Will the ZO6 do the unbelievable?
 

In another thread the question is asked "how many zo6's do you think will be sold". Good question and the answer could be historic. I firmly believe that the 2015 zo6 will do the unbelievable and take sales away from Porsche and do so in numbers never achieved by past Corvettes. Sales loses that will HURT the German car. I believe that the tipping point has finally been reached where the potential car buyer will chose the vette over the 911 even with the built in bias of the Porsche mystique. No longer can a rational, sane person look at the two cars and make a logical decision to buy the Porsche. In the past I don't think that would have been the case. The "feeling" derived from owning a Porsche and knowing others know that to afford such a great car set the owner apart from the rest and that included Corvette owners. When I went in to buy my first Porsche in 1980 I remember the salesman , when I asked about comparable BMW's, looked at me with a grin and smirked that BMW's were for people that couldn't afford Porsches. At the time, being a young idiot and mental ingrate I thought "you know what, he's right". So I bought the 928 thinking that it helped in setting me apart. At that time and until today at 12:01am I believe that the Porsche name, THE BRAND, made up for all it's short falls. Is it a great car...yes, of course but compared to the new zo6 even THE BRAND can not save it from a reasonable comparison. Just how long can a name overcome reality? Obviously a long time but no more. My point in all this is to say that the sales for the zo6 are not only coming from folks like you and me, people that have long know the value of the vette but now the audience has been greatly widened to include, well, snobs. And more importantly snobs with money. The new Stingray is selling about 2.5k/mth plus. Some of those sales will go to the zo6 assuming the price is as GM has stated ie 75k-79k base. And there are a number of us that have been waiting for the new Z. Add to that a good number that will leave THE BRAND for sanity plus all those that were going to purchase lesser Porsches like the B or C and those looking at the F-R 550hp Jag and yes even those of the Viper bent. In it's first full model year I predict at least 1k zo6s will be sold per month. Much higher than the c6zo6 top year of '07 when 680/mth were sold or 8159 for the year. This could be hurt by dealer mark up, or killed by GM greed (all of this would change if the car is priced other than GM has told us ie base 75-79 and loaded 100k) but many forum dealers are sticking to MSRP.
12,000 units sold will make a huge increase in niche market share and much will come from Porsche. When that perspective buyer compares a 911 comparably equipped to the zo6 they will quickly find out that their BRAND ego can not over come 21st century styling, technology and power. The 911 comes standard with 385hp. That is 265hp less than the Z. If they indignantly step up to the S they must be ashamed to see that they get a whopping 15hp more and have just blown by 110k. in price. Not even the most loyal Porscheaphiles can defend such a decision.
Sales of the zo6 will not be the problem for GM. The problem is how to keep up to demand and how do they top this with a C8Z.
All Porsche owners to the back of the line!...rrm

Performance guys would stop and think about cross shopping the 2

...... but the guys that just want to drive a Porsche will still choose a base Boxster over the Z06/Z07....

The biggest drawback of buying a Corvette vs a Porsche is actually having to set foot in a Chevy dealership, buying it there, take it there for service, etc. Some are OK, but not many.

Have you been to a Porsche dealership? Have you seen the difference not only in the place, but on the people that you deal with, from the person making a service appointment to the sales person to the service manager?

There is no comparison. I will very likely buy a C7, soon, but I'll tell you, I'd have to pinch my nose to set foot in a Chevy dealership. I doubt very much many of my neighbors who own Porsches can stomach it.

So true. Dealing with Chevy dealers, is the biggest drawback from owning a Corvette.

I would suggest when a thief is charging you two, three or four times higher they definitely smile at you while doing so. Just something to consider when comparing the two brands service.

Personally I have found Chevrolet dealers to be fantastic with purchase as well as service.

I do prefer to purchase the corvettes from forum vendors as their deals are the best and the transaction is seamless.

My last purchase was from kerbeck and the transaction was quite pleasurable.

Sounds like they could sell some Z06's to the hardcore performance Porsche guys, especially those who track them. There were several comments along the lines of "I never considered a Corvette before, except this one."

It seems like they are very impressed with the high torque levels, especially on the low end of the RPM range. They also like the track warranty, huge brakes, and sport seats:thumbs:

Michael

Most of the guys I know that bought from Porsche just wanted to say they own one. They'd probably be scared off by 650 HP ....

The Viper is the car I'm watching. I really like the new ones but their pricing is out of control and they need to get in this century and decide if they want to sell cars or not ... because an automatic would do that for them.

had lots of Porsche owners commenting on how sick my car was at my last two events at the Glen and Mosport...blew past them like they were standing still in ALL the braking zones, corners and the straights---these cars (ZR1 and new Z07) are NOT just about straight line (read muscle car) speed anymore!!!

Porsche guys calling the ZO6 ugly and looking like a Camaro, wake up the looks of the Porsche and the VW Bug go hand and hand.

Of course, you are going to get people saying that. I wouldn't worry about. It's a Porsche forum, and styling is subjective. We even had a few people on this forum say those things, so no surprise there. The surprise is what percentage of the posters said this would be the first Corvette they would seriously consider owning. That's a major achievement.

Michael

Your right about that. Surprised to hear all the good remarks. Sounded like a classy forum.

I owned a few Porsches in the last 10 years from BoxS, 911S, 997 turbo. All my P car friends thought I was crazy when I purchased my C7 Z51. It's not about the numbers with them it's the entire experience they feel when owning a Porsche. Last week I drove a new 911S and Turbo and they are both very impressive cars and truly different experience than you get from the C7. I personally think Porsche has lost their minds selling the 911s for 115k + with descent options and the turbo just under 200k. GM will get a percentage of them to come over no different than Cadillac grabbing BMW M owners to the V. Since the new GT3 doesn't come with a manual the previous GT3 is going up in value. Even with the engine failures the new GT3 has over a year plus waiting list if you want the car. For an old school guy who wants to bang through the gears in a manual the C7 will gain new owners. I am number 2 in line once they start placing orders for the new Z06 at my local dealer. I can't wait!!! The new Z will be a BEAST.....

Wow. This kind of speaks volumes coming from that crowd.

No doubt Chevy raised the bar way beyond what anybody would have expected. This car is going to be a very serious monster.

GVC bmw club? I'm hoping to make it to the glen w the gto in the last event.

If the unbelievable is the first page of the owners manual explains what a paragraph is.

Funny, my nearest Porsche/Mercedes dealer is the most stuck-up and unpleasant environment I can ever remember encountering. They are simply so much better than you, and communicate it in the way they talk to you. If they determine you're only there to look, you'll get "please let us know when you are close to a purchasing decision." They will then proceed to an important person.

The Chevy dealers in the area are always happy to see you and if you're interested in a Corvette you'll get somebody's full attention for as long as you're there, I guarantee you. Hendrick Chevy of Cary has told me more than once their sales reps aren't paid by commission, but by customer satisfaction surveys. Their sales reps know the C7 reasonably well, and some of them have been to Spring Mountain Their service department has always either fixed my C6 right the first time or made it right for free, with a near-new loaner even for oil changes. Don't know if they'd do that for a Spark owner, but they do it for me.

Not to say that all Porsche dealers are stuck-up, since the one in Cary and the one in Greensboro collocated with Ferrari, Maserati, and Aston Martin have always been swell guys. But the one closest to me is the absolute last dealer I'd ever go to.

:iagree:

yep GVC...going to Glen with GVC again in August (and PCA Niagara in October) and hopefully can squeeze in Mosport with GVC/Trillium combo in September

Agreed...pricing was insane and too many maxed-out GTSs were produced. I got my srt base (with track pack) about 3 months ago and paid around $86-88k (factoring in the Gen III trade), sticker was $108k.

Gen Vs are being turboed already, producing 872 rwhp on just 8lbs of boost. Doesn't take a lot of boost to achieve silly numbers when you have 512 cubes to work with.

What one does with 872 rear wheel, I wouldn't know??????? All that would mean to me would be a longer walk out of the woods.