[VIDEO] Peter DeLorenzo: How Not To Launch the 2014 C7 Corvette

By now, you’ve probably seen the leaked drawings showing the rear end of what appears to be the next-generation Corvette. You’ve probably watched the video mistakenly released by the company that will make the front bumper of the C7. And you no doubt laid eyes on the much-discussed rendering of the 2014 Corvette that was posted on Jalopnik months ago.

But even if you had not scoured the Internet looking for any scraps about the highly anticipated C7, you could already know for sure what kind of engine the new vehicle will sport when it hits the road months from now and have some idea of what the instrumentation will look like, straight from the mouth of Chevrolet months before the official unveiling on Jan. 13.

Peter De Lorenzo, the Autoextremist on Autoline.com (which is dedicated to reporting on, discussing and dissecting the inner workings of the auto industry and the products that it makes), says releasing such information is exactly the wrong thing for Chevy to be doing.

“Do you really need to beat the anticipatory drums for one of the iconic sports cars in the world?” he asked rhetorically on a segment released on Christmas Day.

“Do you think there’s a chance that a) someone with even a shred of automotive curiosity wouldn’t have heard something about a new Corvette coming, and b) it wouldn’t be instantaneous news across the mediasphere the moment it was unveiled,” De Lorenzo says.

If he were asked to lead the launch of the new Corvette, De Lorenzo says he would allow absolutely no teases of any kind.

“That means no early discussion of its content, no hints at what it will or won’t do, no emblem reveals, no engine specification disclosures, no design reveals in the shadows, no nothing!” he says emphatically.

Remember, De Lorenzo says, “this is the Corvette we’re talking about! It is one of exactly two automotive nameplates in this business – the Ford Mustang being the other – that transcend all consumer groups in this country.”

Just about everyone has a personal story or a remembrance of the Corvette from some point in his or her life, De Lorenzo points out.

He believes that if Chevrolet had kept the lid on the new Corvette, and released zero information of any kind, “the resulting media frenzy would be spectacular, and if the new Corvette lives up to its billing, even moreso.”

De Lorenzo says the enthusiasts now working feverishly on the next-generation Mustang should take a lesson from the way Chevrolet has handled the release of the C7.

“Pay attention to how Chevrolet is setting the table for the new Corvette,” he says to the guys at Dearborn, “and use it as a roadmap on how NOT to do it.”

Remember, he says, “creating excitement does not mean controlling every last shred of information, it means letting people’s imaginations and emotional connections run wild with anticipation.”

Source:
Autoline.com

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