Sir James

If you look hard enough you will find that the Camaro shares a lot of parts with other GM cars allowing for reduced costs across the line. The Corvette, yes shares some parts but for the majority of the car it is not cross bred through that many lines. So now ask yourself why is the Cadilac XLR more than the C6 and you may find your answer. Manufacturing costs are based on pay scales, parts pricing and availability. More available parts reduce overall costs. Mechanized assembly also reduces costs. Quality does not come cheap.

69L79

I agree the C6 is overpriced. If GM had reduced MSRP 3K-5K across the board there would be no unsold '07s, '08s on dealer lots. But, as they say "You have to pay to play". So, I pay. And, pay.

BrooklynC6

While I would STONGLY disagree with the underlined sentence , the rest of the post is exactly what I was looking for - Thanks

That all makes sense !

Also , good answer .

Agreed , nor was I trying to compare the two

johnodrake

There is a category of car enthusiast that would not think the Corvette to be expensive - indeed, they may even opine "Why is the Corvette so cheap" These people may also purchase Ferarris.....

It is all in perspective.

BrooklynC6

The Corvette is cheap - Its a mass produced , budget sportscar .

My question was why is it so expensive as compared to the Camaro , with whom its shares so many major components .

SnoopyCool

The real answer is pretty simple, if you take some time to think about it. It's quality. Quality of components and quality of engineering.

The Camaro is a $30k car where 35% of the value is in the engine and transmission. The rest of it is spent on inferior wheels, tires, interior and suspension. Things like ripples where rear brake ducts should be and the like. It's the essence of what the muscle cars of days past were: Cheap, poorly handling thrill rides. Not knocking it or anything, but they are what they are. Anyone who says it doesn't handle like a boat has either never driven one or has never driven anything but old muscle cars and SUVs.

The Corvette is (roughly) the same 10K in the engine and transmission, plus a considerable amount of money in lighter materials that possess more strength (this is expensive). We have lighter, wider wheels, a suspension that's intended to receive high speed abuse, and brakes that are designed for the same. Functional engine/brake cooling and race quality miscellaneous components also add to the price difference (you say they both have the LS3, but the engine isn't the only thing under the hood). Add in the little things like the HUD and side impact airbags as standard equipment (as of 2010), as well as continued development costs and you have a 45~50k dollar car. Put in all the extra options (of which there are considerably more than the Camaro, but they're over priced) and it can get pretty expensive.

When you buy a car on a budget, you make sacrifices. You can have a car that handles well but has no straight line performance (ala the Miata or similar), OR you can have something with a big engine that carves corners slightly worse than I carve Thanksgiving turkey. When you get into cars that can do both is where you start to pay money in both parts and passed on development costs.


Edit: Aw, man, I totally forgot the FRAME. The Corvette frame is killer beans. I'm not sure if the Camaro uses similar technology for lightness and rigidity, but I really doubt it.

LarryMJones

Sales volume.
LJ

BrooklynC6

Good answer - But is this speculation , or do you know for sure the Camaro uses inferior parts ?

murnutz

While I love my C6 I have to disagree with you on the "most exotic materials of any production car GM makes...Corvette has always been Chevrolet's flag ship car with all the bells and whistles."

Let's see, the steering wheel is used on multiple cars. The interior really has no real design per say; air vents - check, non descript center console with radio, check...I have not seen any real bells and whistles compared to other vehicles, in fact, a Cobalt, HHR and others include a stereo that has a USB port. But our $50K+ does not. Some will argue that the C6 is a sports car and shouldn't have that type of stuff. Rubbish! It would be nice to be able to have real iPOD support on a long distance drive.

Even though there are some minor faults with the C6, my wife and I love to drive ours. If I had the extra money I would go out and buy a new one so we could have a 'his' and 'hers' in the garage.

Just my $.02

jwd

Neither!

SVS ;-)

The Sub would fill the trunk tho...

http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl.cfm

BrooklynC6

I dont think the C6 is overpriced at all , I think its a steal for what you get .

I just want to know WHY it costs what it does .

jschindler

The Camaro is a shared platform with the cars that are based on the Holden Manaro platform such as the Pontiac G8 and other cars sold in other countries. It shares a bunch of development and parts cost amortization with those vehicles.

In addition, the Camaro has a V6 base version that starts at something like $22,000. This allows it to be sold in much higher volume than the Corvette - which also makes a big difference in amortizing the cost of R&D, tooling etc.

And finally........(drum roll please)......because then can!

jwd

Someone at GM did some focus group testing and found out that people would pay more for the Vette, over a similarly equipped Chevy model, like the Camaro...

GM charges what they think/hope the market will bear given that information + cost of materials + labor + (equation for recouping research for aluminum frames, carbon body parts, etc) = C6 price....

In other words, you should be careful, as someone from GM is probably reading this thread and thinking, "Hey, they don't think it's overpriced, let's raise the MSRP $1000!"

;-)

That's my best guess at least...


jwd

torquetube

You're looking at retail pricing as though it's based on a cost-plus formula. It isn't.

JT Metal

Someone said that the Corvette is one of GM's most profitable lines. And about 15-20 thousand people a yr enjoy dumping the cash. If they dropped the price 3-5g I doubt that would change much. Also GM continues to sell at about 8g off sticker as it is. If you want to play you have to pay.........................Joe

BrooklynC6

I know , but it does play a big part .

lander

I don't believe you've postulated your question properly. What specifically would you like someone to provide you in order to satisfy your curiosity about whatever it is you're seeking an answer to?

Do you want a cost work up of all the individual parts? A market research portfolio on what the target market says can sustain a price level? A labor cost analysis to determine the labor costs involved in simply producing not only the parts, but the whole as well?

Perhaps if you were more specific, you could find an answer that will satisfy you. Until then this thread is simply a means for you to ridicule those that really don't care.

k0bun

Because there is no Camaro Race team to financially support.

I personally would not want the Corvette to be much cheaper. As mass produced as it is, they are not as common as say a Mustang GT. I would not want anyone with $35k to be able to jump in one(new). We all love our Vettes for our own reasons but at least some of it, even a small part, is the slight exclusivity of it. Whether you want to admit it or not.

Other than that I have no answer. Can I make a funny pic?

Vette Suspension

Although not cheap I think the price is within reason for what you get. For example my 09 has a MSRP of 66k and yet I paid 57k with taxes. I wanted and love the 4LT interior and the NAV, the chrome wheels and the other options. When your spending a certain amount of money why have regrets later? And why get cheap after spending so much money?

jaki30

If you look back at the prices of the Camaro and the Corvette back through the last 40 years, you will notice that the Vette was always about 40-50% more than the Camaro.