Michael A

The rumors are the C7 base price is going to be around $55,000. Once you add sales tax, license fees, and first year of insurance, you are well over $60,000. Considering I purchased my well appointed C5 for just over $40,000 with tax and license, that's a huge jump, and, frankly, making me wonder if the C7 is a wise purchase. For some of us, it's just plain a lot of money. Like many people now, I don't take out car loans anymore. If I can't afford to pay cash, I can't afford it. I also don't buy used, because I take extremely good care of my cars (perfectionist) and I have had too many surprises with used cars.

The C7 looks to be a fantastic car, and I would rather have a stripped C7 than none at all. Here's what they could take out to lower the price, and I would still be very happy with the car:

Removable roof panel - never take mine out

Steering wheel controls - nice but not needed, buttons on dash

Automatic day/night mirror - never dark enough anyway, manual one works better

Automatic climate control - later GM climate systems fluctuate too much in temperature anyway

Large LCD center stack display - nice but I can get navigation, traffic, internet, etc. on my phone

Fog lamps - too weak to do anything

Daytime running lamps - I drive without them now, don't need glamour white LEDs

OnStar - my phone has everything I need

Power Seat Adjuster - once set my seat motors never get used

SiriusXM - already have portable Sirius player I can plug into Aux Input

7 or More Speakers - nice but don't need that many speakers

Illuminated Visor Vanity Mirrors - very rarely use them now



If they could get the price under $50,000 for a low content model, I think it would bring in a whole new group of buyers.

Michael

tail_lights

Heated/cooled seats

Racer X

I think your estimate is too high. Closer to 52k would be my guess. Wait maybe a year or two and you will be able to get a base car for less than 50k. That is unless the economy greatly improves. But then you ability to pay more may improve as well.

Jet Streaming

No they are pricing many people right out of the market. GM has raised the price on Corvette much faster than inflation. I have a sticker from one of my early 90s C4s verts and its $39K fully loaded. That same car is going to be almost double when it arrives as a C7. With the sunken unsure economy of today GM is shooting itself in the foot. I can also say the Corvette is no longer holding its resale value as it once did and this spells trouble as well.

jr3

Only thing out of that list i would keep is the removable top. The rest they could keep.

sprtplt

Absolutely agree. But I say we need two things, the option of a pared down corvette AND a la carte option building.

It wasn't that long ago that Corvette had almost what you describe, the C5 FRC had no removable roof and was intended to be low-option and the lightest weight. They were not supposed to get a HUD even, but my '99 had it. Nostalgia aside, that was my best Corvette of all.

JimmyLee

You can still get a brand new stripped-down C6 in the $40's, possibly low $40's. Like the C2 to C3 transition, the C6 will remain a beautiful car no matter what the C7 looks like.

Jinx

I recall a post saying it would be $48K. Made my jaw drop.

In the early days I thought their target would be "better than GrandSport for less money," targeting $54K and giving the car an upscale nudge.

But now I'm starting to think they might have actually sharpened their pencils a lot more and built the base at $50K with "gotta have it" options bumping most buyers up over $54K. It's the more conservative approach, though it complicates supply.

I don't know that $50K brings a whole new group of buyers -- I think it just determines how soon they can get one. Really, does $54K versus $50K make a lot of people choose a different sports car? These are objects of lust, not basic transportation. Wouldn't you just drive your old ride a while longer and feed your piggy bank another $4K?

.Jinx

BlueOx

You can't really be serious comparing a 90's C4 in any way with a 2014 C7...fully loaded or not. It's far from "that same car". If someone took a new C7 back in time to the 90's, you'd probably pay almost double for it compared to the C4 even back then!

Don't get me wrong...I agree they are pricing people out of the market. Maybe they are even doing it on purpose. Maybe they are trying to make it more "exclusive"...as we hear all the Viper lovers say. And it could be that with the arrival and incredible success of the Camaro, the Vette may not have to sell nearly as many as they used to and will try to sell to a more upper income buyer.

VinceJB

I think 55k for this caliber car is affordable and better bang for the buck then anything out there now IMO. But if they raise it to 65k it might be suicide because I have seen some 75k C6 ZR1's on eBay as of late. I can see people snagging those up for 10k more. I know I might.

LMB-C6

They were selling new C6s a few months ago for $35k.....

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1582053905-post1.html

If I'm going to spend $60K on a C7, it had better be head and shoulders (and then some) better than a C6.

69L79

I think we need to wait for what packages/options are available. Maybe the base Car will have enough content, both peformance/comfort, to satisfy the OP.

I do agree MSRPs on base/optioned Cars are out of reach for many potential buyers. A little story. Yesterday, in the parking lot of the local Mall I saw five early twenty somethings looking under the hood of a VW. I approached them for the Hell of it. And, asked the owner about his Car. Bottom line, 430 HP at the crank, 3,000 lbs, beefed up suspension, wheels/tires. I asked them about the C6. To a person they said they loved the C6. But, it was way too expensive for their budgets. Owner of the VW said that at 1/3 to 1/2 the Vette price he had Vette like performance. He was right. GM is delusional if they think they can woo/convert these types of buyers.

VinceJB

I have even seen some even in the mid to upper 20's with 40-60k on the odo.

235265283...

I could also do without most of these, and some of them I would even pay a little extra not to have.

That said, I'm certain that GM would have to increase the MSRP if they deleted OnStar, and the same may be true of Sirius (anybody know if there is a GM-Sirius contract?).

IMHO, in spite of all the marketing hype, the biggest factor affecting C6-to-C7 changes, and the biggest effect on price increases, is regulatory compliance, primarialy the new CAFE rules. For example, I'm willing to bet that the total cost of the LT1 AFM system (including R&D amoritization and warranty & recall as well as manufacturing) exceeds the cost of all items on your list combined. Of course, some not-inexpensive changes (e.g., weight reduction, more carbon fiber parts) benefits CAFE and most buyers' preferences.

VinceJB

While on the subject. You think they will have a Z51 or sport package as well the first year? I can't remember if they did in 2005 but I think they did. I am hoping this base has all the go fast and track goodies so there is no need for a sport Z51 package to drive the price up.

R&L's C6

It's not so much the price of the new C7 base as it is the economy IMO. It wont matter if its a bargain if most people don't have the money. Everyone I know is complaining their pay check isn't keeping up with the cost of living. Energy, health care, food, is eating up a lot of people disposable income with no end in sight.

c54u

I see no reason one could not get a base C7 for mid forties, with dealer and GM incentives. No need to say they will be selling above MSRP as some vendors have stated that they will be selling at MSRP. Getting a discount(s) may not come the day of the release, but it will eventually come.

By the way, last time I checked, the economy is not doing that great.

VetBoyZR1

At current interest rates, it hardly matters if you pay cash or take out a loan. It might even be possible to earn more by investing your cash than you'd pay in interest on a loan. I think your emotion is distorting reality. I am not saying go crazy into debt taking on a loan you can't afford, but if you really want the car don't sell yourself short.

jaki30

I suspect GM would be more than happy to sell a higher priced car with a lower sales volume. Much like Porsche does.

Corvette owners are probably the among the group with the most claims/complaints to GM wrt service and car quality.
If they do build a quality car and price it high enough, they reduce warranty and customer complaints and may even increase the resale value of the new model.

Just something to think about. As for myself, I am perfectly happy with my C6 vert and really cannot justify spending a lot of money for another toy.

jschindler

GM has never raised the price of a new generation Corvette more than a normal year-to-year increase. Anyone who thinks they have raised the price too much isn't paying attention. What they HAVE done is made many features, and even models (such as the Grand Sport) "must have's" at a much higher price. The base car has remained very affordable, and likely the C7 will be as well. But not many folks are happy with the base car when they see all the goodies they can get on the car for another $10-15k more.