Chevrolet is set to unveil the C8 Corvette on July 18th, which could explain why the current C7 Corvette isn’t selling as well as it was in the past. General Motors currently has a 137-day Corvette supply across the U.S., which translates to 9,055 units of the sports car at dealerships waiting to find homes. It’s worth noting that Corvette supply in January stood at at 232-days.
Enthusiasts eager to buy a new Corvette are likely for the eighth-generation car, unofficially known as the mid-engine Corvette that been an on-again, off-again affair since the car’s inception in 1953.
The high level of Corvette inventory make sense when looking at U.S. Corvette sales. During the first quarter of 2019, Corvette sales fell 11 percent to 3,943 units compared to 4,457 in the first quarter of 2018. Overall Corvette sales have been on a steady decline since the introduction of the Corvette C7 for the 2014 model year, a circumstance that is explained by high initial demand for the C7 during the first year of its launch, followed by a gradual drop-off thereafter. In 2018, Chevy sold 18,781 Corvettes compared to 25,079 in 2017, 29,995 in 2016 and 33,329 in 2015.
Before GM announced the reveal date for the Corvette C8, there were rumors that the Detroit-based automaker could produce both the C7 Corvette and C8 simultaneously. However, that will not be the case, as GM has confirmed that C7 Corvette production will end this summer.
That means that those looking to get what could be the last front-engine Corvette should probably buy one now. An April Chevrolet incentive takes $3,000 off the Corvette C7, but the deal is only good for current Corvette owners.
If you’ve wanted a Corvette and don’t really care about the fancy new mid-engine version coming down the pike, then now might be a good time to visit your local Chevrolet dealership and get ’em while they last. But hurry you must not – as production will still take place for the last few months, and are plenty of units on hand.
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Source: Corvette Blogger
Comments
I’m sure the more expensive, C8 will sell better, because the engine placement and stuff!!
Not quite; the C8 will go out of production soon also, unless they are willing to lose money on it as it is a halo car. Building and maintaining that sort of performance car takes big boy pants GM doesn’t fit in to and people in the target market know it. Corvette’s sweet spot has always been bang for the buck, blue collar pricing and a bit lazy engineering, but it worked.
If you want to obsess about Zora in the 1950s for crying out loud, then also remember where the engine was when he beat everyone at Pike’s Peak in 1955.
Lol – what a laughably bad analysis.
Comparing the first five years of C6 and C7 sales tells us a little about the “Corvette” demand. Wonder if the C8 will hit/exceed those numbers and sustain them over a five year period. Numbers from National Corvette Museum Stats.
C6 – 2005 through 2009: 37372, 34021, 40561, 35316,16956
C7 – 2014 through 2018: 37288, 34240, 40689, 32782,9686
The major falloff in C6 sales can be attributed to the economic collapse.
Thanks NPWSBP. Your comment caused me to look further into the C6 sales numbers.
C6 – 2010 through 2013: 12194, 13596, 11647, 13466
I was looking at a five year window of a new model intro and also speculating as to what was happening to the overall demand for new Corvettes and the demographic of current owners.
You can see the impact on sales in 2009 through 2013, which never turned back upwards and ran at less that 50% of prior 5 year sales. Perhaps C6 owners were very pleased with their car and not inspired to trade up, until the C7 was introduced, where sales jumped up to 37288..
Magirus, I have to agree with you. The ‘much’ more expensive C8, is unfortunately, probably the last of the breed.
But it could be just a temporary stepping stone to an AWD EV C9.
“Corvette’s sweet spot has always been bang for the buck, blue collar pricing”
$56K is NOT blue collar pricing. It’s not even bang-for-anyone’s buck.
You’ve been grossly out of touch with the reality of the sports car market for the past 30 years. The C8 doesn’t have to sell better per unit with the C7 if the C8 can pull in 20-30K more than the C7 ever could. That is the only bean-counter metric that matters, and why the Corvette even exists at all.
It’s a puerile fantasy to think that the Corvette is in any way a blue-collar sports car, or was the core demographic of the C7 and the C8. You’re confusing the Corvette with the Camaro (again), and in the case of latter, is where you’ll find you bang-for-the-buck blue-collar pricing.
As for Pikes Peak, past performances are just memories, and are not indicative of future products. Furthermore, get with the friggin times, and you may want to Google what kinds of engine layout cars are setting records on Pikes Peak today.
GRAWDADDY_ The only thing ‘childish’ here, is your need to attack ‘Magirus’ with insulting hyperbole. Have an opinion, but keep classy & civil.
‘Blue collar’ guys & gals likely not being able to afford a new Corvette these days is due to 40+ years of wage stagnation. That is a different subject then ‘bang for the buck’ which the Corvette certainly was, and it probably will still be with the C8.
Regards.
You call that an attack? I didn’t even name Magirus personally. Are you sure you’re not confusing GMA with Twitter?
If your issue is with the Corvette supposedly being a blue-collar reward despite the fact that isn’t within your reach, then that’s has nothing to with Magirus and everything to do with socio-economic standing. For that alone, GM and every other automaker have no problems building and charging for premium and sports cars that are well outside the reach of 95% of the buying population. Your beef is with those who can afford expensive luxuries, not me pointing this out to you or Magirus.
Before I even bother with you, tell me what part that last post could even be construed as an attack, and continue to speak Magirus’s behave to tell me how he was personally offended by my words; none of which I should like to remind you is even remotely personal to anyone.
For your sake (and you can take this one personally all you like if it supports your victim mentality), you better not confuse counter-arguments and criticisms that you get from others as personal attacks, because that is the kind of thinking is what separates the children from the adults.
Try me. Just fecking try me.
I don’t think you will because I don’t think you can find any part of my last post that can be demonstrated as an attack; not for all the hurried and hair-trigger sensitive people you can find on the internet today.
Your post, Grawdaddy, speaks for itself.
“Attack….” Denial of the obvious.
I have no issue with who “those who can afford expensive luxuries” I be one.
And, “get with the times”_ ?
And is your vitriol due to your being priced out of the opportunity to step up and purchase a new Vette. Just unfounded speculation on my part as I have no way of knowing your situation.
“counter arguments” don’t involve “Insulting hyperbole”
“Victim”…? Your shoot from the hip conclusions need better aim.
“Hair triggered sensitivity”… amply demonstrated in your self serving _ delusional(?), last post.
I guess you are what’s called an Internet troll. Those in desperate need to establish their superiority over mere mortals by attacking others in an attempt to chase away their fears of not being worthy. Or maybe you just suffer from ‘The God Complex’. Look it up.
Since your apparently immune to insults, I have to say… you remind me of a ‘Jackass eating thistles’ _ I Doig
Regards
I can just boil away all your counter arguments to nothing, as you haven’t shown the personal attack on Magirus. The majority of your post is fluff.
This part is interesting though:
“And is your vitriol due to your being priced out of the opportunity to step up and purchase a new Vette. Just unfounded speculation on my part as I have no way of knowing your situation.”
Then allow me to help you to better know the situation.
No, I’m not in the market for a Corvette, nor am I interested in owning one presently or in the next 5 years. My finances don’t prevent me, nor am I an insurance risk. I simply haven’t any need for a Corvette given the work I do and what my clients expect of me. I’m indifferent to the past, current or future price of the Corvette…..however….
I believe the Corvette should “get its price”, in that GM SHOULD charge more for their premium and exclusive offerings. That GM cannot allow the Corvette to become a Viper by being cheap and affordable for the masses, and then be allowed to wither on the vine for decades without any major updates because the revenue flow is too weak and the market has become conditioned to paying less.
I point, as I have before, to the Chrysler 300. Yes, it’s affordable. Yes, a thrifty blue-collar worker could get it. Yes, it’s still selling loads…..
…but look who it’s selling to. It’s not aimed at the wealthy, but at those with bad credit. It’s aimed at people who don’t have high expectations career-wise or for anyone who wants the best in technology. It may cost nothing for FCA to make, but the 300 has functionally stagnated for almost 15 years.
It’s not tearing up the full-size segment, as you’ll have buyers who will gladly pay twice the price of a 300 for an S-class. It’s not class-leading in anything, technologically, engineering, materially, mechanically, or otherwise. In that it can sell in droves to rental fleets and low-mid income buyers isn’t impressive anymore.
While obviously not in the same segment, the thrust of the argument means that GM can no longer frame the Corvette as a blue-collar reward if the car cannot sustain itself and update itself every 5 or 7 years. The blue-collar reward is a quaint, albeit outdated, understanding of the totality of the American labour force as understood by boomers, but better understood by economists.
By and large, a guy driving a forklift in a carpet warehouse shouldn’t be looking at the Corvette, and GM shouldn’t be entertaining him with their premium and sports car offerings.
No other automaker is going that way with their premier sports cars, so why should GM cripple their chances with the C8 and immediately go the cheap volume route? Just because many blue-collar workers incorrectly think the Corvette was intended for them?
It’s not an untapped market, it’s a contracted and fiscally limited market of which most buyers cannot afford the asking price without financing, let alone continue to do so every 3 years.
But you can’t say that GM is wrong in wanting to push the C8 upmarket instead of accepting to default to volume sales to sustain the Corvette. The Corvette itself was never a big seller relative to cars like the Mustang and the Camaro, and GM knows this. By pushing the C8 upmarket, this allows the Camaro more breathing room to cover an even greater range of the market.
But more importantly, it allows GM to have the C8 command more money; to ‘get its price’. Only by getting its price will the Corvette continue to evolve and change with the market. The Viper couldn’t do it. The 300 won’t, but the Corvette will. With lower production numbers, GM will sell every single one they make. No more residual-killing rebates and end of MY discounts.
Finally, you can think I’m trolling. You can think I’m on the attack. You can think I suffer from any number of psychological conditions. You can invent whatever you like inside your little head. But what you cannot argue with is the money, and who has the most disposable income to spend, and I can assure you, it’s not with the blue-collar workers of America.
TL;DR:
Want a Corvette? Get into STEM and earn your worth.
Don’t like it? Whine about being attacked.
Still don’t like it? Tough.
Time for General Motors to have a sale.. offer discounts of 15-20 percent like they do with other GM models and hopefully this will help drop inventory.
There are already big($12,000) dealer discounts on some C7’s at Kerbeck and Bomnin Chevrolet.
The only Corvette I want is that C7 first year in Lime Rock Green & Brownstone.
Turn out, I actually have a 2014 C7 in Lime Rock Green and Brownstone (and the illustrious 7-speed manual). Beautiful car that I’m proud to own.
Awesome! What’s the trim level?
3LT. Doesn’t have all the stuff the newer 3LT’s have, but I’m happy with it.
I just sold one, number 19 of 550. to Sam Leman Chevy in Bloomington, Illinois. Had 8004 miles on the clock, excellent condition.
There’s a reason they discontinued those options. Ha
What is it?
Ugliness
Idjut.
Have fun with your green car, tan interior and chrome wheels. Makes the Depends drop.
They’re going to need at least 120 days of inventory. C7 production ends in July and C8 production won’t start until December.
I have always used the data regarding annual production/sales/mode/option data from the National corvette Museum. I see a difference in the numbers used by the author versus those of the National Corvette Museum for the C7 version.
Year Author National Corvette Museum
2014 No listing 37288
2015 33329 34240
2016 29995 40689 (highest since 1984)
2017 25079 32728
2018 18781 9686
HELP??
I can’t even sell John Hennessey’s 1st C7 HPE600 for $10K LESS than Hagerty covers it for!
https://www.bobretzer.com/4sale
I suspect some Corvettes are daily drivers but there are a lot of them that are 2nd and 3rd cars, toys if you will. I know there’s no way I’d DD a Vette in Houston; you’d get killed. Too many trucks, container haulers, cement mixers, semis etc to expect a Corvette to survive. Stone chips (or worse), possible road debris collisions and pot holes can really hurt any low slung sports car.
Plus Corvettes have a hard core constituency; they buy vettes out of passion. The rest of the driving population not so much.
The current Corvette is certainly a world class sports car, the C8 will be even more so. It’s just that there’s only so many wallets that can open for them.
A whole $3000 off? Let me get my shoes on!
It has dropped significantly from a high of a 230 day supply a few months ago. Deals are out there. And no,I didn’t read the article since it isn’t news.
I own a 2016 C7. Like most of them, it’s a low-mileage car. I don’t have any reason to trade it and I don’t have any reason to pay $10k more just to get a different car, especially one with an automatic, sorry, “dual clutch”(ha!) transmission. I have been getting two letters a month on average from local dealers trying to get me to come and buy a car. Never got more than one a year before and this is my third Corvette. So I’ll say it: if GM had gone rear engine in the 1970’s I’d be all over a C8. Now? Not so much. What, in the real world, more, will a car do for me that a 3200 pound car with 460 HP?
I just picked up a 2016 ZO6 for 56k with only 11750 miles on it . Cheers
I have a 2014 Z51 3LT auto, great color combination lime rock green and brownstone with Kalahari top.
I have own 3 generations this is the best.
Why buy a new C7 when it will be obsolete in 6 months? Also:
They depreciate 10,000 per year, so a used C7 makes the case
The C8 if only 5-10k more than the current vette will sell like crazy. Also many people in other countries may want it since it will compete with those 200k to 300k super cars. If GM holds the price and the ride and handling all check the right boxes it will be a big seller. Seems to me they have done there homework on the car as they are making sure its right on the day its sold because of some of delays they have had.
They’re going to need at least 120 days of inventory. C7 production ends in July and C8 production won’t start until December.
Want a Corvette? Get into STEM and earn your worth.
Don’t like it?
It’s a puerile fantasy to think that the Corvette is in any way a blue-collar sports car, or was the core demographic of the C7 and the C8
have been getting two letters a month on average from local dealers trying to get me to come and buy a car.
I just picked up a 2016 ZO6 for 56k with only 11750 miles on it . Cheers
Enjoy! It’s a keeper. Will hold its value more than C4’s _ C5’s, and C6’s.
Why. Because it is the best front engine Corvette ever made.
I think the used C7 is the best option in most of the cases.
In market the value is also good so as the performance.
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