Corvette C7 Program Reported To Not Spawn New Cadillac XLR
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The late Cadillac XLR was fatter, slower, and slushier than the Corvette it was based on. That said, we believe there is still room in the Cadillac family for a rival to the great Mercedes-Benz SL-Class. That also being said, don’t expect a new take on the XLR to come from the C7 Corvette program.
Based on what 2014 Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter said in an interview with Fox News, GM has “no intent” on spawning a Corvette-based XLR, as the 2014 Corvette Stingray (and all that implies) is built more for the Corvette buyer, and not so much the Cadillac buyer, even though the interior is fantastic.
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This doesn’t mean a 2 seat cadillac roadster is dead. There have been rumors of an alpha based roadster. Cadillac is said to receive no less then 4 alpha based vehicles.
ATS, ATS coupe, CTS, …
It’s possible, but I wouldn’t put money on th 4th Alpha being a 2 seat roadster. An ATS 2+2 convertible would be more likely and could be built on the same assembly line.
No word about the SRX and Alpha or a Mk2 Theta-Premium.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future I see a mule of a corvette with blinged out 20+inch wheels
No GM learned from the last time this was a mistake for both brands.
GM will do a small BMW like roadster at some point. I would not expect it for a few years as they have other more important things to do first like expand the ATS, CTS and Intro The LTS Elmirage line. We should see a 4 seat convertible there too.
Wouldn’t the xlr take away from lts?
Not so much as one is a 4 seater and the other is a 4-5 seater.
Two different cars two different segments. If anything the LTS would hurt the similar priced two seater as more people can live with more seats not less.
A lower priced front engine roadster would with a TTv6 would not compete had to head with the corvette. It would be BMW like and more of a Touring roadster vs. all out sports car.
GM is best suited to make each car their own targeted at different buyers. Few driving the small BMW sports car are shopping Corvettes and like wise. Both are limited segments and limited buyers.
A LTS and ATS open coupe would do much better as it has more of a possible buyer segment.
The Corvette is to its own and has its own following. It is the people they need to pick up that is important with the new cars. The Vette has sold 30,000 cars one year and as little as 11,000 in other years. They need to keep volume up and grow the brand with the C7.
The C5 almost never happened. In the new Motor Trend Classic it has an interview with Jim Perkins and how he was brought back to GM to save the Corvette. I had heard this before but not in print. We came very close to losing the car then. Even Dave McClelland points out in his book the Vette is never slam dunk on approval at business case time.
As Tadge has already displayed steward ship of the Corvette is very important as things are now always as they seam. when he said they are looking to double the Vettes production with the C7 he means it as they need the added sales if there is to be a C8.
The XLR was a way to leverage the Vette platform out to help keep the plant going when they were short money. While a hail mary at best it just did not work out as well as they had hoped. The two cars were too similar and the Vette was much cheaper. This is where two different roadsters would do much better.
GM could not afford to do this with the last car. They did well with what they had but it was not enough. Today they can afford to do it right and we will see a difference.
I was never a huge fan of the XLR so I’m happy about this. For the past year or two though I’ve been thinking how a four door version of the Corvette would be kinda cool. Like an affordable competitor to the Aston Martin Rapide or Masseratti Quattroporte. I’d love to see that! HECK! I’d buy it!
I like the idea but not on a Corvette. You would be better adapting a Alpha or creating a new platform for that. The Corvette was never designed to be that long or 2+2.
Some guy used to streach them back in 1978 and as you can see since few if any are still around they just never took off. Add looking thing with 4 t tops. The flex had to be horrible.
Using alpha is the best idea, is there any other use for the y platform that the corvette is built on
Not really as it is pretty specifically designed for one use and one use only.
Flexibility is built into platforms like the Alpha that make it easy to do may things with it with out compromising any one use to where it would be an issue.
The Corvette is pretty much like a Hammer. You can put a heavier end on it in more power and you can tape the handle for more grip in better suspensions but you are never going to make a Screw driver out of it.
The hard points are the one factor that limits a platform. The Alpha has hard points that they have made that can make it flexible in doors, size,suspensions and engines. Even AWD RWD.
Even the geometry can be carried over to the Omega and help prepare that platform.
The Y-body is something that I feel might be keeping the Corvette back. All of it’s hardpoints date back to 1984 and the platform itself isn’t very flexible. It’s also the oldest car platform in GM stable and the last ‘letter-body’ platform; even outliving the ‘W’.
Sure, each new generation of Corvette can modify the platform a little bit, but the platform itself isn’t doing anything spectacular to make the Corvette stand out; it’s powertrains do that. And while other sports cars can boast about a lighter and more resistant structure, GM has to make do with a 30 year old frame. It’s has paid for itself, but it only serves one car and nothing else
What I’m suggesting is that GM starts work on a Y-body replacement; a new Greek-letter platform that’s flexible enough to underpin a wide range of cars with different power and drivetrains. Instead of getting an XLR that was given no year-to-year upgrades and nothing to differentiate it from the Corvette, the XLR can be developed separately from the Corvette’s engineering team, and with no trouble given from a dated platform with fixed hardpoints suited to serve the Corvette and not for an XLR.
I’m no GM engineer or anything but I’m guessing that this 30 year old “Y” platform is one of the reasons that the Corvette is light but more importantly affordable. I’m sure when GM has developed each next gen Vette that this topic has been brought up. If GM puts the C8 on a totally new platform, the price of the Vette will go up. Maybe a lot. However, if the next C8 is built on a platform that’s more flexible, on a platform where you can build a 2 door, a 4 door and maybe something else, then maybe the cost would come back down. Obviously people will buy the 2 door but I guess the question then becomes, will enough people buy the 4 door and possibly another model, to warrant the building of a new platform for the Vette. Thanks for the input guys:)
Would the corvette go down in price if they built a new platform with 3 or 4 models plus the corvette off of it?
Hypothetically, yes. The variants spun off from a new platform would offset engineering costs via platform volume sales and allow the Corvette to be sold at a lower price if GM saw fit to do so.
On the other hand, GM could keep the Corvette at or higher than where it is now, and have a SWB version of the new platform underpin a smaller, lighter, RWD sports car (like the Kappa platform was for the Solstice/Sky models).
I would think that such a Y-body replacement platform would necessitate a smaller sports car and 4-door variants. Let the Corvette have a LWB 2 door version, and Cadillac could have a SWB 2 door (SLK, TT, or Z4) and a LWB 4-door (A7, CLS).
It’s possible, but any new platform needs to earn it’s keep. Kappa didn’t as it was a one use platform, and it’ll never come back.
There has been talk of the Alpha supplying the next gen. Not sure how much of this is true but it has been brought up.
It would be logical for GM to use a platform that is light to do something like this. But with that being said the price of the car would not drop. the Corvette is cheap already for what you get. This is not a Miata fighter this is a car that is gunning for bigger game and that game is even much more expensive.
The last thing GM needs to do is a 924 version of the Corvette. That car nearly killed the Porsche image as did the 944.
One walks a thin line when they make a car more affordable that it shows up in every trailer park rec haul in the country. Right now they are at a good price point vs. the others and have not damaged the reputation.
now if you want to say you want to make the marginally profitable car more profitable then I am all for it. Saving cost on a shared platform could help secure the future of the car even more with a solid profit per unit and not jacking the price any higher.
Keep in mind the average 4 cylinder sedan can hit the market price of $35000 easy.
Also the future CAFE may limits sales of V8 models so more profit per unit may help here. Even the Camaro V8 will rise in cost from where it is.
I was at Bowling Green doing the plant tour one time and they took us over to the area where they assembled and tested the retractable hardtops for the XLR. The place was empty and quiet. One person asked “Where are the employees/workers”? The guide answered, they’ve completed their 5 units for the day and gone home. I knew right then the XLR was doomed and never going to make it.
I think if the XLR would have “caught on”, it would also been a big help to the Corvette. Why? The XLR would have taken some of the older 60+ something crowd away from Corvette. The reality of today is regardless of the performance and world class capability of the cars, many see the Corvette as baby boomer/retiree guy cruiser mobile. In some places this crowd has taken over the hobby? That’s OK, but it’s not for me.
So your not interested in the corvette cuz a bunch of old guys buy them!
Who do you expect to buy 50k 60k cars? 20 year old kids? 30 year old guys with a wife and two kids?
So you discard possibly the best sports car on the planet cuz you don’t have the self esteem and back bone to stand next to a old guy at a car show in the corvette section!
What a complete joke you are!
Been there, had 2 corvettes, been in 3 different corvette clubs, even been president of the club. Few people around have the passion for the car that I’ve had and still do have. I would like to have another Corvette, probably will have another one in the future? But when I get another one, I won’t be in a “club”. Many of these clubs have evolved into social clubs for the retiree set. Again, nothing wrong with that, just gets boring if you ask me.
The entire auto hobby has gotten older not just the Vette.
So many people today can not afford these cars. At one time I had a 70 Monte Carlo, 68 SS Chevelle and a GMC Sprint SP Big Block. All were very clean and the SS and SP today in this condition would be $30K. I paid $2000 $2000 and $2500 for each in the 80’s.
Add to the fact kids today are not car crazy. Some of it is the electronics, Some the cost of collector cars and in many cases the rejection by the older collectors and cruisers. While the 70 something’s are reliving the 50’s every weekend they exclude the kids because they have a Camaro from the 80’s God forbid.
I do see Chevy making more of a play at the younger buyers as there are people in their 30’s and 40’s that can buy the new car. Also I see more track events being addressed by them as the Porsche clubs do.
If the car hobby is to last we all need to get kids today into cars and forget about their I phones and PS4.
“While the 70 something’s are reliving the 50′s every weekend they exclude the kids because they have a Camaro from the 80′s God forbid.”
And that is f-ing shame. Shunning the young who have limited means because they weren’t there during the 50’s.
I could ask 20-something if he’d rather a new Camaro and the associated image of an older fan base that will reject you for not having a car old enough,…
…or a used 3 series that has been habitually popular with his age bracket and that will nobody from within the cars fan base or from the general public would reject him because his car is 7 years old.
I came from a time before it was required you had a DJ and an Elvis impersonator.
We met at a A&W then we would gather in a plaza where we all would just check out the cars no matter if it were a new Vette. to a vintage race car on the street to a Import that that has major enhancements.
We were all gear heads and way too often it lead to racing. Some cases it was in areas where it was safe and other were it was not all too smart by some. They are the ones we tried to run off as they created issues for those of us that were careful when and where. We tried to self police but too often it takes one idiot.
The bottom line was we did not care how old the car was or how pretty. We drove them as intended. We ran slicks on the street and many of us could pull a left front tire at launch. I won more races that never happened when I did that. The funny part was some of them were faster but my cars weight transfer made for a good intimidation factor.
I just find it sad those who are growing older are the same ones that at helping to kill the hobby by their snobbery.
It is no different than the people who are so die hard GM, Ford or Dodge. I am a GM fan but I appreciate all makes and models.
For the car hobby to survive we need to be a more inclusive group and accept new and different thing. You don’t have to like it all but be accepting.
The same applies to things like the new cars like the C7 and coming Mustang. If they do not change with new things they will in time fade away and those who love them the most are going to be the ones who kill them because they get all worked up that the car is smaller or has square tail lights vs. round.
We all can not continue to live in the past and expect to have a future.
With the way many of these cruise ins are the average person there is now almost 70 years old. Another 10 years most of them will be gone and many of them will never be replaced as they have not been inviting to the younger set to come in.
I do have a word for the Young too. Be accepting and don’t be stupid too as in some cases there are still idiots in the crowd like we had in my time. Life is not really fast and furious so consider if you want to be accepted it take both sides to meet.
I am in the middle ground here as I am not in the younger or older group and just shake my head as I see the hobby I loved change to one that is dying off.
Sorry it is a pet peeve of mine and I have to vent.
What’s the pet peeve you have
Not sure why GM doesnt take the chance to push this platform to its limit. Push the corvette into the 110k range (new zr1). Then make the xlr a true super car at 200k in the range of Mercedes SL65AMG & SLS snd entry level Ferrari & Lambo. The extra cost would allow for new high cost materials & parts to be used that could eventually make their wy down to the vette.