Drive_Sell_Win

Does a hybrid Corvette make sense to you guys? Just wondering if there are purist camps like there are with Mustang's hybrid coming in 2020. I think if it looks and feels the same, but gets better mileage, why are we complaining?

tbrenny33

I think if they can manage to keep the added weight within reason and it feels about the same but gives an added power boost as well as better mileage it could work just fine. It'll take good reviews and time to win over the purist though.

msm859

:iagree

Today you can buy a 4 door electric powered sedan that will go 0-60 in 2.3 seconds - smoke the Corvette. Not sure why anyone would be against technology that makes the car quicker and as a bonus gives us better gas mileage.

JoesC5

Not every Tesla goes 0-60 in 2.3 seconds, only the $133,000 P100D Ludicrous model. The remainder of the Tesla's are slower 0-60 than a base $60,000 StingRay.

My C6 Z06 will not come close to a 0-60 in 2.3 seconds, but will smoke the Tesla in the corners and in braking, and I bet will pull nearly as hard coming out of a corner at 60 MPH up to 160 MPH before braking for the next corner. That's with 505 HP and 3175 pounds. Add an E-Force with 657 HP and only an additional 75-85 pounds of weight(3250 pounds total) and my C6 Z06 will smoke the Tesla except for the first 100 feet from a dead stop.

The Tesla is only good for one thing. 0-60 racing at traffic lights in front of your local Sonic. As for looks, the Tesla can easily be confused for a 20 year old 1997 Oldsmobile Aurora with a new muffler.

I'll take a Corvette over a Tesla any day. Cheaper, faster, better looking. Besides, what's the chance of ever pulling up next to a P100D Ludicrous on the street. That only happens in magazines. Actually, if I wanted a new luxury 4 door sedan, I would take a $75,000 Lexus LS460 over a Tesla. 657 HP C6 Z06 for performance driving and a Lexus LS460 for luxury driving, for the price of one Tesla P100D Ludicrous.

I did a 690 mile trip last week. Didn't see a single Tesla P100D Ludicrous(or a slow 75 or 85 Tesla for that matter). I did see one C5 and one C7 and one BMW Z4, and one Miata. That's real world driving, not reading about cars in a magazine in front of your computer.

hyteck9

I moved to a new area that is a bit more upscale. I would guess that 40% of the cars in the Giant Eagle parking lot are Tesla.

Hybrids are popular. Corvette could benefit from having a hybrid from a sales point of view.

Weight and power are where its at , and that is all based on the batteries.
The company that comes up with a true next gen battery will rule the world.

JoesC5

Lot of areas are "up scale". The most expensive home in my neighborhood cost one million, 20 years ago when it was built.

There are lots of areas in my town where people can afford a Tesla(I own a 1956 Corvette, a 1964 Corvette, a C6 Z06($80,000 when new) and a Mercedes sedan. I can afford a Tesla, so that doesn't make it special, as I'm retired and on a fixed income. Others in my neighborhood/town own cars more expensive than a Tesla, yet I have not seen a single Tesla in any driveway or parking lot, not even the parking lot where the doctors park at my local clinic/hospital.

A very good friend is a radiologist and neither she or her husband own a Tesla, and they live in two upscale areas.

I have traveled in 40 states in my C6 Z06 since Tesla has been building cars, yet I have only seen one Tesla(at the Aarchway Inn in Moab, UT). That is an upscale motel in Moab, yet only one Tesla was in the parking lot(maybe 0.75% of the lot). Just last June,2016 I stayed a week at the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Deadwood, SD(also an upscale motel) and didn't see a single Tesla in the motel's parking lot(or even on the entire 2,500 trip). I saw plenty of other expensive cars.

Your 40% of the cars being Tesla's in a parking lot in not indicative of what is anywhere normal, even in an "upscale area".

My next door neighbor owns a "hybrid"(Prius) and she is not "rich" and two houses down, they own a Honda Civic Hybrid, and they are not rich. Hybrids might be popular but they make up an extremely small segment of the cars on the highway. They make up less than 10% of new car sales in the US).

sunsalem

You need to get the prescription in your glasses checked.

I would NEVER choose a Japanese car over an American.

Although not common, I see Teslas all the time (get those glasses checked, buddy).

02MillenniumVette

Yea because everyone races 0-60. If you want compare apples to oranges then the Tesla S, even the P100D, has a top speed of 155, the Corvette is around 200 give or take depending on if its a Z06 or not. So no, the Tesla will not "smoke" the Corvette. Tesla is a bad *** car in its own rights but its not in the same league as Corvette.

To the OP, Im sure eventually all vehicles will end up a hybrid but I wouldn't mind seeing a hybrid like the McLaren P1. Say 650-750hp from the gas motor then addition 150+hp from an electric motor.

Drive_Sell_Win

Couldn't agree more. I've been in arguments about this and they'll say something like "Tesla is different, blah blah blah" hahaha. Nostalgia?

Drive_Sell_Win

Camry is always voted most American car. Most parts made/assembled in USA.

Fact check: JEEP beat out Toyota now. Point still stands...

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/j...rs-com-claims/

hyteck9

Obviously you have not seen Teslas because they are all here.. in this one parking lot. LOL

JoesC5

After unloading the huge 22.4 cubic feet of cargo space in my Z06, I parked it around the side of the motel, next to a black blob. My buddy Dave parked next to me in his pace car. I started cleaning the bugs off the front of my car and Dave asked me what I thought about the Tesla. I told him that I've never seen one, and he said the car next to me was a Tesla. I was a foot away from it. Even though it was black, it was the most vanilla looking car at the motel. It reminded me of an old Oldsmobile Aurora.

I see pretty good at a one foot distance. LOL. But I can't see what ain't there, buddy; even with a magnifying glass.

GM and Ford make up 30% of the annual sales in the US and the Japanese cars make up 40%. Korea and Europe make up the remaining 30%.

It's quite evident that you are in the "Buy American" minority, since 70% of the cars sold in the US are not American brands/ownership.

Tesla sells very few cars. They are averaging around 3200 a month in 2017. They barely outsell the C7. And we are expected to believe that they will sell 46,533 a month in a year from now, when 43,333 Model 3's monthly sales are added to the 3,200 Model S and Model X monthly sales.. LOL. I can read the sales figures very well, thank you. LOL

JoesC5

Must be a small parking lot if both of the Tesla's make up 40% of the cars there. LOL Especially since the Tesla only represents 0.2% of new car sales each month. And since there are probably 100 times the cars on the road as sold new each month, that makes the Tesla a non event. Difficult to believe that a car that represents only one tenth of one percent of the cars out there, represents 40% in your "up scale" parking lot. LOL

hyteck9

Yeah, its not huge... but I was still surprised to see so many. There is a Tesla dealer not far away, and I recall hearing they will give ridiculous prices on trade-in's to get you in to a Tesla. Maybe these upsclae folks were upsidedown on their other cars and just wanted out. LOL Who knows. My only point is I don't consider them unicorn cars or anything... they are around.

JoesC5

One would expect to see more of them in densely populated areas vs the sticks where I live. Only 25 states and DC have Tesla showrooms vs 50 states with dealers for all the other luxury cars.

There is a showroom in St louis and in Kansas City(large metro area) but not in Springfield(3rd largest city in Missouri, and covers a lot of territory). No showroom in Little Rock, Arkansas, which is the capital of Arkansas and it's largest city. No showrooms in Tulsa or Oklahoma City(both major cities). No dealers in Wichita, KS either. Odd that I have seen a Ford GT(2006) in Texas but not a Tesla. Yada, Yada, Yada. Must not be much of a demand if lot's of major cities don't have a Tesla showroom/service center.

I wondered why sales of Tesla's spiked way high in March during the past several years. Must have had a "fire" sale going on (pun intended).

I have wondered if any Lexus, Benz or BMW dealer will take a Tesla on trade in. I doubt any local dealers would as they would have to run it through an auction hundreds of miles away. I doubt any used car lot around here would want one.

Getting a person to trade in their Lexus, Benz or BMW would be easy for a Tesla dealer to do as they are all in major metro areas with auction houses nearby that would welcome a Lexus, Benz or BMW to auction off as local used car dealers would buy them for their lot.

Another reason I wouldn't spend the money for a Tesla. When you're ready to trade it in on a car other than a Tesla, who wants it? I can buy a $75,000 Lexus LS460 and I know I will have a easy trade in for top dollar, down the road.

PS-I can even get my Mercedes serviced in Alaska(if I was on a road trip up there), as there is a M-B dealer there. Long way from Anchorage, AK to the nearest Tesla dealer, and would have to carry a long, long extension cord as there are no places to charge that Tesla driving through Canada to get to Alaska. At least with the dumb *** Volt, you have an ICE when you run out of places to recharge the battery. Plenty of places to get gas for the Volt's ICE.

vetteLT193

JoesC5... I'm not sure why you keep talking about the Tesla considering they don't make a Hybrid. The original point regarding the brand is in regard to the performance. 100% available torque at 1 RPM means there are performance benefits to electric motors and a hybrid might make sense.

KnightIndustries

I think hybrid will develop into an option, that's inevitable. GM is very invested in hybrid tech and are one of the major automotive brands with the capability to do it and do it well. GM was one of the early players in the EV market.

I think it's common for people to assume that the entire platform would go hybrid, but I believe it'd be an option, possibly of the mid-engine car. Porsche will implement the electric/hybrid into its lineup much the same. It's taken 30+ yrs for Porsche to finally make the base model Carrera a turbo, versus and option, and I think much will be the same for hybrid/ev.

You're going to have brands going all in on hybrid/ev, Volvo and Jaguar have both seemingly committed to this path. GM would be foolish not to invest itself into it, and with investment you must sell it. If Ferrari can make a V12 hybrid a pure monster that still sounds the part, so can Corvette/GM.

JoesC5

I suggest that you go back and read post #3 as he brought up the Tesla. I just responded to his post that the Tesla is not the Bee's Knees as far as performance goes. It's a one trick pony that is quick for the first 100 feet in a drag race. I sure wouldn't want a Corvette that was designed as a Tesla copycat car.

JoesC5

The 1160 GM EV-1's that were built, were leased and most were reprocessed and then crushed.

GM's next adventure was the Volt and it hasn't been a big seller(way below GM's original 100,000 annual sales they dreamed up before the car went into production) and the ERL was a dismal failure, with unbelievable low sales. I wonder how many hundreds of millions(or even billions) have been squandered by GM on the Volt and the ERL? Maybe the GM 8 speed transmission would be a bit better transmission if some of that Volt and ERL money had been spent on it, as well as spending money to solve the C6 Z06's valve problem. Maybe GM wouldn't have gone into Bk if that EV money had been spent on making better ICE cars instead of EV's.

The Bolt hasn't gotten off to a great start either. They have managed to sell a measly 7592 of them for the first two quarters of 2017(average of 1,265 a month). That's horrible sales. It's their latest venture in the EV marketplace. That's not much to say for a 21 year experiment in EV's by GM.

tbrenny33

The big reason its a one trick pony is its pure electric and just weighs WAY too much to be more. Now the question is would you accept a HYBRID vette? Say 700 from engine and another 100-125 power the front wheels for optimal acceleration but not so much battery that it adds tons of weight. For me it would be wicked if they can keep the weight under 3700-3750 lbs. I expect this to happen for the ME eventually.