gthal

Ooh.... You better be careful

icyteddy

Corvettes are priced in the same range or just a little below as the cars you mention depending on the models. I wouldn't say the Corvette are inexpensive, just a better performance bargain for the price. $60K may not be much to you, but it is a large sum of money to spend on a car for the age demo graph you stated. Yes, some 20+ year old may be able to afford a Corvette ( mostly likely older models) but not many. (Mommy and Daddy buying for them does not count because it is not their own income) Cost of living, mounting student debt, rent, bills to pay, not easy at all.

gthal

I should re-word my original comments... I'm not suggesting that $60,000 is not significant, it is. What I was trying to articulate (maybe not well) is that M3s, C63s and 911s are easily $15,000+ more and LOTS of younger people buy them. There was a poll at MBWorld and something like 50% of the members who responded were under 40. How someone pays for it (Daddy, great job, lots of debt, etc) isn't as relevant as the the fact that people in that demographic who can spent significant bucks on a car wanted something else. The demographics on forums for those cars (which isn't the be all and end all of facts) is very different than here and notably younger overall. At 40, I was one of the "old guys" in the C63 forums

I also believe that we underestimate how many people can afford cars like this... even if it is a small percentage of people, it is a large absolute number when you consider the size of the market in North America and Europe. I think it is human nature to assume very few people in their 20's and 30's could afford a $60,000 car because we (me included) couldn't at that age but, based on my experiences in the BMW and Mercedes world, the numbers are higher than you might think.

A little story to illustrate my point. When I bought my first M3, it was a big deal in many ways to me... first, I could finally afford the car and second I was REALLY excited to have a car that I lusted after for many years. When I was at the dealership picking it up, they were getting 4 other M3's ready for the next day... the salesman told me all 4 were for the teenage boys of two families from the middle east. The boys all wanted M3's and the parents simply bought them (which, on another level is ridiculous IMO regardless as to how much money you have). Those 4 boys never for a minute had Corvette's on the radar... maybe someday they will. There is a LOT of this out there too... go spend a week on the west coast of Canada (Vancouver) and take note of the ages of people in very expensive sports cars.... let's just say the mean age is probably 25

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how many younger people can afford a Corvette... the goal is to get them WANTING one so that when they do buy an expensive sports car, it is the one the pick or at least on the list. I think (hopefully) GM has accomplished this with the C7 because it will be important for the long term sustainability of the car.

LIStingray

In terms of real numbers, there are roughly 950,000 households where the head is between the ages of 25 and 39 earning and $250,000 or more per year - any one of those families can afford to buy a $60,000 car. My bet as to why many of them are buying BMW, Mercedes, etc, which is no different than my own experience is that for the under 40 set, many have kids, and a two-seater doesn't work until they can afford to have it as a third car. I bought my 1st new Corvette when I was 33 and it was, just like my three since: nothing but a weekend car - because that is when I could afford a third car. With kids and their activities, a Corvette just wouldn't work as my only car then, and still doesn't today; that might change when my kids are grown and driving themselves (oddly, that is when my father got his first Corvette).

RocketGuy3

The demographic for an online community is going to skew much younger, generally speaking, than the actual buying demographic for the car.

Also, I have to wonder how many of those people bought the cars used. A C63 with Mercedes depreciation can become affordable to many more people after a couple years.

gthal

Both great points and I agree.

GM needed to aim at getting a piece of those 950,000 households where a Corvette is an option from a financial perspective and I think they have done that successfully... but even with the C7 the perception will take time to get traction.