The rumors have swirled for several years that General Motors was going to spin off Corvette into a separate high-performance brand of its own, with two-seaters, sedans, SUVs and the like.
But don’t get too excited about that scenario, at least based on a recent series of off-the-cuff comments from GM President Mark Reuss during a visit to Jay Leno’s Garage to talk about the upcoming 2025 ZR1.
“You just start talking when you meet Corvette people,” Leno says, standing at the back of a Competition Yellow ZR1 split-window coupe. “It really has become its own separate brand now, isn’t it?”
Reuss starts to agree, saying, “It really is.”
But then the veteran GM leader quickly continues, “We’d never I don’t think take it out of Chevrolet because the core of Chevrolet is offering more than they thought for the money…”
“Right,” Leno says.
“…and doing it with fantastic design and performance,” Reuss adds. “That’s what Corvette is.”
“That’s what I like,” Leno says. “I like that you don’t change the name because you made a more high-end product. If the name is good enough, the name is good enough. Exactly, exactly.”
“We don’t need to go out and do other things,” Reuss concludes.
“It’s just amazing, just amazing,” Leno says, before changing the subject and asking to see the 1,064-horsepower LT7 engine resting under the hood of the ZR1.
Rumors have been going around for years that Chevy is going to produce a Corvette SUV, similar to the way other competitors have at Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari, but based on Reuss’ comments, that seems to be just talk on the internet.
On the other hand, GM has long made it a point not to talk about future products, until it was good and ready to do so. You didn’t really expect Reuss to break that sacred vow now, did you?
We have the YouTube video queued up to that part of the specific conversation. If that doesn’t work for you, click this link to watch it on YouTube.
Source:
reddit.com via Road & Track
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If the Corvette was to ever become its own exclusive brand I’m sure the prices of the various Corvettes would go up even more. For decades as long as you had just a half ass decent paying job and good credit the Corvette was the attainable American dream sports car for the middle class working man. Unfortunately starting with the C8 that is no longer the case.
The best argument to make Corvette its own brand is Chevrolet Service. The Corvette is a special vehicle, but Service is its weakness. At the current pricing of “Americas Sports Car”,servicing it should be much better than it currently is. Many dealers, and I speak from experience, should not be allowed to sell or service Corvettes. GM should at minimum, limit the dealers who are allowed to sell and service Corvette.
If Corvette left the Chevy brand will fade away. Toyota will eat their lunch.
The Corvette SUV vs the Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini SUV product is a non starter.
Corvette is a model name within a brand, the others ARE the brand.
My opinion, just that, also is the exclusivity or snob appeal of the SUV by those other marqes.
When you need to make a ‘statement’, ‘announce ‘ your arrival, Corvette or not is a Chevrolet.
Interesting that the more Corvettes that have been built/sold, the more expensive instead of less expensive each model has become – beyond the effects of inflation, that is. A new $5,000 C2 would cost $49,000 as a new C8. I figure production/logistics efficiencies offset the expense of improved technology. All vehicles in this category seem to be experiencing this, as we hope for bigger paychecks.
Base price for the C8 Stingray is $70,000. Has much better technology than the old days and technology costs money. C3s and C4s are attainable if on a budget.
Hey Everybody –
The 8th Generation Corvette has several Major Built-in Defects requiring high and higher future MSRP Amounts:
1. The UAW required General Motors Retired Union Members yearly pension (The average UAW pension is $1,590 a month/$19,080 yearly for an auto worker with 30 years of service. It’s important to note that companies with union workers tend to eliminate the higher salaries from the high seniority workers as they retire and then replace those salaries with much lower-tiered salary levels. Oct 26, 2023) OR (And to be clear, every single member who is eligible to retire will have the opportunity to receive the $50,000 SAP during the life of this contract, skilled trades and production.)
2. The General Motors High Level of Management Annual Salaries and Stock Options (Ms. Mary Barra earns $27,800,000 on 2023 – General Motors awarded CEO Mary Barra compensation worth $27.8 million in 2023, 3.9 percent less than she got the previous year as the automaker’s stock price and other long-term metrics fell short of targets. Apr 24, 2024)
3. The Annual General Motors Lost Investments in other corporations that have nothing ro do with Chevrolet (General Motors incurred around 9.9 billion U.S. dollars in R&D costs in 2023. Part of these expenses related to vehicle and greenhouse gas emissions control, improved fuel economy, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and driver safety.)
4. Huge, grossly advancing Yearly Net Profits (Did GM make a profit in 2023?
GM reported full-year 2023 revenue of $171.8 billion , net income attributable to stockholders of $10.1 billion and EBIT-adjusted of $12.4 billion .Jan 30, 2024)
UPDATE 10/15/23: A Chevrolet spokesperson confirmed to Car and Driver that the 2024 Corvette’s price hikes became effective earlier this month. As for the reason behind the increase, they said, “Chevrolet monitors and adjusts pricing on all our products regularly, and we’re confident the Corvette remains a winning formula of performance and attainability.”
Each new Corvette assembled in Bowling Green by Chevrolet has about $82,000 necessary for 5 years of ownership including costs for Depreciation, Insurance Premiums, Maintenance and Repairs, Loan Interest, Fuel Costs.
So, the cost of a new Corvette will keep getting more unaffordable for the majority of Americans due to these Built-in Defects requiring more money that Chevrolet and General Motors needs to survive in 2024!
But the older Corvettes can be restored and provide almost as much fun for less cash.
Thanks for listening.
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