The Corvette’s New Kind of Owner is Exactly What Chevrolet Needed

16
15443

The Corvette's New Kind of Owner is Exactly What Chevrolet Needed

Photo Credit: Chevrolet.com


With the arrival of the mid-engine C8 Corvette, Chevrolet has been able to accomplish what some may have thought was unobtainable in the past – a new kind of Corvette owner that’s younger, wealthier, and more diverse than the buyers of previous generations.

Not that anything was wrong with the previous owners, other than the fact that they were aging themselves out of the Corvette, and without an ample market to replace them, where would the car be today?

Luckily, Chevrolet’s gambit with the C8 Corvette has proven to be a success as recently confirmed by Chevrolet Marketing’s Tony Johnson who was on hand at the Belle Isle reveal fo the 2022 Corvette IMSA GTLM Championship Edition.

Our friends from MuscleCarsandTrucks.com were also at the reveal and they bring us the following from the discussion:

“It’s definitely grown in a lot of perfect ways,” said Johnson in an interview with MC&T. “Higher household income, a younger buyer believe it or not, and a more diverse buyer. So we’ve expanded out to new markets that previous generations maybe hadn’t touched. I think the mid-engine nature and the premium interior have really positioned this as like a real supercar, not just an exotic supercar, and I think that’s what’s really leading to a lot of that. Something we’re really excited about is getting a hold of these new customers and introducing them to not just Corvette but Chevrolet as a whole.”

The Corvette has always punched above its weight class when it comes to matching performance with the likes of Porsche, BMW, and Ferrari at a much lower cost. And while that may have been okay for bragging rights, unless you are converting the owners of those cars into customers, it’s just bragging.

That’s been another area of success for the C8 Corvette is its ability to woo those foreign sport car customers into buying their first Chevrolets.

“We’re seeing a lot of trade-ins coming in from Porsche, Ferrari, and some of the other exotic supercar makers, which again, I think this vehicle is primed to go after with its mid-engine layout and that premium interior,” said Johnson.

The mid-engine Corvette Stingray has clearly been a game-changer for Chevrolet. For all the awards and accolades the car has generated since it was first revealed nearly two years ago in California, these statements from Chevrolet’s Tony Johnson provide a deeper understanding of exactly how much of a grand slam home run the C8 Corvette has turned out to be.


Source:
musclecarsandtrucks.com

Related:
Chevrolet Seeing Twice As Many Gen X Buyers With The New C8 Corvette
GM Vice President Steve Hill Says C8 Buyers are Wealthier than C7 Customers
GM Vice President Steve Hill Says Most C8 Corvette Buyers Are New to the Chevy Brand

 



-

16 COMMENTS

  1. Attracting a younger, wealthier and more diverse audience can also be detrimental to the Corvette lifestyle that has successfully supported the brand for the past sixty-six years. This buying group is not interested in being part of that lifestyle. I personally have owned seven Corvettes and I, like so many of my Corvette family of friends have absolutely no interest in buying a C8. I could very easily afford one, but I’m just not interested. The C8 has been around for two years now. With COVID-19 behind us, let’s see how many of the younger more diverse owners make the annual pilgrimage to Carlisle this year?

  2. I think you nailed it. Yes, I’ll be placing a C8 in my garage before years end; I’m in that under 45 age demographic, but I just don’t see myself ever doing Carlisle, even if my schedule allowed it.

  3. John Wolfe — I agree that many of this new buying group are likely to be more interested in being trendy than in becoming long term members of the Corvette family, but I would be very interested to hear why, having owned 7 other Corvettes, you have absolutely no interest in buying a C8. What is it about the C8 that made you decide not to make one your 8th Corvette? Is the lack of a manual transmission a big part of it?

    Personally, I grew up lusting after C2 and chrome bumper C3 Corvettes, and finally bought myself a C2 roadster. Over the 30 years that I have owned the C2, the C8 is the first new Corvette that has piqued my interest.

  4. GM needs to address the backlog of C8 orders to their loyal customers, of all ages, with pending orders. This article makes me think if I want a C8 just order one, or pick up one off the lot, not that easy, just ask someone who’s been waiting for months. The pandemic, shortages, etc. have hampered the industry but with new orders not being taken since March 25th, GM should reach out to us instead of leaving us hanging.

  5. I’ve owned a bunch of Corvettes: C1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and now the C8. I’m happy that Corvette is attracting a more diverse group for GM but also because it benefits the Corvette community. It’s hard for me to imagine any Corvette fan not being interested in the C8, a truly incredible car.

  6. Wait till Porsche produces an equivalent competitor to the C8, in terms of performance as well as cost. The younger crowd will jump at the chance to dump the USA bred lunker Corvette for the stylish German machine, if for no other reason than to really impress their neighbors. Not saying GM owes us old guys anything who’ve owned multiple Corvettes through the years, but they would be fools to turn their back on “the girl they brought to the dance”.

  7. 6 to 12 month wait for a C8, should I trade up to a Trax or Silverado or ugly dash Camaro…will shop the full line Porsche , BMW, MB, used I can afford noe

  8. Talking as a 32-year-old who has held onto his ’81 C3 for the last 14 years through thick and thin, I have the following message for John Wolfe and the likes thereof:

    “The Corvette Lifestyle” you speak of is the exact reason I have minimal interest in ever buying a new Corvette. I have zero interest in going to Carlisle to listen to a bunch of has-beens wax lyrical for “the good ol’ days”. I don’t care about looking back at what was, I care about looking forward to how we can make stuff better. What I am interested in is how capable the car is on the track with me behind the wheel and if GM has designed a car with an interior worthy of an $80k price tag that I can use as my daily driver. I am also interested in the “E-Ray” and seeing how modern a hybrid drivetrain laid out for performance can improve lap times or save fuel on my daily commute, but my biggest fear in buying an E-Ray would be the constant annoyance of having an old-timer pull up at a fuel station next to me and provide unsolicited rhetoric on how much better their C5 is because the C8 is too complicated and back in their day etc., etc.

    I’m finally at the position in life where I could walk into a Chevy dealership and order a brand new, well-optioned, Corvette…. but at the end of the day, I’m going to find myself in an M4 because of people like you who have ruined the Corvette brand for people like me.

    So with that said, I have to ask: Are you saying you’d rather take the Corvette brand into the grave with you sooner than later rather than have it evolve and live on?

  9. “The Corvette’s New Kind of Owner is Exactly What Chevrolet Needed.”

    What, the kind that Barra wants to screw over because of some nebulous supplier issue???

  10. GM has no choice, they have to sway a younger market in order for the survival of the brand. Face it the older buyers aren’t going live forever????

  11. About time…we quit our Corvette club because we got tired of hearing a bunch of elderly people arguing about a $6 increase in dues. Average age had to be above 65 and nobody under 40.

  12. I am in california, been on wait list at two dealers since august 2019. I may get one this year from a dealer in Atlanta. It’s terrible how the customers are treated. Dealers and I both are in the dark, when will I get my car?? Also many dealers are charging above MSRP, the dealers that don’t have longer lines, like two years.

  13. Just about to pick up my 2021 C8 at the National Corvette Museum in 2 weeks.

    Interesting story here, about the “younger, wealthier’, more diverse, and foreign” buyers nowadays.

    Unfortunately, that appears to be just your speculation, as you offer absolutely no stats to support any of those claims!

    Which makes one wonder: Just what was the whole point of your story other than to sell advertising and earn money for yourself? It certainly did not serve any reader education purpose.

  14. I’m one of those older guys who now owns a C8. I traded my 93 Vert (owned for 14 years) for a 2020 3LT. I ordered the car 1 day after the reveal in 2019 and took possession Sept. 2020. We just got back from a 6,000 mile road trip and now have a little under 10,000 miles. This car attracted attention everywhere we went. I have driven many cars in my lifetime but nothing like this one. Top trim (minus the Z option) upgraded wheels, front lift, performance exhaust, MSRP a little over 76k.
    And over the last 6k miles an average 26.2 mpg.
    BTW you just can’t go to a Chevy dealer and order one because they are not taking orders.

Comments are closed.