What would an average MSRP of $85K+ do to Corvette sales numbers?
 

So I read somewhere that the C8 may well be a mid-engine Corvette (the Zora may wind up being the C8 according to this speculation) and that the base price would ramp from the current $56K to $80K+. Hey, GM can do whatever they want, but if the average MSRP on a Corvette really goes that high (that's the base car they're talking about @ $80K+, there will be pricier versions), there is no chance GM is going to sell 30-40,000 of them annually in my view. Out of reach for that many sports car buyers. First off, there aren't that many sports cars buyers to begin with. The Corvette has always been an aspirational car (I aspired to own one, finally got there @ age 58), and guys like me get a few bucks together when they're older and many of them S T R E T C H to buy the car. I did. I wouldn't have even tried if the car had been $20K higher.

I think an awful lot of Corvette buyers are like me. I think if they really go that high on pricing they'll be lucky to sell 20K units annually. Maybe GM would prefer a higher demographic buyer and higher profit per car, but I think they would be better served to dish up a C8 version that has a window sticker closer to today's car for a number of reasons. Then they can have a couple of pricier models with a little more power, etc.

Cars are discretionary purchases, and I overcame my logic to buy this car. Because make no mistake, there are few dumber ways of flushing money down the toilet than blowing $60K than buying any brand new car. So it better make you happy. And my car does. But there are limits to my abilities to suspend sound monetary policy. So they'll lose some sales to guys who think like I do and others to guys who just can't come up with the dough, because every $10K you go north on price over a certain point reduces your buyer pool exponentially.

It is fascinating to watch this unfold. But my hope would be for a base model that carries a base price no higher than say $60K.

It's a heck of a lot of money to spend on a 2 seater sports car with limited practicality. However when you compare it to Camaro pricing on the low end (heck of a value I might add), and ME exotics on the high end, it sounds like a reasonable place to be actually.

$85K is a lot to spend on a car but my buddy just bought a loaded dually F350 dually diesel with a lift, power steps, bed cover, LED, bumpers, etc... and he is in it $110K! So relativity might matter a bit here!

Of course value to other market offerings is important, but @ some point yo just start reducing the potential customer base at a higher price point. That's true even down @ the $20K level, but I think the farther north you go on the MSRP the more buyers you start to lose, just because there are so few Americans who can afford to buy weekend plaything cars like Corvettes (even if it's your 'daily driver')?

I do not see the Mid Engine C8 corvette costing 85K as a base unit. Most likely 65-70K. That is what about 85% of the general populous of this forum have all agreed upon.

What is the average msrp of today's c7 model lineup?

Whatever it is ...there are plenty of 20 percent discounts for all new corvettes for quite a few years..

Msrp is a suggested retail price...

What vehicles actually transact at is really what we need to look at.

When the c4 became the c5 what was the actual msrp jump from c4 to c5?

What was th price increase on msrp from c5 to c6?

What was the price increase from c6 to c7?

The only year I remember a huge price increase from one generation to another was the c3 that ran from 1968 to 1982....when the c4 released there was quite the price jump on msrp if I remember correctly..

We could see a 5 grand jump in msrp from base c7 to c8 but that's all we will see in my opinion...

GM will most probably raise the cost of options on the c8 learning much from its german rivals profit model...

That's where a car company can increase profits easily...

That's what we will see with the c8...

In my opinion.

Msrp 1981 corvette $16,000
Msrp 1982 corvette $18,200
Msrp 1984 corvette $21,800

Percentage wise the increase is dramatic.

Msrp 1985 corvette $24,900
Msrp 1987 corvette $28,000

1996 c4 msrp $37,225
1997 c5 msrp $37,495

2004 c5 msrp $43,835
2005 c6 msrp $43,710

2013 c6 msrp $49,600
2014 c7 msrp $51,995
2019 c7 msrp $56,590

I think we will see a five grand price jump on the base msrp from 2019 to 2020 model year..

The price increases to watch are those prices on options.

If the price for a base c8 were increased to 85,000 I would not be one of the first to have one. On the other hand once the 25% off discounts started rolling out and the prices come down to 63,750 which really isn't that bad considering inflation and other things.

One other thing that comes into play is that at 85,000 it would open up the field for cross shopping other sports cars. Which for me would be a 718 GTS Porcshe with a current MSRP of 80,000. But for 64K the ME will be my choice.

I'm one of the people who believe it will be in the 65-70k range. Just because it's a new design with a lot of R&D doesn't mean they have to recoup the money back in a couple years. They're going to sell 20-30k cars a year for 7 or more years. That's plenty of volume and time to make a big profit. Everyone was all jacked up when rumors of the ZR1 starting at a base of 150k, turns out it was a 120k base. And by the time they come out with a ZR1 C8 they will probably be well into making a profit on the car.

Must have a lot of rich friends, because $60,000+ cars aren't within the budgets of most people I know.
The primary function of how much the ME will cost is how many will they sell, and that will be a function of performance/usability/price. For a two seat sports car, the C7 (and C6-C4) have scored very well on the performance and usability fronts at a price 30,000+ people per year could afford. Imo, a significant bump in performance won't add a lot of new buyers because there frankly aren't that many to cannibalize from other brands (maybe some Porsche 911 & 718 , Audi R8, Mercedes GT, Jaguar F-Type & Nissan GTR - not going to convince a Ford GT, Ferrari, Lamborghini, MacLaren, Bugatti owner to slum it) because none of those cars sell in great volumes to begin with.
The downside risk of having a car with the usefulness (lack thereof) of a Ford GT, MacLaren or Lamborghini is that all the people who buy Corvette's to act as daily drivers, tourers and take to the golf or yacht clubs disappear if the car is not capable of doing what they want - that might be 30-50% of current C7 buyers.

I don't think it's this proposition where GM is trying to appeal or fill a segment or anything like that. I think they know they can essentially use volume to build a damn fine car, performance wise one of the best in the world, and if they sell enough of them at a smaller price, they make their money and then some. I imagine that GM makes more on the Vette line for instance than Ferrari makes all of it's models put together even with their extravagant price tags. Volume can do that.

Still SUVs are like printing money as long as fuel is inexpensive, that and trucks are their cash cow. Seen what a new Denali cost these days?!

You are missing one very important point. That "dually" has a hell of a lot more practical applications than any Corvette; ie, try coming back from Home Depot with a big purchase in your Corvette--much easier to justify a high price!

.....Or GM can continue with current C7 base / Gs
models as the entry level to the brand....and push the
ME car up pricewise to $70k and up.....lower volume
and less discounting...to maintain profit and enhance
the brand image.

Giving away the cars, like GM does, with fire sale discounts
for the sake of volume, doesnt help the brand.

GM may change direction, go for higher margins/lower volume and
make the fire sale discounts a thing of the past.

Corvette pricing in the US, is like it was with pre bankruptcy GM,
with heavy discounting , just to keep the units moving and fulfill
union labor contracts.

25 percent discounts are absurd, from the manufacturer’s perspective
on a car line.

If rising prices or msrp are not actually being used to sell c7s...as magnificent as these performance sports cars are...

What makes anyone believe the c8 will escalate the prices much further?

Today's c7 s are superior in performance to the competition from Germany and Italy or even England...

Still pricing of corvettes are requiring 20 percent discounts.

I suggest this discounting has occured toward the end of each generation and yet each new generation based off the pricing history I posted earlier in this thread is ignored rather than used as a guide for possible c8 price upgrades...

The price increase from the 1981 at 16k base msrp..that moved to 18 grand in 1982 and then moved to 22 grand in 1984. By 1987 the price went to 28 grand...

That was the biggest leap of pricing in corvette history..(percentagewise)

Look at the price of the 1996 c4 and the technical superiority in the 1997 c5..the price change was minimal.

Look at the technical shifts from c4 to the c5 and look at the price similiarity for the c5 to the c4...

The last year of the c4 in 1996 had c4 s selling for 30k brand new and still the c5 msrp was almost identical to the c4 msrp...

I suggest all the fears of a dramatic price shift on the c8 could be a waste of time...

It might be good to perpetuate the fear of huge price increases for the c8 to sell c7 s at a 20 percent discount...but it's not necessarily based off of previous pricing strategies of the corvette marketing team.

Just my opinion and a perspective to consider

[1996 c4 msrp $37,225
1997 c5 msrp $37,495

2004 c5 msrp $43,835
2005 c6 msrp $43,710

2013 c6 msrp $49,600
2014 c7 msrp $51,995
2019 c7 msrp $56,590

I think that GM purposely prices high margin vehicles very high to make a lot of money at first, then when they drop $12K off they are just where they really should have started.

I would like to see them limit production a small bit and control pricing a bit better with much smaller and more consistent discounts.

However, the reality is that the real profit in the auto business is in parts and service over the lifetime of the vehicle, so they have a real motivation for getting the quantity of units out there in very large numbers.

I think this makes a lot of sense to keep both platforms. The layout has a lot of practicality to many people like about it, you actually can bring some groceries home even a few bags of rock salt haha. Easy to travel in with two people and some luggage. It sounds like it will continue for a couple years as is but it wouldn't cost much to do a C5 to c6 type freshen up and keep it going. I think that there will be a market for both. They'll be very different cars.