With last week’s reveal of the Final Edition C7 Corvette for the European market, Car and Driver offered up their opinion on one of the most asked questions about the C8: Will Chevy produced the front engine C7 alongside the mid-engine C8?
The question has been ever-present since the first sighting of the mid-engine Corvettes and while we initially believed that C7s and C8s were going to be manufactured together, our opinion changed sometime last summer with it looking more and more like the C8 would be offered exclusively with the C7s retired after the 2019 model year.
But the truth of the matter is we just don’t know yet.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have an opinion. Our take is that if the C8 Corvette is affordable and has the storage space needed to make it a daily driver (and we hear that it is), then there is no reason to continue to produce the C7 alongside it. Remember that Tadge Juechter once said the C7 makes the C6 obsolete? What’s the C8 going to do to the C7? Higher performance versions will come, just as they did in previous generations, and Chevy gets repeat customers who move up to the next model as they have always done.
I also like to point to the fact that Chevrolet is currently producing as many C7s as it can, despite lower sales, a higher MSRP, and no sign of factory incentives anywhere to move the estimated 8,000 Corvettes on the ground at this time. You could almost say that Chevy doesn’t have to build the C7 and C8 concurrently with that kind of inventory already available.
Car and Driver did put a nice twist with their take, suggesting that only the higher-end C7 models like the Z06 and ZR1s will be built alongside the C8s:
We have it on good authority that there will be some overlap between production of the C7 and C8 Corvettes for the first year or two of the mid-engined C8 car’s run, with the high-performance Z06 and ZR1 C7 models continuing on as Chevrolet builds out the C8 lineup beyond the base car, which will launch first.
It does make sense for Chevrolet to get as much production out of the high-performance models like the ZR1 which can retail for $140,000 or more. Chevy listed a total of 1,940 ZR1s sold and/or ordered as of January 2nd and it was estimated early on that the ZR1 would run have a production run somewhere around 2,500 or so. If the C8 is delayed as rumored, run as many ZR1s as you have sales for and we might also suggest some additional 7-speed manual Grand Sports and Z06s as well.
Because once the C8 hits the market we’re going all in on the new car. The radically new Corvette will cause such a stir in that the base model will be the one to have, just like the C7 Stingray was the hot car in late 2013 and throughout 2014.
Source:
Car and Driver
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I agree, it would be foolish for GM to produce more C7’s concurrently with the C8, if the entry level C8 is affordable. Would potential buyers have wanted a C6 in the summer of 2013 when waiting lists for the C7 were full and some dealers were charging 10% over MSRP? I was one of those on Coughlin’s list in spite of giveaway sales on the C6. Dealer’s lots are overflowing with C7’s now, an indication that Chevy wants(I doubt if successful) to push as many out the door as possible before the changeover to the C8.
I agree with Kenneth, they can’t sell the ‘17’s and ‘18’s on the lot now even with 10-15% off. ZR1 is going to flop soon, the guys who really wanted them either already have them and paid over MSRP or guys who got sick of waiting on the Carbon Fiber pieces are now holding out for the C8. Now I bet GM does want to keep selling the C7’s to squeeze any profits left to use towards C8 tooling / production but long term that will only hurt the re-sale value of C7’s.
Ferrari has continued making front engine cars alongside its racier mid-engine models. This is because mid engine cars with their smaller size and resulting lack of luggage space cannot ever be classified as grand tourers, a type of car which appeals especially to older, much wealthier buyers who very much desire roomy interiors. These very expensive V12 front engine models are huge profit generators for Ferrari.
The current C7 is classified as a grand tourer with plenty of luggage space.and will continue to be made alongside the new mid-engine model. Count on it. I also predict the newer versions of the C7 will also have child size rear seats like Aston Martins to make them more practical.
The new mid engine model will be well over $100K to differentiate it from the front engine C7 models.
“Our take is that if the C8 Corvette is affordable and has the storage space needed to make it a daily driver (and we hear that it is), then there is no reason to continue to produce the C7 alongside it.” Sorry, but what kind of interpretation is that? Is it just all about the storage space? Not at all. Between C7 and C8 are two different philosophies behind. Personally, I will always prefer a front-engine sportscar and I’m not the only one with that opinion (BMW M-Series, Mercedes AMG) but let’s now wait for the C8 and after reveil we can judge. By the way: It’s physically not possible to get the same storage place in a mid-engine-car as in a front-engine. And my guess is still too, that the mid-engine base Corvette will be much more expensive than the Stingray as the technics behind is just much more complex. So would be clever to produce both generations for 1-2 years parallelly.
The tooling is done and installed at the Corvette Plant. They are running a few C8’s but are having problems both mechanical and electrical. So technically they are running both at the same time but it’s not in the plans to run a 2019 with a 2020. It will switch over one of these days when they can figure the bugs out on the frame assembly and electronics issues.
What about people who want a true convertible as opposed to a removable roof panel? The C8 will never be a true convertible. Probably not a reason for GM to sell C7s and C8s together, but maybe a reason Corvette will sell fewer cars.
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