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Get to know some of the posters on this forum and you will quickly find out many of them have been in business also for many years, a wide variety in fact.
Why would GM be any less profitable selling 20k ME vets compared to FE. Every local owner I know is looking forward to the ME and most all of them are cool with making a switch when the time comes. ME isn't the end of corvette, it's a new chapter.
So, what we actually know, ME is coming. What we dont actually know, will it have a manual? Will FE be produced along side? Either way, I'm keeping my C5 and an ME will sit under it, during the winter, next to it in the warm months.
The new Camaro 2SS models and ZL1s are actually nicer inside than a C7 and just as fast or faster. More room and look like a badass Muscle car. Just sayin...and this is my new ride with Anderson Composites carbon fiber front to back.
Its 570rwhp and smokes vettes. I just wanted to share.
The new Camaro 2SS models and ZL1s are actually nicer inside than a C7 and just as fast or faster. More room and look like a badass Muscle car. Just sayin...and this is my new ride with Anderson Composites carbon fiber front to back.
Its 570rwhp and smokes vettes. I just wanted to share.
That’s a nice looking car,
I love those new Camaros.
Last edited by pietro c7; 09-02-2018 at 09:56 PM.
Reason: Error
Bigger fish coming. I have an uncle that has worked at that plant for a long time, he says no way they are building both. So now what, I know we wait. I hope they build both. Lol
one option, all electric, is so obvious that it's slapping us in the face.
[QUOTE=ltomn;1597911153]I am only professing what makes logical sense. I've been in business for many years and I find it puzzling that those without that feature are so sure of how a company runs. A company like GM simply does not abort a business acumen after 7 decades. The billions of dollars worth of investment in a brand isn't just cast aside. Imagine it this way: if GM offered to sell just the part of Corvette that produces and markets front engine Corvette models, would it have takers? I believe the answer to be unequivocally yes! The real questions would be, how many and for how much? Does it make sense to just eliminate that asset when it has such an unfathomable value? I didn't have to hear this from anyone. It's common sense! As I've said so many times before, Corvette is a cash cow.[w/QUOTE]
I am not following your logic, let’s just look at the current C7. We been told the C7 was going to be a mid-engine car but GM went through a bankruptcy and the Corvette team did not get the budget from finance. Tadge went to leadership and showed reason why the next generation (C7) needed to be a mid- engine car. In the end the Corvette team was shot down by finance, and was told build the FE on limited budget.
Bob Lutz shared the story multiple times and it’s been in many car magazine publications.
The C7 was only going to be one platform either an ME or FE not both. C7 came out as an FE because GM did not have the money to convert it to a mid-engine platform. Why change with the C8?
Ferrari is not Corvette, they are very profitable high-end brand that can afford to build FE, ME’s and Race in F1.
Chevrolet is the value brand in GM’s lineup. Halo ME north of 150k under Chevrolet? I can’t see it happening demographics & dealer networks don’t make sense. Cadillac is more in line with 150k plus Halo car not Chevrolet.
Ferrari is not GM/Corvette, they are very profitable high-end brand that can afford to build FE, ME’s and Race in F1.
Chevrolet is the value brand in GM’s lineup. Halo ME car north of 150k under Chevrolet? I can’t see it happening demographics, dealer networks don’t make sense.
Recent leaks and stories have me guessing there is only going to be one C8 with the mid engine and that's it. That said, I could totally understand from having an ME and a FE version. Every time I watch or read a car review I always see things like "This is the first Audi built on the new XYZ platform. Hopefully it rides well as Audi plans to build 23 new vehicles using this platform." If GM could find a way to share parts in some manner than getting more than one vehicle per development cycle is exactly what manufacturers try to do. I also keep coming back to the BG plant expansion. I guess it is possible they expanded the plant to produce C8 ME Corvettes and .... <rolls dice> Chevy Traverses but that seems unlikely. If they didn't expand it to build Corvettes what did they spend all those millions for? Do they expect the ME C8 to be a 50,000+ a year model? Highly doubtful.
That said I do think it is clear one of two things is happening (with the first one being the likely one):
Option 1. There's only one C8 and it is the mid-engine mule we've seen so many spy shots of. While it will be a halo car for Chevy it isn't going to be a hyper car. They will ask the Corvette faithful to embrace Zora's dream of a mid-engine and with that maybe (gasp!) less cargo room and a spyder instead of traditional American convertible but they won't ask more than that. Meaning the car will start at C7 prices + the normal price jump. It will still be a Corvette which mean it will still be a Chevy. Those hoping for a McLaren carbon fiber tub and an Aston Martin level interior are going to be disappointed. I dare say there still will be Chevy plastic here and there. (Oh the horror!) Like I said I think this is most likely. When I really look at the latest spy shots and videos I see a C7 with a mid-engine and a sloping rear because of the ME change. I don't see a $200K Huracan buster.
Option 2. The ME Zora gets announced around the Detroit auto show. It is slightly more expensive than the C7 but not outrageously so. A couple of years later there's a FE C8 that is built for people that more want a GT car than a sports car. The two vehicles overlap in price, with maybe only the Zora getting the ZR1 version. Like I said above, I'm doubt this is the case but it clearly is within Chevy's capabilities. People say things like "If you don't like the ME Vette, go buy a Camaro." The Camaro, as good as it has become, is not a realistic alternative for most long time Corvette fans. If Chevy can produce a FE C8 efficiently and boost sales numbers they will no doubt consider it. My gut is telling me the age of the gas-guzzling sports car is waning not expanding so again as much as I think this would be cool, I am not hopeful it will happen.
As for engine placement ...I don’t think they lose one single sale cause the engine isn’t in the front.
For the future of Corvette's sake, you better be right if they are going that route. Because if you are wrong, goodbye America's sports car of almost 70 years.
This thread was started to expose the failure of the concept that GM was going to eliminate the front engine variant of the Corvette. It's main desire was to try to help people see that it does not make fiscal sense for a major corporation to negate a very valuable asset in the corporate portfolio. Business sense suggests that the possibility of them stopping the manufacture of a front engine model of the corvette, hoping that an expensive (by comparison to itself) mid engine vehicle will take up the slack is folly. That is kissing off a major asset and will certainly cause a major uproar with shareholders.
With this said, we peons of industry need to better understand the giants of industry that make the decisions! While it's certainly part of the decision, this is not a romantic endeavor intended to retain the historic nature of Corvettes from decades ago. GM is evolving as a car company and they are creating an additional supercar to put in their cashe of offerings. There is no reason to not compare the future to that of Ferrari. That is to say, a vehicle company can easily create a front engine model and a mid engine model in concert. The expansion of Bowling Green is a very expensive example of this desire. Evidence has shown that they can fully assemble two fairly different autos on the same line.
While the C7 has been declared mature, is is not yet dead. GM has openly stated that the model will be continued for a couple years. A new model of front engine vehicles can then step in. And if they are designed even remotely like Hwasup's render it will scare Ferrari more then Porsche! I like the sound of a GT for those that want to haul golf clubs to the Club in style! This can be win/win for GM and it's clients. I suggest they are a lot smarter then us and we will find that out in a few years.
For the future of Corvette's sake, you better be right if they are going that route. Because if you are wrong, goodbye America's sports car of almost 70 years.
Last week, 18 couples went to a baseball game(in 18 Corvettes). We(I was one of them) were discussing the new mid engine Corvette and while most were interested in talking about it, most were not interested in buying one, until they know more about the car. Only one couple(retired lawyer and his wife who own a 1973 coupe that they bought new, and a 2005 Convertible that they bought new) said they are getting a mid engine Corvette. That couple has never had either their C3 or their C6 on a track, so I doubt the promise of the mid engine Corvette being a "supercar that will far exceed the on track capabilities of a front engine Corvette" is a major factor in their wanting a mid engine Corvette. At they same time, that particular couple has never gone on a long road trip with the rest of us, so cargo space must not be one of their concerns either.
Get to know some of the posters on this forum and you will quickly find out many of them have been in business also for many years, a wide variety in fact.
Why would GM be any less profitable selling 20k ME vets compared to FE. Every local owner I know is looking forward to the ME and most all of them are cool with making a switch when the time comes. ME isn't the end of corvette, it's a new chapter.
So, what we actually know, ME is coming. What we dont actually know, will it have a manual? Will FE be produced along side? Either way, I'm keeping my C5 and an ME will sit under it, during the winter, next to it in the warm months.
PC
There is only one new Corvette and it is the ME with just DCT. There is no FE replacement version designed, prototype models built or any cars being tested. There will be a clean break with the FE past. NO OVERLAP of production. Out with the old and in with the new at BG.
There is only one new Corvette and it is the ME with just DCT. There is no FE replacement version designed, prototype models built or any cars being tested. There will be a clean break with the FE past. NO OVERLAP of production. Out with the old and in with the new at BG.
Ferrari does believe in FE cars and while its not analogous to the Corvette this car sits in a space that GM could occupy by expanding the line just as Porsche has. A Camaro was my first car in HS and while I had a lot of fun in that car have no desire whatsoever to own one again. That car is marketed to a completely different demographic and it will stay that way no matter how many HP they cram under the hood. As for a Cadillac version of anything sporting. I don't want that either and while something like this car could be marketed under a Cadillac badge I really don't think it would be as successful as a slightly smaller version of it with a Corvette badge. Have no idea what GM is planning or how they will continue to compete in the marketplace but there is room to expand the lineup as others have stated.
09-02-2018, 06:01 PM
