Is The RISK Worth The REWARD? Could The All-new C8 Corvette Actually Wind Up KILLING The Nameplate?

Kill the nameplate? Lol. Not at all.

In addition to being the best 'vette ever by far, the C8 is going to create interest beyond the base of fat dudes going through a mid life crisis.

Big win for GM.

Agree 100%

Risky? Yes. Exciting? Hellz yeah! Totally worth weak C7 sales.

You gotta invest generously to get the right type of product that is supposed to properly compete with existing legends. Audi has had the R8 on the streets since 07'/08' & that version is still mean-looking & costs well under $100k pre-owned.

@dumpsty so you're saying that the C8 strategy is to have them be affordable on the used market? Wouldn't they have to sell them first? Where are the people with deposits? PS don't trot out the name of a dealer who will let you say you have a deposit on a C8 for $150.

If it's so sought after where are the people putting down deposits? This is exactly what GM should not have done.

@MD-exactly. No deposits - No interest - Acura NSX sales level..

I tell you, making Corvette a BRAND is the trick:

Stingray / base
Zora / up-level
Mako / rwd/awd "Macan"

Call Kerbeck in Atlantic City if you want a true reading of C8 demand.

@MD I have always been onboard with that idea. SUV, sedan, small suv, Base, Stingray, Zora. All good from where I sit. Sure they will use repurposed GM platforms but with styling tweaks and a big V8, all will be right in the end. They could even be priced above Cadillac and have interiors on par with what we have seen from the C8.

The interest in the C8 Corvette among California dealers borders on sheer "meh".

Thanks for the 'shout out' 00R. Its a customer misstep AND a product planning misstep.

Its unclear if the existing Corvette customer base (generally 60 year old white males) really wants a mid-engine Corvette (that the Chevy engineers have wanted a mid-engine Corvette has been obvious since about 1990, but that is not why a vehicle should be green-lighted for production), its unclear if the existence of a mid-engine Corvette can actually bring new customers (who want a $60,000 to $100,000 two-seater that may or may not have reliability problems) to the brand.

When was the last time you saw a young NBA or NFL player driving a Corvette. Never? Yup!

Here's my original comment...

"Chevy is going to find that this segment is dying. Once the initial flurry of pre-orders for the C8 is filled, sales for the C8 will dry up too.

Their is a risk that dumping development money into a mid-engined Corvette will end up killing the Corvette all together. I will be the first person to say that, and 2 years from now when there is a 10 month supply of mid-engined Corvettes on the Chevy lots and Autospies is doing same post, except it will read...

"AWESOME or AWFUL? GM Is Having Significant DIFFICULTY Moving C8 Corvettes, It's A Buyer's Market"

The segment is dead or dying.

Related - yes the new Supra sucks but 10 years ago there would have been human beings with a pulse and a checkbook to take them off the dealer lots, but that buyer no longer exists. The Supra will have a lifespan of about 3 years before its canned."

You ignore one fact you mentioned. The average Vette customer is a 60+ white male perhaps buying their last car. If they continue down this path they will need to have a seance for market info.
Making it a sub-brand will provide more flexibility. Perhaps amortize the development cost further by producing a Cadillac version.

IT will be at least a couple of years before the initial "flury" and the expected various special editions of the C8 lose momentum.

Lets See if Chevy pulls an FCA/Tesla - and either limits production (THey can only make so many of them anyway.) - and produces constant streams of special editions - we'll know it is ending when they produce the Dinah Shore editions.

C8 will only sell if it's got 911's performance or Supra/Z4 price
If not, dead as NSX