Not to steal the guy’s thunder or anything, but we’ve been advocating such an idea for more than just a few weeks, and well before the new 2014 Corvette Stingray made its debut, or was even leaked. But since it’s always worthy of discussion, we’re glad that AutoExtremist Peter DeLorenzo isn’t afraid to think outside the box. And he highlights several points as to why the Corvette not only should spin off into its own brand, but needs to spin off as its own brand.
“If GM can position Cadillac and Chevrolet as global bands, then the Corvette deserves to be a global brand too. The Europeans who flock to Le Mans aren’t interested in Chevrolet anything, but they are interested in Corvette, and anything and everything to do with Corvette. You don’t think that the Corvette as a stand-alone brand would have resonance globally? Think again. Just because the power of the Corvette name has been underutilized up until now, that doesn’t mean it can’t be polished into something much more.”
More importantly, this opens up the Corvette brand to carry multiple models. Think if the Stingray was flanked by a smaller, zippy Porsche Cayman fighter, and a beastly mid-engine-mounted, limited-production, no-compromise exotic that could compete more directly with anything from Italy.
“It would require the kind of focused consistency – and serious cash – that GM has only dreamed of up until now, but I have tremendous confidence in the True Believers hard at work on the Corvette program that they could deliver this enhanced mission in spades,” DeLorenzo finalized.
The GM Authority Take
Word. This writer hopes the controversial idea picks up steam within the confines of the RenCen. But do you?
Comments
Id be scared (in a really good way) to see what the corvette team could put together for a $150K-$200K price point. I’m very confident it would run circles around what toyota did for over $400K.
Pratt and Miller works closely with Vette development (the whole “we bring C6R race knowledge/tech to the street car”. They also work with Cadillac for the SCCA cars, instead of a $150k Vette, I want to see a $150k halo Cadillac, which I bet if things keep going how they have been for the wreath and crest we will see some serious concepts and maybe even the car by 2020
No this is rediculous the others are going to have to put up with it being a chevrolet! Instead of just dropping the heritage & recognition etc. I hope this is false cause we will be very dissapointed
Sorry but GM needs to unlock the brand value of Corvette as a stand alone brand. Firstly, a lot of Chevy dealers refuse to stock one much the entire Corvette line up. Considering the R&D cost, Vetts deserve their own show room on par the the new Fiat studios.
Corvette could compete against the Euro imports–those buyers hate the Chevy heritage–and fill the space left by Pontiac…I remember all that talk of Pontiac as a nice brand and thought, how silly, GM has Corvette!
Lastly, Corvette is a high end product and deserves the white glove treatment on par with Cadillac. A indie Corvette, Cadillac plus a lower end premium Buick puts GM on a very healthy track.
There was talk of this well before bankruptcy (back when the ZR1 was being referred to as the ‘BlueDevil’), especially in Europe to aid in Corvette’s image. The idea of a Corvette brand resurfaced when the GS moniker returned in 2010.
There are 7 on sale versions of the the C6.. But if it did split similar to what SRT did, what dealers can lay claim to the Vette brand? What car becomes the halo for Chev, ZL1? Does GM really need more brands, it just got done shedding half of them.
This could be wrong, but I remember someone telling me that in the UK the Vette kind of already is sold as if it weren’t a Chevrolet.
Don’t even bother with the Chevrolet dealers. Start from scratch. If existing dealers are interested, they can open a new franchise.
Braking Corvette off opens a full line up of vehicles and another premium GM global brand.
As is, Chevy dealers stock few Corvettes and never have all 7 on the lot. How can the car serve as a hali when it is never seen?
Impala can serve as flagship just like Avolon does for Toyota or Taurus for Ford.
I think it would work… it would be a DIRECT Porshe fighter. Imagine, a Corvette VUS with carbon-fiber, a four door corvette and of course, the classic… 🙂
That’s exactly what would be wrong. Corvette would get diluted with shitty CUVs and a 4-door. It would ruin what Corvette has been for 60 years.
Cadillac is set up to take on Porsche and BMW for performance CUVs. The V brand has credibility. SRX-V would be a much easier sell against the X3M or Cayenne, than some Corvette CUV abortion.
Porsche, in the early 90’s the 911 was terrible, the brand was dying and needed change, the Boxer was that change. The 911 got back on track and became a good car again. The Cayenne came around as a money maker to milk the brand.
GM is doing it right, having the SS sedan instead of trying to market a V8 sedan as a 4-door Vette. If they would have tossed the Vette flags on the SS it would cripple Corvette as an icon.
I pray to never see a CUV with the Corvette name on it, there is no bigger way to whore out 60 years of american sports car than that.
Corvette has not been an icon in years! It is the plummer’s dream car and the red neck BMW. No one under 50 is going to spend 50,000 for any car market as Chevy…Period!
GM would be well served to spin off the brand and do an image refresh as they’ve done with Caddy. I think a 4door would be fine but agree that an SUV would be silly.
Chevy lost it’s luster a long time ago and will never be seen as iconic to Gen X or Y. Even GM understood this when they developed Saturn in the late 80s. Yes, it was an import fighter but it was also seen as a the answer to a dying Chevy.
Makes perfect sense to me. Corvette brand=America’s answer to Porsche and Ferrari.
Yea I can see it now, all those Europeans flocking to buy a Corvette since “it’s not a Chevrolet,, honest, just forget about the first 60 years it was around and sold as a Chevy, we were just kidding” . Dumbest idea ever.
Do you hold a degree in marketing? How about advertising? Funny as it sounds, these little change-ups do actually work. (Most) people buy brands that offer products. They don’t just look for the product. For instance, can you imagine if the Porsche 911 was called the “VW Beetle RR” or if the Lexus ES was the “Toyota Camry Supreme”? Or, if the Rolls Royce Ghost (obviously a supreme luxury vehicle) was the “BMW 750 Li British Edition” (still amazing, but not Rolls Royce).
Two other examples (besides the Corvette) that brand equity can hold back a product: Hyundai Equus, VW Phaeton. Even with dealers receiving special training and equipment to sell these vehicles, they’re still Hyundai and Volkswagen models. Not Lexus or Audi. I’d even bundle the Nissan GT-R in there as well.
It’s not that anybody is saying Chevrolet is a brand of poor taste, or that it’s lacking in stalwart products, but there’s only so much $ people will pay for a Chevrolet. And there’s only so many people who would be willing set foot into a Chevrolet dealership — who could just as easily walk into a high-end Porsche/Ferrari/BMW dealership — and buy one.
So, while the Corvette has a deep Chevy heritage and fanbase, it’s also held back for that very reason.
I could easily afford the Corvette. But the reason I would not buy a C7 is that it is too much capital to put on roads littered with people on cell phones, texting, and illegals carrying no insurance who are unable to speak English. I got rammed just last year, and it wasn’t a good experience. The Corvette is also a heck of a waste of power and fuel if you are law abiding. No one does most of their driving at the track.
So what I’d like to see is a smaller, less powerful, more efficient, but every bit as good looking American sports car — something like the Miata, but with Corvette cues. I don’t think that would dilute a Corvette brand. No reason the brand could not serve customers spending 35 K$ on up to 350 K$.
Really… That’s why you choose to not buy a Vette, because other people. The Corvette is a “waste” of fuel if you aren’t law-abiding. If you drive it like a Corolla you’ll get good mpg, C7 cruising at 60mph, 30mpg I bet.
I do believe it is better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow, but that doesn’t mean you should be stuck buying the slow car because speed limits are 100km/h max.
I do agree a little $35k car is needed. What GM should have done was keep the Saturn Sky (Solstice is/was too pill shaped). Have had the Kappa II finish its development, take that interior up a notch or two or three. The new 2.0T from the ATS, tune it to 300hp (remember the Cobalt SS could get a dealer tune to 290HP and get that cheap looking tune computer installed to manually adjust on the fly). Put the 2.5L in it for a base engine even.
The car we are talking about, though, is the 130R, which is to be mid $20k, and will do much better there than mid 30s
Removing the Vette from Chevy has been bounced many times before and I really do not see it happening.
While it is true the Vette needs better care at the dealers in sales and service if they want to compete with the higher end makes. The owners of these cars get treated different than most people who buy Sparks and Sonics. That is not to say the Chevy buyer are mistreated but there is a higher level buyers expect.
I think letting the larger dealers who can have dedicated sales staff and service techs that can better sell and service these cars. They can deliver a higher end experience of a Porsche dealers and such.
The fact is The Vette and Chevy have been joined at the hip for 60 years and will remain so.
The greater issue is that the last 5 years the Vette has average 13K units per year [note averaged]. The Vette needs to find new buyers as their owners average age is catching up to where Buick has been. Kids today no longer want a Vette like in the past many grow up with posters of GTr and other new models that are out there.
The fact is in a perfect world the Vette would do well in a Cadillac dealer but it is not there and moving it now would not gain much. If GM would just step up their game and use dealer more better equipt to sell and service these cars they will be fine.
The Shelby would be better off at a Lincoln dealer too but It will not happen as too much time and heritage has gone under the bridge.
I haven’t read what Peter the Farago hater wrote, so forgive me if i’m being repetitive.
I remember the corvette as a separate brand conversation coming up almost thirty years ago.
There was a C3 shooting brake variant in Motor Trend in the 70s and then the C4 ZR1 started the talk again in the 80s.
I also recall when the Saturn Sky was first a Vauxhall styling study there was talk of making it a junior corvette.
Here in Canada at least corvette is treated as a separate dealership from Chevrolet, as was XLR and is Volt.
Aside from the performance and the styling, value-for-money is also part of the heritage of Corvette. The fact that GM can sell a Corvette for less than $55k and have it outrun cars that cost twice as much IS something to brag about…And something that should continue as far as I am concerned. What is killing the progress of GM’s performance vehicles is that for many years Corvette had to be the fastest and best handling vehicle in the entire GM lineup. Anything that outshone it in any way was quickly dispatched (Buick GNX, GMC Cyclone anyone?). This needs to stop. Vehicles should be assigned performance attributes based on the intended market, not on corporate bureaucracy. I believe that the smaller, lighter, less expensive model that de Lorenzo calls “Stingray” should be built and sold as a Buick (since that brand has no coupe or convertible) and the top end “Chaparral” be sold as a Cadillac (since it has no uber performance coupe like Mercedes has with the SLS AMG).
I would advocate this, though its always scary with GM considering their track record with multiple brands in the past, its a great idea, but only if its done right.
Autoextremist indeed !! Mr. Delorenzo, I have read you in many auto magazines over the years and usually I agree with your musings generally but putting ideas like spinning the Corvette into a Global brand into the idiot heads of GM is like putting a gun to the Corvette design team’s head ! Where would you expect to sell this new Corvette ? Europe ? South America ? the Middle East ? the Far East ? Give your head a shake man !
I have been a Corvette lover since I was a little boy and an owner for 25 years but the ‘Vette, as GOOD as is (and it is the best AFFORDABLE high performance car in the world), will never be a global brand precisely because of this ! It will never have the required snob appeal to sell to the world’s super rich, all that lopping Chevrolet off the Corvette will do is raise it’s price to the point it loses it’s traditional American base and reduce it to a boutique brand like Ferrari or Aston Martin. Maybe then it will appeal to the different market you think is there but hasn’t somebody already tried that with the Viper ?
That’s the thing. In order for the Corvette to appeal to the world on a global scale, it needs to drop this blue collar “affordabiliy” nonsense.
Nobody, anywhere, wants to look poor. If a car can make you look poor, nobody will want to buy it. If the C7 is priced approprately enough so that it keeps blue collar people out, then the C7’s clout has nowhere to go but up.
DUDE! Do you understand what you just said? The
LAST thing the world needs is yet ANOTHER over priced sports car that you and I cannot afford. F#CK all that ‘lets’s move from the Blue Collar base’ nonsense! Being aimed at that base is exactly why the Corvette is awesome and will continue to be.
People with your mentality and most of the spoiled motoring press do not understand the Corvette, it’s reason for being, or why it is so appealing to those who buy it. Its’ a car for the regular guy. A car with all of the performance, tech, and capability of foreign cars that cost as much as a decent house; except it’s affordable! The bonus is how it has none of the pretentiousness, nor the unnecessary expensive ownership cost and other BS of cars costing 2-3 times as much.
Lets be real about what we are really talking about here. The corvette as a single product is in a ‘slump’ sales wise and has been for a few years now. Yet no one is stating the obvious. The Corvette [even in it’s sales slump] sells in numbers any of it’s direct competition could only dream of! it’s sales numbers are low for a giant like GM, not for a maker of high end sports cars. The only “true sports cars” that sell as well or better than the Vette are the Miata and the Nissan Z. And more often than not they trade places when it comes to final top sales stats. Yet what makes the Miata and the Z such sales successes? Hmm could it be that they are accessible?! Oh, by the way, they don’t sell that well in Europe either! No where near the 1000+ monthly sales numbers they enjoy here in the states. Why, because Europe is not as big a market, and also just doesn’t have the large moderately affluent middle class the US has.
Which leads me to the 800lbs gorilla in the room with regard to the true reason the Vette is not selling like it did 15 years ago. THE ECONOMY STUPID. The dollar grows weaker and weaker by the minute. Young people are suffering from record unemployment and taking jobs that pay 1/3 to 50% less than 20 years ago. In short, the Vette isn’t selling like it used to because aspiring owners (many of them the very youth the marketeers dream of scooping up) simply can’t afford it. Nothing more, nothing less.
There is no need to adapt or modify the Corvette for European sensibilities. The very super cars it regularly trounces aren’t designed to “European sensibilities”. Lambos, Ferrari’s, Aston Martin, Jag XKs, Mercedes SLR, Spyker, Koenigsegg, and etc are too low, too wide, too loud and too thirsty, for Europe, just like the Vette. They are too cramped and too impracticable (unlike the Vette) and they definitely are no where near as reliable as the Vette. (notice I didn’t mention the very sensible Porsche 911 or Lotus)
Yet those fabulous cars sell like crap in Europe too. But wait it doesn’t matter because their biggest sales are in the US! In fact they sell hundreds here a year! WOW what great sales successes they are! the Vette sells 10 times as many cars yet it’s a failure. So lets make it MORE EXPENSIVE and it should do better?
STOP please.
Your problem is that you think that an “average man” exists.
The Corvette’s blue collar white male base is DYING and won’t matter in 50 years time. If the Corvette can’t be seen amonst more weathly clientle, those particularly who are not American, it won’t have place in the world anymore.
You seem to think volume sales matter for the a car like the Corvette. It shouldn’t. If the demand is low, but the desireability is very high (like the 911), it won’t matter if the car sells on desireability alone.
But if you think sales do matter, guess what? The 911 sold 25,475 units globally in 2012.
Source: http://www.porsche.com/canada/en/aboutporsche/pressreleases/pag/archive2013/quarter1/?pool=international-de&id=2013-01-14
The Corvette, only 11,647
That’s right. More the double the number of Corvette buyers last year were willing to spend $100K+ on a Porsche 911. They didn’t care that the Corvette cost less and had comprible performance.
Go ahead and call it another baseless “Europe vs. America” thing because it isn’t. The Corvette has a huge image problem and it isn’t going to overcome it by being the Kia of the sports car world. The sooner the Corvette can be seen a toy for the wealthy, the greater it’s worldwide appeal will be. Prices will go up, and so will it’s sales.
Why did you bring up the 911s sales numbers? I specifically excluded them. The 911 exist in the GT/ sports “light” realm. This allows it to have a much broader demographic. One ironically that has next to nothing to do with sporty driving or race heritage. In Eruope the 911 is what the Vette is here. a car to asire to for those on the come up, or who have arrived. It’s not pretentious, nor elitist.
Second get off the “blue collar white male base is DYING” bullsh#t. That’s just traditional liberal propaganda code talk for “x company or institution is racist and needs to focus on minorities” talk. (for the record I am black). Yes the factory based, industrial middle class is wilting away in the US. But if you go to race tracks, car shows, cruise ins, and street races across the US the Vette is well respected, lusted after, and desired by car enthusiast of all ages.
As I said before, the financial situation for ‘working class’ customers (and especially the youth market) is hurting right now. And has been for nearly 20 years. Many people in the 20-40yr old bracket can barely afford a economy car let alone a Vette.
I don’t think the corvette has any kind of “image problem” around the world except in the minds of Auto journalist and elitist. I’ve lived in Japan, and Europe and when a American performance car of any type is spotted by the locals they stop, stare point, and look. to them a lowly V6 Mustang is like a Lambo. Why? because it represents the fantasy of America. A country of flamboyance and optimism. A country where car makers design and sell cars just for teenagers! A country where a regular Joe can own a 500hp elitist ass-kicking rocket! Wow imagine that! Yes We know that’s not a reality that exist anymore, But it’s a fantasy/perception that is alive and well over seas.
The thing that is Unique about “cheaper” American performance cars is that you don’t have to be rich to own one. unlike European sports cars that live almost exclusively in the realm of the unobtainable; owning a Vette is a real possibility.
Saying the Vette should sell well in Europe was always a curiosity to me. Because it shows a true misunderstanding of the European market. Generally, European rich are a very “old money/elitist bunch” never mind the nationalistic beliefs many of them hold. In order for the Vette to even make a dent into the collective buying conscious of Europe, it’s gotta become a completely different kind of car. One that almost doesn’t even have it’s roots or origins in the US.
I don’t care what you think about the “then white male” demographic and it’s relation to the Corvette. It’s a documented historical fact of who the car’s primary consumer is…and it’s in decline.
I also don’t care about your race. I’m only trying to find workable methods to buoys before they crash through the floor.
There is no “code talk” here. The only one who thinks “code words” exist is Mr. Beck.
“Yes We know that’s not a reality that exist anymore, But it’s a fantasy/perception that is alive and well over seas.”
As I’ve said before, cold ugly facts are more important than comfortable pretty lies.
And I don’t buy you catergorization of “GT/ sports “light” realm” because there isn’t such a thing. ALL cars are sold by their size relative to others in their segment as graded on a bell curve. “Sports Cars” are advertized by HP when their relative physical size dictates how they are catergorized. If you want to call something a “GT”, then it really is no different from a midsize, large, or full-size 2+2 coupes.
If you think GT’s means 500HP and $300K, you’re wrong. If you want to be pedantic, GT is virtually ANY 2+2.
You shouldn’t have excluded the 911 anyway. A cursorary Wikipedia search shows that both the 911 and C6 (reliable C7 dimensions aren’t available) put both cars within 100mm of one another in all dimensions.
…and by all measures, the 911 handily outsold the Corvette last year.
“European rich are a very “old money/elitist bunch” never mind the nationalistic beliefs many of them hold.”
Funny how the American’s “old money” isn’t nearly as old as the Europeans….but even they won’t touch an American car. It might have someting to do with the American upper class not wanting to have anything to do with “race tracks, car shows, cruise ins, and street races across the US the Vette is well respected”…all of those sound a big blue collar to me.
It isn’t overseas nationalism that holds the Corvette back, it’s the blue collar image that preceeds it. No weathly person ANYWHERE on earth wants their cars to say something less of the individual. By extention, having a toy like the Corvette available to the masses destoys any chance for the car to be taken seriously by the wealthy.
If any of what you felt about the Corvette was going to dovetail into the fabiled “American Dream”, then maybe you should revaluate American society. The class division in their society was blurred for years and has fueled many people into thinking delusionally that wealth was a given within their own lives.
LOL, Grawdaddy, i’m beginning to believe you have a reading comprehension problem. That or you aren’t reading my post in their entirety. so lets do this on a point by point basis:
1. Yes indeed cold hard facts are more important than petty lies. That’s why I didn’t include the 911 in what I said. It sells just fine, I know that and YOU know that, and it was NOT factored in my argument for that reason among others. “Good look” on you though for showing you know how to argue with someone on a point they agree with you on.
2. WTH are you talking about with your GT/ hp comparison drivel. I never said the Vette and 911 are not comparable. If you read my post you would have seen where I said they are similar and both are free of pretension. They both appeal to the same type of buyer. Maybe you confused my description of the “demographic” for a description of the class of car? Who knows and frankly I don’t care anymore.
3. It’s pretty obvious you are not from the States and know jack sh#t about what goes on here. It’s extremely obvious, that you have never frequented race tracks (drag and road) here in the states nor do you frequent cars shows or anything else that is steeped in automotive culture here in the US. Because if you did you’d find yourself quietly eating your words as Corvette after Corvette sat in the paddock, or blazed down the track, or sat in parking spots along with cars of all makes enjoyed by enthusiasts from all walks of life.
The demographic of which you speak is the demographic of pretentious pompous jack ass. And while their money is just as desirable as any other’s; when it comes to sports cars they are not the heart and soul of what drives and keeps the performance car market thriving.
4. Last point: you still ignored the true reason the Vette and EVERY current sports car are selling in numbers that pale in comparison to the last 15-20 years. THE ECONOMY. If the demographic that is hardest hit is the very demographic a product is aimed at, then it makes just a little sense to conclude that maybe that contributes to lower sales…although 10-15 thousand cars a year in ONE market is hardly a sales failure of any type when it comes to a purpose built and designed 2 seat sports car of any type. Especially one that has been out for 8 years or actually 16 years if you factor that the C6 is more of a C5 face-lift.
As of now here is the problem.
The vette need to be delt with at the dealer by a staff that know how to sell the car and treat the customers in a way they would be treated else where buying a 911 etc.
Moving the Vette to Caddy solves nothing. While it would help the customers connection to the dealer in how he is treated the Vette is still not a Cadillac.
Also adding a $150K sports car to Cadillac would only end in the same way as the XLR etc. Cadillac needs to regain what they really are first before they worry about doing a low volume low profit sports car that really no one associates with them.
Cadillac needs to focus on making the ATS, CTS and LTS the best in class. If and only if they could reach this point do we worry about a low volume 2 seater and even then it should not be challanging Ferrari and be more targeted to Benz and BMW.
The key right now is to build a Vette that would get the attention of those who buy other sports cars to consider them. The C7 is the first step with a better interior and more aggressive styling.
In the most perfect world Tonys idea is right but we live in a flawed world and right now there is more risk than gain to moving the Vette to a private brand. THe only real up is if GM was in such trouble they could try to sell the model off. But even that did not work for Chrysler and the Viper.
In a perfect world GM would do well with a real performance division. They had one once and turned it into a SUV FWD division with only two real performance cars thanks to Lutz when it died. It was too lilttle to late by the time Bob arrived.
At this point there is no real chance they should even consider Pontiac coming back and even then would you put the Vette there.
The only real option is to build the Vette and keep it at Chevy. There is no special division or dealers for the VIper, or GTR. Lotus is often an add on to another more expensive dealer. Even some Porsche dealters are on the same grounds as Audi and or VW. Few of the dealers stand alone accept Ferrari and Mc Laren or a Buggati if you even know where to find one.
The Vette was designed to help GM but Chevy most of all. GM needs to focus the Vette to appeal to more people and in turn help shower Chevy with the image help on the rest of the line.
GM could build a Enzo killer but that does not mean that it should. While it would be cool they need to first work to making cars like the Malibu and Cruze the class leaders and best selling cars in class. THis to me is a tougher challange but a much more rewarding one $$$$$$$$. You do that you will have enough money to waste on smaller side projects like giant killing sports cars.
“The vette need to be delt with at the dealer by a staff that know how to sell the car and treat the customers in a way they would be treated else where buying a 911 etc.”
Exactly. The client base of the C7 should mirror that of the 911.
Right now, they are miles apart and reflect different buyers. The Corvette particularly is suffering from a shrinking base. “Staying the course” won’t save the Corvette if management is unwilling to court new buyers…..or to hang with the high rollers.
Sure, the current Corvette can make all the HP it wants at pricepoint that rivals cars costing $100K+….but if the Corvette doesn’t look like a $100K+ car, then it won’t matter to anyone. It won’t get mentioned alongside cars like the 911 because the Corvette will be precivied as downmarket, a lesser product, inferior, built to a price.
The carfree days of hooning in a Corvette need to die, along with black and white floor tiles, chrome bumpers, and anything assosicated with blue collar America from the 60’s on. None of that imagery does anything good for the Corvette’s image abroad.
Cold hard ugly truths are needed to replace comfortable pretty lies.
Exactly! Let the Vette do what it was supposed to do. Put buts in non sporting Chevys. And by extension, GM needs to invest the same type of passion it invest in the Vette in ALL Chevys. it goes hand in hand.
He has been drinking too much Ram cool aid. GM is not in a position to do it right, so I say leave it alone. There are other more important parts of the business to focus on. Let the new Corvette help drive traffic into the current Chevrolet dealers.
In my mind, the only correct way to do it is to have a separate franchise so that you can truly attract luxury buyers. There are too many roadblocks in order to do it properly.
Though I can see obvious benefits I believe it would not be prudent for either GM, Chevrolet, or Corvette. What i would rather see is GM holding the dealers responsible for learning how to sell and service the Corvette properly. Right now I would venture that less than half the Chevrolet dealerships are not qualified to sell of sevice the car properly. I advocate having a dealer earn the right to sell the Corvette. I have not been to a dealer in the last several years where the sales person knew as much about the car as I did. This has to change and GM needs to make it happen.
This is the only way i could see a mid-engined corvette working….
I could see it working over the pond only, but we have to wait to see how good it REALLY is, who will it out do,and see the C7R win races, maybe then.
If you really want a high end sports car to sell just make up a Cadillac sports car off the vette platform. Just do it RIGHT. Make it expensive and the best in the world.
If Cadillac is to ever get something, it needs to be unique. XLR 2.0 isn’t going to cut it.
“just make up a Cadillac sports car off the vette platform. Just do it RIGHT.”
That’s not unique. It’s just an expensive Corvette. You can’t make it “right” by using a platform that is stained with being low class. It’s suppose to be a Cadillac, not blue jeans and cowboy boots.
They should just have a GM Performance shop added to Chevrolet, Cadillac,Buick, and GMC dealers. It doesn’t matter which dealership gets it…just so that there are enough regionally. They could specialize in servicing, upgrading, accessorizimh etc GM performance vehicles. Yoh would still buy vehicles at their usual location, but all the other needs if your Camaro SS, ZL1, Corvette, V, Future Buicks, SS Sedan etc taken care of.
Manoli,
In fact , my Minor WAS marketing and with your VW comment, you are missing the fact that both Porsche and Corvette have over half a century of performance HISTORY. Marketing, no matter how effective or expensive, cannot change the “spots on the leopard”, both brands have a history and the customer stream that follows both is set on a path that can be changed only by extreme marketing which alters the potential purchasers perception of that history.
Both Corvette and Porsche are on paths which are decades old and would take too much time to alter in any clear way.
In the case of Porsche, examine the 911, it’s history has not helped the brand, it has held it back; witness the attempts by Porsche to “move on” past the 911 with the 928, 944 and even the present Cayman, all of which had more potential than the basic 911 platform but which the contemporary 911 customer was unwilling to accept.
Now the Porsche brand has attempted another path, with SUV’s and basic sportscars all of which are different interpretations of the 911.
Chevy already HAS SUV’s and hopefully will follow up on the 130 and 140 concepts to more basic high performance models; IF you journalists don’t confuse the GM executives into stumbling down the same path, constantly being tripped up by the 911 which has to be the greatest triumph of development over engineering extant.
At least each generation of the Corvette is distinctive yet identifiable as a ‘Vette”, each new generation of the Porsche IS the 911 ! This is not to say that it isn’t a great car but using Porsche as a plan for the Corvette brand will not work. You are ignoring history; look at performance brands like Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini – do they have SUV’s ? They are performance based as they have always been and appeal to that market and no amount of marketing will change that, except those that it temporarily confuses.
The better marketing models are firms like BMW and M-B which sell a broad base of vehicles and have performance brands “M” and “AMG”.
For heaven’s sake encourage GM and Chevy to get their basic product lines right ,before setting them off on a tangent that will lead nowhere…Chevrolet means “value” (and of late much better quality) not exclusivity, the Corvette HAS to be the poster child, anchor, and flagship of Chevy. If a “no expense spared “performance vehicle just HAS to be insisted upon…let Cadillac do it (again) !
Leave the Corvette as it is; the greatest and most cost effective high performance vehicle on the planet ! And market that to the hilt !
You brought up racing. Let’s talk about racing. How often does the GM marketing department even talk about the racing feats of the Corvette? In recent memory, I can probably count on one hand. And almost all of them were commercials only found on Speed Channel. This lack of effort put forth into touting the Corvette’s prowess is based on the assumption that the vehicle simply sells itself. Sure, to previous Corvette owners, and that’s mostly it. Like it or not, that demographic is shrinking (for lack of a better word). It’s time to tap into a fresh market.
It’s hard to envision people suddenly forgetting about the vehicle’s racing heritage if the Corvette became separate from Chevrolet. It’s “Corvette Racing,” after all. Not “Chevrolet Racing”. And it would still be Corvette Racing.
Additionally, nobody said Porsche didn’t go too far with its SUV and four-door offerings, as awesome as they drive. Sure, they seem distant from the 911, but not nearly as much as the line you attempted to draw with the Corvette and the Suburban, which is a far cry from anything Corvette. At least the Cayenne is a front-runner for the best-handling SUV on the planet.
And why can’t the Camaro be the embodiment of budget performance? It’s not much younger than the Vette, it has a racing history, and the ZL1 kills anything south of $120,000 around a track, for half the price. The Code could also reflect that sense of ability built to a price. But when you subject a vehicle to meet a price point, you’re left with compromise and asking “what if”. No more what-ifs for the Corvette.
I understand you argument, but lets address another myth that is only perpetuated against the Corvette. And that is the myth of more expensive car makers advertising their rich racing history to the general public. It doesn’t happen. when was the last time you saw a Porsche commercial, let alone one where they mentioned a victory in a racing series. How about a GTR commercial? I haven’t seen one EVER. Never mind that until recently the GTR didn’t even race outside of Japan. Heck the only company that has been actively hawking it’s race heritage lately is Mazda! And they didn’t even spotlight the Miata in those adds. They layered the racing umbrella over all of their cars.
We can talk racing stats till we are blue in the face. Those who care already know. And those who don’t don’t care.
The GT-R suffers from the same problem as a Corvette. It’s still a Nissan (and it’s ugly). And you probably don’t notice the Porsche marketing because you don’t tune in/read where they’re being advertised. Secondly, their brand equity is such that Porsche and even Ferrari CAN get away with minimal marketing.
Go ask any stranger on the street what they think of the Corvette, and then what they think of Ferrari. The difference in their desirability quotient is going to be like night and day.
No it doesn’t. Don’t let a few anti-JDM naysayers pollute your perceptions. The GTR was known and lusted after the world over before it was even a blip on the American markets imagination, and EVERYONE knew of it as a Nissan.
When Nissan was worrying that the R35 may loose its luster because of the Nissan badges, import magazines and JDM loving youth the world over demanded it be what it is in it’s home market. Of course we all know a Infiniti GTR would have been tolerated, but the Skyline GTR had become a legend under the Nissan badge. To all those who knew about the car before it’s release world wide, slapping a different badge on it was akin to sacrilege. To those who didn’t? What do they care, they wouldn’t have know about it anyway.
The GTR is no sales queen because it was NEVER a sales queen. Even in Japan GTRs of all types from the original to the Godzilla R32-R34 were special built, low production, homologated race cars on the street. akin to the original ZL1 or 67-69 Z28. In fact if it wasn’t for the Grand Turismo game series 90% of Americans and most of Europe would know nothing of the GTR.
The R35 is the first non-race homlogated GTR. It was designed from the outset to be a low production JDM supercar; not just some hot rodded skyline. Nissan will sell the GTR at a loss because they can afford to bleed the cash on what in the end is a Halo Car for the whole Nissan brand.
Nissan attracts hard core enthusiast the same way Chevy does. the difference is Nissan respects it’s performance history and fans in a way Chevy (and GM) is only just beginning too. Did you know that the 180sx (our Nissan 240sx hatchback) was so well loved by the drift, and performance based youth market that Nissan succumbed to popular demand and continued building it for 5 more years alongside the S14 and 15 Silvia. (180sx Aero (Type X)
Think about that – a car company that actually throws a bone to fanatical devotes of a single model and produces a car 5 years after it was considered obsolete just to satisfy demand. For a performance enthusiast, having a Nissan badge on the front of your hood is a very proud thing indeed; GTR, Z, or lowly 180sx.
JFDH, preach! Chevrolet and Corvette are one in the same to EVERYONE who knows diddly squat about cars, and to those who don’t; it doesn’t matter. If a kid in Europe sees a C6.R blazing past with a bellowing 7 liter V8 at 180+mph; he could give a damn if it’s a Chevy. But he sure does know it’s a Corvette. The fact that it’s a Chevy is incidental. Just like the GTR being a Nissan is not an issue for the Playstation/Grand Tourismo generation. All they know is “that car is bad ass and I want one!”
You guys are missing the point. Make a damn good product and it doesn’t matter what the badge on the nose is. But you HAVE to also respect your roots. The corvette is and always was a ‘every-mans car’ sure it can have models that dance in the stratosphere of priceyness [ala ZR1], but it can never leave it’s base. everything the Corvette is and everything GM built the Corvette’s image from is that of a super car for the average man. To move away from that is akin to a celebrity slapping a devoted fan in the face when they ask for a autograph.
By your logic, Lamborghini should still be making tractors.
http://www.lamborghini-tractors.com/en-EN/defaulten.html
They do! like i said, a successful company N EVER leaves it roots.
Well, I just learned something new! But here’s the thing, Lamborghini Trattori doesn’t seem to be owned by Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. — which is operated under the VWAG umbrella. Instead it’s a brand of SAME Deutz-Fahr, and really has nothing to do with the Lamborghini we know today, outside of the name.
I could still fire off other examples of brands that are known for what they make today have nothing to do with where they were. Did you know that Everlast began as a swimsuit company? Now they’re all boxing gear. Hermes began by making harnesses, and is now the Bugatti of fashion companies. Interesting, eh?
Funny you mention that, my girlfriend had a Everlast swimsuit back in 95. (man I loved that suit) we could go in circles all day on what companies have evolved into or what branches they sold off. The point is you don’t forsake your heritage. Companies that do end up like GM. And they end up with the associated garbage that comes with it, like people thinking corvettes are cheap and sh#tty even after they have been proven to not be.
Keep the Chevrolet bowtie in the Corvette flags. There’s your homage to history.
Also, a brand reinvention seems to be working for Cadillac, wouldn’t you say?
Instead of Corvette breaking off, why not branch off with the SS moniker? They seem to be going away from the SS badge, and this might make more sense. This way we could get a Cruze SS, Malibu SS, etc. What do you guys think?
Mr. De Lorenzo and some of the ‘new brand’ commenters here are assuming that the name Chevrolet is what’s holding back Corvette. Is it possible that the Chevrolet name isn’t holding it back as much as the American made stigma? What American brand vehicle does sell well in Europe? I can’t think of any except Ford, and that’s limited to the UK more or less. Though I don’t have a good first hand European perspective, the impression I have seems that Europeans equate American vehicles with poor build quality and poor mileage due to our comparatively big engines that are not as power dense. Many of their performance cars are getting 100HP/liter. Porsche, Ferrari and Audi/Lambo are getting at or above that figure. Our new 6.2L engine is conservatively rated at 450HP and we think that’s great. Porsche’s flat 6 is 3.8L and 400HP for the Carrera S.
With all that said, maybe we need to wait and see how the new Corvette sells in Europe and also see what critiques their auto publications offer. Since GM is intent on marketing Chevrolet as a global brand, we may need to withhold judgment on this topic until we see if GM’s new product offensive is improving the European perception on what American cars are made of. Cadillac sales will be a key indicator of the ability for Corvette to succeed abroad.
Can someone recommend Garters and Garter Belts? Thanks x