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Go read the story of the C5 FRC. I love the car, but until Chevy used it to make the Z06 it was not very popular.
I still have my 2000 Torch Red FRC. It was my first Corvette. Traction control was an option and no other nannies built in. It is a great car!! It is known as my first Child and the new C8 is my 4th Child.
I still have my 2000 Torch Red FRC. It was my first Corvette. Traction control was an option and no other nannies built in. It is a great car!! It is known as my first Child and the new C8 is my 4th Child.
Likewise!! Autocrossed and DEs for 8 years (before I built up an LS1/T56 Miata for those duties), road trips galore, almost at 300k miles now without having to go into the drivetrain at all (except for the clutch, when five of the release fingers on the PP wore through). Manual seats and HVAC controls, but also HUD and Active Handling (which saved me more than once on the street!).
Even with our C7 (and now C8), I still taking her out. Just a different experience from those cars. She'll always be in the family, and handed down to my son in the future.
2023 Corvette of the Year Finalist (C8) - Modified
2023 Corvette of the Year Finalist (C6) - Modified
2022 C8 of the Year Winner - Modified
2022 C6 of the Year Winner - Modified
Either you can afford it or not. I HATE when a manufacture makes a cheaper version of a "good thing" just to make a dollar! IMO it makes it less desirable!
Essentially this thought was a rehash of the original C5 FRC concept, which wasn't all that popular.
I think the 1LT is decently priced for what you get, but it would be nice if there were have a few more a la carte options.
For example, it would be nice to be able to order a 1LT with the HUD, without having to upgrade to a full-on 2LT to get the HUD.
This would allow someone wanting a more stripped down Corvette (weight-wise or price-wise) to get what they want, without having to resort to an unpopular "low end" model.
With the smaller engine you could increase the trunk area
Originally Posted by corsa180
The problem is you can't compare today's prices with just the cost of inflation, because all cars are significantly higher today, when compared with the cost of inflation. This is due to the cost of mandatory safety equipment, our expections of things like air conditioning to be standard, etc. So it is better to compare the cost of the Corvette with the cost of the average car then and now.
When looking at it from that angle, I think they are right in the sweet spot of where they have always been. According to the article, in 1963 a Corvette cost $4500. A quick search shows the average price of a car in 1963 was around $3000. So the Corvette was about 50% more than the average car.
The article says the current average car costs $50,000. So 50% more would give you $75,000. Interestingly, the sticker price on my 1964 Corvette 327/300 4-speed convertible (no power steering or brakes, but it does have posi and am/fm radio and a hardtop) was about $4807, or about 62% higher than the average car, which puts it at around $80,600 today in comparison with the average.
Now, it would be cool to have a cheaper, no-frills Vette, maybe even with one of those turbo 4-bangers mentioned above. But at that point, I think the Vette is needlessly big, so may as well create a new non-Corvette mid-engine sports car that's smaller...shades of the Fiero!
I'd say keep same sized vette but increase trunk space...If they could get it to 3000lbs at 375hp that would make it a competitor to the cayman for a lot less $$$. It may actually be a better car that then LT2 based one for many tasks like autocross. Fuel Economy would go up significantly as well. And, it would not be slow, probably mid/high 3 second car.
The big dealers with large allocations are 8 months backloged.
Smaller dealers and flippers asking/getting in some cases$15,000/ $20,000 over MSRP
Apparently author has not read the April 2022 edict that the "government" is dictating EPA 49 mpg average in 2026 what was 54 mpg in 2025 before that was stopped by a Pen in January 2017. New Pen now. The old plan had the average Corvette required to get ~39 mpg in 2025. They have been careful not to provide any details re the new average 49 mpg in 2026. But you can be sure (like the old plan that was a fine of the manufacturer) they will not just allow rich Corvette/Ferrari etc folks to pay a gas guzzler mooney and destroy the world!
And that new Pen in DC with all the folks pulling strings, say mpg improvement not good enough to save the World from CO2 we will ONLY allow zero fossil fuels.
Mary Barra has said they will ONLY produce EV's in 2035 and putting all their Billions of investment into that effort.
Unlike Cinderella who at the stroke of midnight had her horse drawn coach turn into a pumpkin, GM cannot make all EV's overnight.
GM has announced the EV Silverado (that is what folks drive around here) will be out end year as a 2024 quoting: "G.M. investing $4 billion to make electric versions of Silverado pickups." PS that is billions with a "B."
I happy to get my E-Ray hybrid before being forced into an EV! Expect GM to make all they can in BG in the next few years.
In fact expect the next C9 Vette will be an EV. See reason in pics.
First folks think 2035 is far away! Not when it comes to changing your complete manufacturing. GM cannot just wave a wand in December 2034 and have that happen. That is why you're seeing a 2024 EV Silverado this year and a 4 Billion dollar plant being built! They make 550,000 of those a year.
Mary and company have an issue getting the average "grocery getter" car, SUV, Pick-Up buyer Accepting and Wanting and EV. IMO they will have a very sexy C9 EV Vette out before 2030 to get kids to put posters on their wall. They will be the ones buying the EV's they (and most other car manufacturers will be making in 2035.) Would be foolish to promote a new ICE Vette beit a cheap one or Zora! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Tree Hugger. Just a realist! Still be driving my 8.2 Liter BB ProStreet Rod even when, as that 1st EPA report suggested, ICE's can be pushed out with a gasoline tax!
The big dealers with large allocations are 8 months backloged.
Smaller dealers and flippers asking/getting in some cases$15,000/ $20,000 over MSRP
Apparently author has not read the April 2022 edict that the "government" is dictating EPA 49 mpg average in 2026 what was 54 mpg in 2025 before that was stopped by a Pen in January 2017. New Pen now. The old plan had the average Corvette required to get ~39 mpg in 2025. They have been careful not to provide any details re the new average 49 mpg in 2026. But you can be sure (like the old plan that was a fine of the manufacturer) they will not just allow rich Corvette/Ferrari etc folks to pay a gas guzzler mooney and destroy the world!
And that new Pen in DC with all the folks pulling strings, say mpg improvement not good enough to save the World from CO2 we will ONLY allow zero fossil fuels.
Mary Barra has said they will ONLY produce EV's in 2035 and putting all their Billions of investment into that effort.
Unlike Cinderella who at the stroke of midnight had her horse drawn coach turn into a pumpkin, GM cannot make all EV's overnight.
GM has announced the EV Silverado (that is what folks drive around here) will be out end year as a 2024 quoting: "G.M. investing $4 billion to make electric versions of Silverado pickups." PS that is billions with a "B."
I happy to get my E-Ray hybrid before being forced into an EV! Expect GM to make all they can in BG in the next few years.
In fact expect the next C9 Vette will be an EV. See reason in pics.
First folks think 2035 is far away! Not when it comes to changing your complete manufacturing. GM cannot just wave a wand in December 2034 and have that happen. That is why you're seeing a 2024 EV Silverado this year and a 4 Billion dollar plant being built! They make 550,000 of those a year.
IMO gm is making a huge mistake forcing ev units down our throat's. In much of the country particularly the areas with extreme temperature changes they will prove to be inferior with its lack of driving range. Once these units roll over 100,000 miles and start coming in on trade the rest of the story will become clear. The cost to replace the batteries will be prohibitive and these units will end up in the land fill.
I believe Toyota is moving in the right direction engineering a hydrogen platform. We all know the issues of hydrogen gas however its not necessary to use compressed hydrogen. Check out Stan Meyer and his innovations. His inventions did however cost him his life.
I think making a stripped down, less powerful Corvette is a terrible idea. For one, the C8 is very competitively priced for today's market. That's proven in the fact that they can't make enough for the demand out there. It's not like the Corvette is sitting on dealer lots because it's to expensive and not attractive to the buyer. Secondly, there are plenty of fun sports cars out there in the $40-50k for consumers to buy like the Camaro, Challenger, Charger, and Mustang. Do they perform like the Corvette, not at all. But should we water down an insanely engineered car just to meet a market? Not unless you want to lose the market you currently have. (Think Bud Light for example).
If GM really cared about something like this (which I don't think they do, this was just a freelancer op-ed), they should be actually penalizing the dealerships that are marking up the Corvettes that are on lot inventory so people can actually get into this car at the original price point GM wanted. But they aren't even doing that.
I'm just glad I can have a American Sports Car that performs above it's weight class under six figures and still put ramen on my dinner table!
05-24-2023, 12:12 AM
