that new 2019 Chevy blazer RS did look dam good...
https://goo.gl/images/vbdciC
although that new 2019 Chevy blazer RS did look dam good...
https://goo.gl/images/vbdciC
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dreamr616 (07-09-2018)
07-09-2018, 01:18 PM
#76
Team Owner
I don't know how it is today, but some 20 years ago, my Cadillac(out of warranty) wouldn't shift out of 1st gear. I wasn't but a half dozen blocks from an Oldsmobile dealer so I nursed it to their shop. They said they didn't work on Cadillacs. PERIOD.
I had to nurse the damn POS to the other side of town to the Cadillac dealer to get a new shift cable installed.
I seriously doubt that if my C6 Z06 wouldn't shift out of first gear, that I could pull into a Cadillac dealer and they would repair it.
Last edited by JoesC5; 07-09-2018 at 01:21 PM.
07-09-2018, 10:54 PM
#77
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St. Jude Donor '16-'17,'22,'24
Reading through this thread, I got to wondering just how many of those that want the Corvette to become it's own brand with high powered sedans and SUV's actually drive high powered sedans and SUV's from Porsche, etc and would trade then in on a Corvette sedan or SUV?
Or how many would trade in their current GM sedan or SUV for a Corvette brand sedan or SUV? It would not do GM any good if a Corvette Brand just stole customers from it's other brands and not from it's competitors brands.
Or how many would trade in their current GM sedan or SUV for a Corvette brand sedan or SUV? It would not do GM any good if a Corvette Brand just stole customers from it's other brands and not from it's competitors brands.
So why don't I buy a Jaguar or Porsche SUV? I know what it cost to work on European cars once the warranty is gone. That's one of the reasons I'm driving a Corvette instead of a Porsche or Jaguar.
Last edited by roadbike56; 07-09-2018 at 10:55 PM.
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07-09-2018, 11:57 PM
#78
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So what you are both saying is: GM should screw 65 years of Corvette tradition - building a super high performance vehicle at a value-for-the-performance price (because they are still expensive - highest price Chevy), and just take the p-o-s XT5/Arcadia/Enclave/Traverse FWD/AWD chassis it has, add a bs loud exhaust on the V6 engine (because it maxes out at 350 hp) and call it a Corvette to sell some more of those mid-large CUV's.
You guys must be on drugs - that would be the fastest way to kill the Corvette "brand". If GM wants to sell more cuvs/suvs, it just needs to build one that is worthwhile, and that means an all new rwd/awd chassis capable of handling 700 hp - just like Jeep builds for the Grand Cherokee (Track Hawk) and many of the foreign high end competitors do.
You guys must be on drugs - that would be the fastest way to kill the Corvette "brand". If GM wants to sell more cuvs/suvs, it just needs to build one that is worthwhile, and that means an all new rwd/awd chassis capable of handling 700 hp - just like Jeep builds for the Grand Cherokee (Track Hawk) and many of the foreign high end competitors do.
ADD boost or turbo to increase HP, ADD better brakes, Add better tires and wheels to handle said power and increase looks, ADD Sheet metal to a already existing platform to make it look distinctive and make it look "Corvette" to a Corvette owner or group. I feel this is a easy way to improve on an already proven vehicle (Take it to the next level) without having to spend huge money re re-invent the wheel (No pun intended)
I in no way feel you have to build a ZR1 or Z06 suv, first of all it would be worthless in inclement weather which quit honestly is why many of us and the market in general already own suv's. If you have ever driven a high horsepower vehicle in snow, with obnoxiously wide un-treaded tires, this will make sense to you, if you haven't, try it.... It is fun, for the first 2 minutes, then it is just messed up...
I would venture to say 95% (minimum) of the current Corvette owners own them as toys, not daily drivers. If you are part of the 5%, good for you... But really.... Why?
I am guessing, you have never driven a Cadillac SRX4 or the new XTS 5, they hold their own, Like I stated earlier, my wife has had a number of the models. Personally I prefer the Tahoe or Escalade versions, but that is not the size market that fits into the Porsche Cayenne, BMWx5/6, etc..
I just think it is a viable option, that will fulfill the niche market and still be VERY sporty yet functional where most Chevrolet/Corvette buyers are positioned.
07-10-2018, 09:22 AM
#79
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St. Jude Donor '16-'17,'22,'24
^^^^
Just like to add, the high performance SUV is very profitable and expands the product line.
I just don't understand the opposition to a Corvette SUV.
Just like to add, the high performance SUV is very profitable and expands the product line.
I just don't understand the opposition to a Corvette SUV.
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JerriVette (07-12-2018)
07-10-2018, 09:53 AM
#80
Team Owner
I would. OK I don't own a Porsche or Jaguar SUV, but I do have two Lexus RX 350s. If Corvette came out with an SUV, one of our Lexus RXs would be gone to make way for a Corvette SUV.
So why don't I buy a Jaguar or Porsche SUV? I know what it cost to work on European cars once the warranty is gone. That's one of the reasons I'm driving a Corvette instead of a Porsche or Jaguar.
So why don't I buy a Jaguar or Porsche SUV? I know what it cost to work on European cars once the warranty is gone. That's one of the reasons I'm driving a Corvette instead of a Porsche or Jaguar.
For the same money, you could be driving a Cadillac XT5 with 310 HP 3.6L V6, 0-60 in 6.4 seconds and the 1/4 in 15.0 seconds at 91.4 MPH.
Why are you driving a RX350 instead of a XT5?
Would you buy a Corvette SUV with 310 HP 3.6L V6, 0-60 in 6.4 seconds and the 1/4 in 15.0 seconds at 91.4 MPH?
If Cadillac dropped their 4.2L V8 with 550 HP into the XT5(and raised the price by $25,000, would you buy it?
If they also rebadged that 550 HP XT5 to be a Corvette, would you buy it instead of the Cadillac version?
Last edited by JoesC5; 07-10-2018 at 11:30 AM.