I like the design in the original post! Let me ask how many of the naysayers also wish the corvette still had chrome wheels?

 

Uh..

No, not specific numbers... what is your point?

If that was actually intended as a question, yes, I see Huracans 2-3 times each day here in the L.A. area or the desert area. But I do also understand they are about to discontinue the Huracan.. So those numbers won’t be growing.

But, let’s look at the actual numbers in terms of design philosophies and marketing success ratios.

Ferrari sold 9251 units in 2018. Interestingly, the predominant market thrust was driven by the front engine V12’s like the SuperFast, not the ME cars. Probably reacting to Lamborghini’s successful SUV market plan, Ferrari will soon introduce their own SUV with a starting price rumored at $350,000 and maybe 650 HP.


Lamborghini in 2018 had much success with their SUV line starting at $211,000 and 641 HP. In 2018 Lamborghini sold 5750 units and the SUV sales amounted to 1761 of that number, so their net super car sales were 3989. Lamborghini is also bringing out a new upscale higher priced and higher performing SUV to compete with the upcoming 2022 Ferrari SUV.


So, it appears that Ferrari’s 2018 super car sales stood at well over twice the number sold by Lamborghini. It should also be noted that in 2019 Lamborghini sold more SUVs than any individual super car model, including the Huracan or the Aventador. But.... before you ask.. I only see those SUVs once or twice each month.


All I basically said was that Lamborghini has a significantly smaller super car market share than Ferrari but that the Lamborghinis tend to be edgier than those more svelte Ferraris and that I think that Corvette should stay on the edgier side of the super car equations when it comes to the design elements of the C8 Z’s.

It would be interesting to hear how you might actually feel about what design path the C8 Z’s should follow.

 

It's simple. No one cross shops Lamborghinis and Ferraris vs a Corvette. So it's a moot point to bring them up.

​​​design path for the Z06 isn't going to change from the base model. It's just going to look more aggressive. After all. It's still the same car. Just as an amg GT-R still strongly resembles an AMG GT-S.

And my comment about the huracan is that it is much more common than it's competitor, the 488. Ferrari had more models that Lamborghini till last year, it's a given it should have more sales.

 

I mean, although its quite rare, occasionally people do. My friend has a supercharged Huracan, E63 S AMG and recently built a 900whp M6 Mustang and is adding on a C8 Z06 instead of another supercar. He's a true enthusiast and is stoked for the C8.

 

When did they move the C8 to the Pontiac division?

 

It’s a start. Hopefully a GM comes up with an aggressive design for the Z.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrunoTheMellow

It's simple. No one cross shops Lamborghinis and Ferraris vs a Corvette. So it's a moot point to bring them up.​​​

Actually, more and more performance car people are cross shopping Corvettes. There are people who walk into a supercar dealership and say, “I’ll take a red FE and a green ME, fully optioned of course.” I’ll concede that very few of those folks cross shop. But, I have a neighbor who owns a new RR and 2 Ferraris and he feels that the Z06 he bought two years ago was the superior car on balance. But, he only cares about performance and not what others think.

A lot of the people who buy super cars buy them used and they actually have to consider budget issues in those acquisitions. One friend who had a beautiful Ferrari came over one day and said he just brought his car back from an oil change. He had to drive it 45 miles in traffic, wait two days for the oil change, and the bill came to $495. About three months later, he sold that car and bought a new Z07. Another acquaintance did the same thing with his Lamborghini and bought a new Z06 replacement.

And, there are actually people who buy new supercars who can only afford to justify one. These facts and trends are why the potentially aggressive and unique visual and performance impact of the C8 Z06 and ZR1 cars will be critical. A slightly gussied up C8 base car is pointless in obtaining the level of market penetrations that Tadge and GM are likely seeking. If they do it right, many more folks, particularly USA folks, will more likely be open to cross shopping and many of those folks might just buy if they’re decisions are not solely ego based.

Tadge & Co. have a unique window of opportunity here if they have the budget justifications and backing of GM to go for it. We will see. The Corvette may never have a $40,000 upgraded interior option but it can be the superior performing American car and that matters to a lot of folks. And believe it or not, a lot of pretty wealthy people actually do count their pennies fairly closely and that is part of how they got where they are.

 

...is it though? It looks like a mediocre attempt at a poorly cropped low resolution Photoshop job of what appears to be nothing more than a C8 Stingray with a large spoiler.

I say this as someone who spends his entire working day in Photoshop and CAD, creating 3D models and "rendering" them. This is not a "nice render".

 

I don't want an aggressive design, I want something classy and elegant.

 

What lesson are you referring to? The C7 was the shortest generation of Corvette for a reason.

 

Based on the leaked wheels, you may get your wish.

 

I don't think it's as rare as you think. I will be cross shopping the C8Z with all of the baby exotics and I've got a few friends that are holding off current purchases to do the same. If we assume a loaded Z will be in the $110k-$120K range then there are a few exotics in the same ballpark.

 

Those are nice wheels.

 

The C4 ZR-1 gets ripped big time for not being distinct enough. Honestly, if one wasn’t a fan of the C4 styling, they wouldn’t have liked whatever GM tried. Oddly enough, the same group that rip the C4 Z drool over the hot big block C2 and C3 models that look just like the entry level versions, except having a different hood and some minor badging. But I guess that circles back to if you love the styling initially, you don’t care if the high performance version is radically different, styling wise.

 

For me, the C4 ZR-1 is the pinnacle of Corvette design. The C5 was a great follow-up, it is a tragedy that the C5 never got its own ZR-1 model.

 

Well not to get too in the weeds based on the thread topic but I could agree with that. It has a lot of elegant designs baked in that one has to be at just the right angle to see and appreciate. If you stand on the driver or passenger side, for example, next to the door and peer over the hood in a certain way, there’s a lot attitude in the fender flaring over the wheel and tapering into the nose. This disappears the moment you’re upright again and walking to the front of the car to see that reserved styling...it’s almost like an optical illusion.

I was actually quite surpised to see this. The problem is you can’t see that inside the car and unless you’re standing at the right angle outside the car, you miss little details like that. Most just see a wedge shape. I can appreciate the criticisms about the styling. One shouldn’t have to work to see those nice styling details when it should be front and center for anyone to spot. That’s probably one of many reasons C2s are so popular. It’s all right there to look at and it’s not hiding. No need to turn your neck a certain way and squint your eyes.

 

Guldstrand was a friend of mine. I went to many NCCC events with him. He spent $million on his carbon fiber rebodied ZR1 sourced GS with many other mods. GM didn't tell him that the last LT5 engine was built in 93 when he was well into his project and GM wasn't ready to market a $200 000 Corvette anyways.. The last ZR1 was built in 95. I had a 93 with the high torque ZF 6 speed which was discontinued half way thru 93. Customers complained about the noise. GM didn't tell Dick about that either.
Roger Penske bought the first L88 Corvette in Feb 66. That's right, not 67. 15 L88s were built in 66, 9 were autos for drag racing. Dick drove it from Ohio to PA in the dead of winter with no heater. He was told to tell people it had a special engine but nothing else. All 15 were sold to race car outfits.

 

OK, I’ll bite. What was the reason you reference?

 

What great experiences you must have had with Dick Guldstrand. I only was privileged to be able to sit around and chat with him a few times for a couple of hours each time in his shop in Culver City. His team was setting up the suspension on the C4 ZR1 I was tracking back then. He was nice enough to take me for a ride in the GS on one visit. On another visit I got to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger and take a ride in Arnold’s Humvee in which Dick had just installed a tuned ZR1 LT5 engine.

Dick was one of the kindest and most unassuming automotive racing pioneers from what was perhaps the greatest era.