I am not in the market for a C8 and I honestly (yeah, I know - it's just me) think that the C7 was a better looking car. I remember three years ago when the shortage of parts and assembly line slowdowns caused by the pandemic severely reduced the supply of new 2022 Corvettes. Dealers were charging 30k above MSRP and that thus drove up values for gently used C7s. My wife sold her 2019 Stingray in October of 2021 for 5k more than she paid for it new and I got about 7k less than new for my 2017 in May of 2022 after 5 1/2 years of ownership. They both sold quickly - hers in about five days and mine within four hours!

Anyway, I was looking at C8 coupes on-line (again, we're not in the market - but I am often curious and may someday consider a C9 down the road). One of the big dealers in the Northeast was advertising C8 Stingray coupes at $7,500 below MSRP. I understand that it is near the end of the 2025 model year and we're moving into the fall season - but it seemed kind of odd for them to offer that big of a discount right off the bat. Undoubtedly, those who paid way too much for a 2021 or 2022 C8 are probably gnashing their teeth about it.

For those of you who might not like the C8 as much as the C7 and were put off by the price gouging, would you reconsider if you could get a hefty discount up front? Just curious as to the reactions of others. ( To be fair, I did not look at any other dealership's web page. Maybe others are offering discounts as well. )

 

Macmulkin offers deep discounts. One year ago, I ordered one @10% off msrp which equaled $9,000. This year they are 8% off msrp. New 25's are 12-15 thousand off msrp. If you research, others are doing the same.

 

Its a market thing supply and demand. And its hard to believe but there are folks out there with lots of money. Paying a premium to get something you can easily afford and want to enjoy is a great way to live. I tell the story years ago a friend wanted a pt cruiser when they first came out. Saw a truck dropping one off at a dealer...... told the sales dude I want that car, dude says there is a list you need to get on, Walked in got the sale manager and drives the car home. He paid a premium on a stinkin PT cruiser.,.,.,.,.,. cause he wanted it!!!
I don't think anyone who paid a mark up are gashing their teeth. They knew what they were doing and did not care. Probably have gone thru a number of cars since then. You guys sold your C7s over 4 years ago. You made some money a few thousand, but have been wo a Corvette for all this time and waiting for a C9. Personally I like the C7 better too. I would have never sold it and still enjoyed the ride. But each to their own don't know your situation.

If you follow the corvette cycle other then the parts shortage and covid nothing has changed. The C7 Z came out in 15....by 19 they were offering 20% discounts. Now we are seeing C8 discounts and they will even go up. I think the Corvette market is extremely narrow. Lot of boomers buying and their ranks are shrinking. And once a person gets a Corvette it sits in the garage a lot and who needs another if the dream car does not get driven?

 

Funny how majority gravitate to MM and Ciocca .... but hardly EVER mention little ole LEs Stanford in Dearborn, MI .... they are advertising across the board Stingray / ERay / Z06 at 14% off MSRP / sticker ... which, is FAR and away a better deal than MM.

Folks shopping and want a 25 with the last year for Great Walll of Buttons should check them out and ask for Ali Reda ... tell him Raay from FL sent you! Really great guy!!

 

I've been watching this Vette game since the C4 generation. Other than the pandemic dragging out the supply and demand issue a few extra years...everything is going according to plan. The best discounts are usually at the end of the last model year of the generation. By then there is more supply than demand and plenty of pre-owned availability. If you want the absolute best price and most likely the best version of the current generation and assuming your physical and financial health are in good shape...wait until 2028 assuming the C9 will be introduced as a 2029 model.

 

I also bought my C7 Grand Sport and my 21 C8 vert from Les Stanford Chevy and got both for a great price.

 

14% off 2025 Erays or 2026???

 

Did I search wrong? Just checked Les Stanford website for new and they had one available 10% off.

Edit: i did. Now I see 8. One does show 10% off though.

2nd edit: 7 erays, 1 stingray.

Great deals!

 

why not go to their website and look.

personally, with an interior now in the 26’s that look like. Hyundai … would be after a 25 if it were me. And I DID.

 

I really liked and enjoyed my 2014 C7 bought used in 2018 and sold it for $10K more than I paid for it in 2022. Picked up the 2023 I ordered in the fall of 2022 and was happy to pay MSRP for it. The C8 is a better car in every way compared to my C7. There is nothing I miss about it and I had zero issues while owning it as it was completely problem free. Three years later my C8 has also been problem free with just routine maintenance. The HTC is so much better than the rag top on my C7.

As for depreciation and current discounts? Does not bother me at all. I watched C7's selling for 25% off MSRP in December of 2018 and 2019 and that never bothered me either. Corvette's are toys for most owners and not primary transportation. Cost of ownership is just part of owning toys. I never expect to make money of any toys I buy or currently have in the toy shed.

 

I got mine for about 10% off msrp in March. They’ve been out for quite a few years now.

People who are buying new models pay a premium for a new model which they will never get back and they know it. My father didn’t want to pay a premium and waited years for his. Appreciation during Covid was the exception and a (hopefully) once in a lifetime situation.

 

That sums it up pretty well. I think back to when VCRs first came out in the late 1970s and would cost anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 - a price that most folks could not afford. By 1985 or so, a decent VCR could be found at Radio Shack for $200. By the late 1980s, they were down to less than $99 at Walmart. You could say the same thing about cellular telephones, big-screen TV sets, etc. The "early innovators" are willing and able to pay more so that they can be the first on the block to have something. They end up - kind of - subsidizing the research & development for cutting edge products that eventually filter down to the masses.

I suspect that when the C9 comes out (hard to believe that the C8 is already entering its SEVENTH model year), there will be a huge rush to be the first group to own one. Demand will likely outstrip the supply and you'll pay a premium to own one. Those with gently used C8s will probably get some good money for them IF there is a shortage of the C9. If not, then things will pretty much be normal and dealers will be eager to unload any C8s they still have in stock. (I remember how we got my wife's 2019 at a great discount because of the anticipation of the C8 - in the days before the pandemic, the parts shortages, production delays, etc.)

Obviously, the GM engineers are at the drawing board for the C9 and you can bet that they're trying to figure engines, drivetrain, body panel and interior design. Oh, to be a fly on that wall. I wonder if they'll make it purely an EV, which has immense performance potential, or maybe offer it as a hybrid. So hard to say - but 2029 will probably be here a lot sooner than we might think. I have found that the older I get, the faster time seems to go.

 

C8's being offered for a discount is nothing new as this has been the case for roughly 1 year....supply has caught up with demand as 196,000 are on the road

 

A new Corvette is out of the question for now - at least for another two or three years. We moved into a brand new house last November and are spending a lot of money on other stuff - an extra detached garage, a whole house generator, landscaping, etc., etc. My wife is slated to retire in December of 2026 for the second time. When we are both 62 and we begin to take our reduced Social Security checks, then it might be time to think about a toy. We already have three vehicles - her 2025 Toyota Camry, my 2021 CX-30 and our 2004 F-150 - so that's enough horses in the stable right now.

I know people say that the C8 is a better car than the C7 was (we owned two C7s) - but we're just not smitten by it. That's not a slam on anybody who owns one, but just a matter of taste, I suppose. Maybe I would feel otherwise if I drove one, but I don't see that happening. Anyway, it's going to be interesting to see what the C9 will look like in another three years or so.

 

It was weird. I had my 2017 Stingray that I purchased new and loved it. I ordered it exactly the way I wanted (Torch Red, 2LT, 7M, Blackout package, et al). My wife (then was just my girlfriend) wanted her own and got a killer deal on a 2019 Elkhart Lake Blue 1LT with the 8A. We were active in our Corvette club and drove both cars once or twice, but then often just took my red one because we both preferred the manual transmission. She had 5,000 miles after 2 1/2 years of ownership and saw the prices for C7s were high because of Covid (it was fall of 2021 by then). We also wanted to free up a space in the garage and figured that we'd save money on insurance by selling it. The timing was right and off it went to a new home. We had planned on keeping my red C7 indefinitely. The Elkhart Lake Blue was a much prettier color (not available in 2017 or I would have gotten one) - but the manual transmission made hanging onto the '17 the thing to do. Had the 2019 been a manual, then we would have sold the red one.

In March of 2022, we found out that my wife was being transferred to Germany with her job (she applied for it, but didn't think she would get it). We knew we would be leaving in July or August. It was not practical to take the Stingray with us. I did not wan to put it in storage for 2 or 3 years, either. Her 2019 Stingray was already sold, we sold her 2016 Audi TT for top dollar and we ended up taking our Mazda overseas with us. My Stingray was sold in late May of 2022. We sold my townhouse too - leaving one house we owned where her mother and her daughter were living. I retired four years early and had to give up my income so that we could move across the pond.

We came back ten months early because she got a transfer to a different agency and now we live out in the boonies east of Charlottesville, VA. Sometimes life throws a curve ball at you and you must think on your feet. But yeah - we enjoyed them when we had 'em - but don't really miss it as much as I thought we would. A few trips on the Autobahn would have been fun, but we needed to take a more practical vehicle with us - and we only had a covered parking space under our building, but no garage. Sorry to write a book this morning. LOL! Please forgive me.

P.S. Financially, we have too much money going into the house & our property right now - so we're not doing a Corvette thing for a while anyway. The C9 will be out by the time we would even consider a new toy. Santa is bringing me a zero-turn mower this December because this 1.6 acre yard is way too big for my push mower that I am using now.

 

I had Camaro's before getting my first Corvette, a '92. I really liked that car and the mods I did to it and if I could find another with very low miles would build that car again. I did not like the C5, thought the had bastardised the C4. I like the C6 as a car, not the sports car the C4 was and ordered a 2009 when a Corvette only dealer said they'd give me a killer discount. From memory it was just under 30%, best buying experience I ever had and that's considering my dad worked at a Chevy dealer and I bought a few cars there. Again, I did not like the C-7, while a better sports/ performance car than the C6 it was too busy looking to me. That all changed with the C8 and I knew one day I'd have one, one day I would be able to afford one, one day they wouldn't have ADMs. I found a used '20 a couple years ago that had everything I would have gotten if I had ordered it and love the car. Abfab.

That said the power train warranty expires this month and "the sky is falling/ your DCT will fail, it's a matter of time" crowd has the possibility of a major expense in the back of my head and I probably won't keep it much longer.

 

I'm local in Metro Detroit. The last time I went into Les Stanford ready to grab a billboard advertised lease special I got jerked around for two hours and their final offer was double the advertised lease payment.

At the time I had excellent credit and qualified for both supplier and executive pricing, same as now. So it wasn't an issue with the advertisement including a bunch of discounts I didn't qualify for or my credit being bad. I expected the high price / false advertising and games to get the price down. I didn't expect to get jerked around for two hours for nothing. I know I should have walked out in 10 minutes but I wanted the vette at the time.

Maybe they have cleaned their act up but I am more than skeptical you will drive away with a true 14% off MSRP deal that also has reasonable fees and no add ons. Great if true and I'll eat it if someone posts proof, but I don't believe it. My guess is the 14% applies to a few highly optioned cars that have been sitting on the lot for a long time, and those will all be sold when you walk in.

Nowadays, I would buy a plane ticket and drive back from one of the known ~10% off dealers if I couldn't find a local dealer that would get close enough. They are out there but many still have their heads in the sand demanding MSRP. Things may be a little goofy with '26 for a bit, but I don't think it will last long. My .02... the interior is not a big enough upgrade to drive a bunch of new sales.

 

The advertised discounts on Les Stanford's website (14% off) for '25's, are only valid if you qualify for GM employee discounts, otherwise it is 10% off.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....I thought the C7 was a clown car and the C5 without the side spear was the best-looking Corvette ever...and one of the best-looking sports cars ever .....especially the FRC......I am not gashing my teeth, I know how markets work.... supply and demand....and I paid out the door $58.9 for my new 2021 1LT......the value of anything is what someone is willing to pay for it at a place and a time....

 

Also back in March, I got mine for exactly 15.1% off of MSRP from a dealer in San Diego. This included the Costco discount program ($2750-$3000) back then.

I was also able to remove all the BS add-ons on the addendum sticker worth $2,983.