Zo62018A8

I am a Sales Manager for one of the top Lexus dealers in the world. Over the last few years we had come to the conclusion that the vast majority of our buyers (the ES, the LS, etc owners) were fairly senior people who possibly wont be driving very soon. If we didn't try to target the younger market we might very well end up like Buick or Cadillac where the vast majority of their buyers simply passed away and their children weren't interested in those cars. So over the last few years the company has been trying hard to capture the younger clientele but it will take a while and many of those buyers are now loyal to Bmw, Audi, Mercedes or Infiniti.

At 34 I'm definitely not the typical Corvette buyer. There is no doubt the Corvette even as a base 1lt automatic is a amazingly fun car to buy, maintain without spending an arm and a leg and get very good resale value. I appraise cars all the time the only two American cars that hold exceptional resale value in my opinion are Jeep Wranglers and Corvettes.

What can or should General Motors do to market this amazing machine in a way where more late 20, early 30s buyers would consider it?

The biggest flaw I find is they need to have good factory lease programs. A lot of the high end car market shoppers are leasers who look at MSRP and monthly payments only. They want the car with the highest MSRP at the lowest monthly payment. They get turned off when they find out leasing a Grand Sport that has an MSRP of 79k costs MORE than leasing a $110k Mercedes Benz S class (and the Benz comes with MUCH BETTER customer service and lifetime free car washes when the Vette owner gets treated at the dealer the same as the guy who has an Aveo or a Cruz). Where else do you think GM can do better to market the younger crowd so their iconic car doesn't die eventually?

Steve Garrett

For the same reason you bought a C7, getting the word out to younger buyers helps. But different people buy cars for different reasons. If a person your age already has kids or is going to have kids soon, a Corvette will not be in their future.

It will always be a fight. But if you look at what Audi does with their marketing, all car brands could take a few leads from their approach.

dbdave

Younger buyers have more to do than spend money on a non-essential car. Unless that's all they do, owning cars like Corvettes is something that doesn't fit well with finding gainful employment, getting married, buying houses, having a family, etc. The ownership will come for those who work for it.

Cjunkie

You’ve really not been in the car business long have you? GM doesn’t incentivize Corvette leases because they don’t have too.
Does Lexus incentivize RC F and LC leases? HMMMM waiting oh they don’t do they.
Most millennials cant buy a Kia without a co signer even if they have a job and not live in their parents basement.
Here is the bottom line cut throat leases are for people who cross shop and manufacturers who need to dump a lot of iron quick.
What do you cross shop a Vette with? Other Vette dealers. You either want a Vette or you don’t.
The car has been around for what 64 years and GM sells every one they build.

mdiiulio

First off, it won't die. Middle age folks and up will continue to buy this car. The vast majority of the american public will never be in a place financially to buy (or lease, whatever) any sooner.

Second, I'm not much younger than you, and my peers think I'm crazy for only driving a two seater. Thats a HUGE factor for those who are starting a family, something that generally happens around 25-35, give or take a few years on either side. That will continue to be a factor for the foreseeable future. Sure, there are some app developers and other high income earners in their 20s-30s who can afford to swing a sports car, but they are not the norm

dbaker

Many millennials don't have the love of driving like many of us did/still do.They see a car as transportation only.

Their phones mean more to them.

\db2

Zo62018A8

I do think they need to look at the big picture. Right now on a Gs-F that is leftover from 2017 you have a money factor of 0.00001. Same on a 2017 Rc-F. That means you can lease a 467hp car that competes with (but isn't as good as an M5 or M4) at a substantially lower monthly lease payment. Yes I understand that GM is getting away with selling this vehicle to the seniors for a long time now but I truly believe they need to consider marketing this masterpiece to younger buyers until its too late. I love the Corvette yet I find myself very aggravated trying to defend it to guys my age who laugh at it and have no idea what they are missing out on while they drive their M4s, C 63 amgs and Lexus RC-Fs.

Steve Garrett

^^^^ THIS.....SmH

fsvoboda

Long term it's hard to know what will happen as society and technology change.

I'll give you an example: in the 1890s horses ruled personal transportation, though bicycles were a coming thing. Harness racing was a big sport. Now, harness racing, at least in Michigan, has been on a downhill slide approximately forever. It's got no relevance to anyone's personal transportation, and other forms of gambling have taken away its appeal on that front.

If cars go away or self-driving takes over, sports cars will fade, similarly, particularly as we consider the purely transportation aspect of cars. My Jeep Cherokee is more useful than my Dodge Charger (except for freeway cruising), which is more useful than my C7. Whenever intangibles (experience) become less important or irrelevant sports cars will go away.

Short term, I would say that building in technology will be helpful, The next Corvette should have all the bells and whistles--adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring, auto braking and the like--to appeal to tech savvy younger buyers. (Adding Android Auto influenced my purchase of a 2017 C7, for example, and I'm 68.) But younger won't mean young. You need disposable income to get into a C7, I think.

Kent1999

Really? You see a LOT of late 20's early 30's aged customers in the $80k to $110k 2-seater sportscar space?

They certainly do exist, but are clearly the outliers around here.

The groups I see in that 27-32 age bracket (Largest to smallest):
* (55%) Not really 'car' people. MicroSUV's lifestyle or HiQual sedans (Audi) are their targets.
* (20%) Like cars, but have young families, and an $80k sportscar, is just NOT feasible from cost or limited usage/practicality angle. "After the kids are grown"
* (20%) Like sportscars, but simply do not have anywhere near the income to afford an $80k car, period.
* (4%) Like cars, have good disposable income but see self-driving as the ultimate. They'll spend $80k but on a Tesla, not a sportscar.
-- and finally:
* (1%) Like sportscars, have the income to afford it and will buy.

Pretty small slice of that age group to be chasing as a target market effort.

Silicon Valley and similar areas are highly skewed towards having higher numbers of high income people in that 27-32 group, but for the bulk of the country, I think those bands might generally hold up.

Just my personal observations, YMMV, etc.

ironman77

It is not just car business for younger plus the me generation. I have a construction business and my customers avg 50 and above! About 1 week ago I was talking with real estate agents I do work for and they are saying same thing about 50 and above.
Most young people and me generation has no interest in cars,houses,property or anything like that!
They are content with smart phones or and computer based game.
i hate to say this but trying to appeal to younger is a loosing prop because they have no interest at all.
We are probably in the best years for cars and other things,

spireland

I really don't get this thread.

This isn't a young people issue.

It's a cost issue. Plain and simple.

ironman77

Most 20 year olds have cars like this mom and dad purchased them plus lives at home!

i am 40 years old and I am a wealthy which I earned from hard work and still do, I buy expensive cars because I.like them because I wanted these cars since I was a kid.

Silicon valley likes Tesla type cars or a Prius

Soonere39

Like some others have said, millenials are generally less interested in cars and driving than the previous generation (Although my own 24/27 y/o web developer sons are in E90 3 Series and a Focus ST with Montune MP300 kit).

I think the Vette is perceived as an old mans car. Part of that is that you need to be an empty nester or have no kids for it to be practical enough for regular use. And those in their 50's and above are more likely to have the disposable income to buy one.

IMHO, I think they should more aggressively market it to a younger crowd through movies, TV and pop marketing. Notice all the Dodge product placement on TV lately with a Challenger in every cop show? When is the last time you saw a movie with a chase scene that involved a vette? You need young movie hero or general badass that drives a vette. What if John Wick had a Z06?

They need to position it as a car that a young person aspires to.

LT1 Z51

I bought my first Corvette at 26. I still lived at home, not because I couldn't afford to move out (I could), but because I was single and had no desire to live alone or deal with roommates. 10 years later and I own my own house (and live alone), I also upgraded my Corvette last year to a C7. The house I live in now I bought 7 years ago, 2 years AFTER I got my Corvette.

I know a few other young people who bought cars before houses, because they didn't want to rent (and so they lived at home until they could buy a house closer to 30). This to me is smarter than WASTING your money on renting your entire 20's because you've got some sort of desire for "independence" yet you go home on most weekends to have your parents do your laundry and cook you food. What these people really want is the ability to mess around and get wasted without their parents knowing how horrible of people they are (because frankly most parents would be ashamed at that type of behavior). Financial independence is much easier to achieve, if you come out of college single, when you move back in with your parents.

YMMV, so this might be a unique middle to upper-middle class thing I see. People who get married young, obviously have different priorities and monetary situations.

Regarding getting young people in to Corvette's it's hard. People are obsessed with German and Japanese cars and SUVs and think they are the coolest. Being American to a lot of folks is a negative, I don't know why. But it is.

ClydeFrog

Go to any other car forum & see if they have a RIP section. That should tell you something.

Avanti

It's never going to happen, sorry.

"Potential" buyers have changed and are continuing to do so, and prices just get higher and higher, farther and farther out of reach. Todays kids aren't growing up with V/8s, hence as they age most are not going to magically develop an interest in such. Much that is being marketed today in the auto world is on its last legs, really neat though these things may be.

ironman77

I never thought of a vette or muscle cars as an old man's vehicles, they are fly and cool just like riding a Harley with pipes blasting.
The younger generation does not get how to be cool
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LeManscoupe05

I'm 31 and I am on my 4th Corvette. Owning a Corvette was a dream of mine when i was younger. I have passion for these cars.
I want to enjoy these cars while I am still young. just my .02

MitchAlsup

With the way city traffic has come to a complete stall week in and week out, it would take the average millennial over 1 hour to get from where they live to where they can actually use the car as designed, then another 1 hour back.

Nothing GM, or sales and marketing can alter this new reality.