Hey Heath, how are ya? I though you and Jimmy vowed not to quote me anymore, you guys just resist old Big Dan now can you? lol...JK w/ya!

Quoting (while agreeing) and getting into a never ending and truly ridiculous debate are two very different things Big Dan :thumbs:

My brother in law has a 12 year old Vette he bought new sitting in his garage with dust all over it (no car cover).

He has 1,800 miles on the car. I said "why the F*** did you buy this car if you aren't going to drive it"?

His reply, "I thought I would drive it but don't have the time". I replied, WTF does that mean?

The car has not moved in years, the battery is dead, tires are flat, etc... this guy really ticks me off.

I asked him "why don't you sell it and put the money in some investment"? He said "I plan to drive this car one day".

His wife told me he has not driven the car in 10 years.

Total BS :smash:

$2 billion in annual sales to GM is a blip. Their 2013 Revenue was $155.4 billion. So, $1.8 billion is about 1.2% of GM's annual revenue. Certainly not their "bread and potatoes".

What am I missing
 

While the sales of the C7 are doing well, i don' think it's appropriate to compare to 2013 sales.

Why? By 2013, the world knew that a new generation vette was on the way and sales had already started to drop off even before the NY auto show reveal. So folks already were anticipating the new vette and decided to hold off on buying the "older" generation.

So, what am I missing when I say that the 2013/2014 comparison is flawed??

Great news about the sales as it guarantees that there will be another generation. If the C7 was a flop there is no doubt that GM would pull the plug.

I agree, first year total sales of other generations would be more useful.

My best guess is that there will be 30,000 - 31,000 C7's produced for the 2014 model year. The C6 first year (2005) had 37,352 cars produced. The C5's first year (1997) was 9,752 cars made. It's not really fair to the C5 to use 1997 as the car was very late coming out, there were rear suspension issues that caused stoppage of production, and the 1997 was only offered as a coupe. 1998 production (coupe and convertible) was 31,084. C4 first year (1984) production was 51,547, the second highest single year production in Corvette history. That number is skewed in the opposite direction of the C5 as there was no 1983 Corvette so there was an amazing level of anticipation. The C3 was WELL past it's "sell by" date when the C4 finally appeared, having been made from 1968 - 1982. The C4 was supposed to be intro'd in 1983. You think the C7 has gotten press.....the C4 got press the C7 could only dream of.

Jimmy

Wow I had no idea that many c4's were sold on one year lol...:cheers: I was wrapped up in kids back in those years and was still a GTO man through and through...

My recollection is the 1984 model year ran about 16 months since no 83 model. Even so it was a great sales year.

My recollection is also that C&D took back some of their praise for 84 model when they got it on real roads. The suspension was very stiff.

I've seen four in this area over the past few months. It's good that the C7 is going strong in the sales department.

I would agree. Looks like the Vette is leading the market segment and at these volumes is no doubt making money for GM. Here's to another 60 years.

It's nice to be a positive statistic, I suppose.

I bought my last one in a pretty bad economy.

EXACTLY.

While the C7 is selling well it is basically selling about as well as the early C6's did, which is very good. But comparing it to the last 2013 C6's is ridiculous. And the plant was also shut down in Feb. 2013 to retool for the C7.

About 11,600 C7's have been sold in the first 4 months of 2014. In 2006 there were about 12,500 C6 sales for the same period, in 2007 there were about 11,500, and in 2008 there were about 10,000.

So the C7 is right on the mark. The difference here supposedly is the "new" group of buyers the C7 has attracted.

Obviously the C7 is a much more advanced, modern car than the C6. But only time will tell if the C7 can actually surpass the popularity of the C6.

We all hope the C7 sells well. But, why do some people have to use so much hyperbole? It will be difficult for the C7 to better first year C6 sales (even with all the thousands of new, younger buyers).

"The first production year for the C6 officially came to a close on September 8 when the last 2005 Corvette came off the end of the assembly line. We built a total of 37,372 cars during the model year." :cheers:

The C6 was NOT that popular, based on it's entire production run....

Don't forget that the C6 had FOUR great years and then went into the biggest slump in modern Corvette history. Certainly, the end of the financial world caused this (November 2008) but it cannot be ignored that the C6 NEVER recovered from it, sales wise.
The C5 NEVER dropped below 30,000 units per year during it's entire production run, except for 1997, when only the coupe was offered, it was late coming out, and production stopped for rear suspension issues. Even the C4, which was LONG in the tooth and in DESPERATE need of replacing in it's last year (1996) easily outperformed sales numbers for the C6 in it's last 4 years (2009 -2013).

Jimmy

PS. What is obvious is that GM was TOO late replacing the C6. Obviously, the bailout slowed the C7's intro down (they were working on it as early as 2007), but there's NO doubt that the C6 came in like a lion and left like a dove. The excuse that everyone knew 2013 was the last year of the C6, the shortened production, etc still doesn't excuse the trouble the Corvette was in by that point. Look at the last year of the C5 (2004)....everyone knew the C6 was coming, they still made 34,064 2004 C5's verses 13,466 2013 C6's. And the C4, with it's THIRTEEN year production run....GM still made 21,536 C4's in it's last year of production, 1996.

Yes ... one month's sales or even one year's sales does not a "pattern make".

2003 production numbers - 35.4K
2004 (Last year of C5) production numbers - 16.1K
2005 (First year of C6) production numbers - 37.3K

That's a yearly increase of 131% between C5 and C6. You can also see there was a drop as the expectation for the C6 cut into C5 sales.

In reality what we are seeing in the C7 is following the same pattern as the last major change in the platform. The proof in the design is if it can maintain higher (no one expects first years numbers in year 4-6 of cycle) numbers over the life of the platform, not just first year numbers.

We don't see a great number here in So Cal which is why there is no such thing as not having to answers questions from admirers.

If you are going to quote the 2004 C5 production then please quote the coupe, convertible and the Z06 numbers, not just the coupe.

2004 C5 production was 34,064, only 1,405 units below the 2003 C5.

Also the 2005 number(while correct) was artificially high because the 2005 production was extended a couple of months because the 6 speed auto trans was not ready for the normal June model year switchover to the 2006 C6.

So, instead of a 131% increase in production between the C5 and the C6(as you stated), the actual production would have been slightly less for the 2005 C6 vs the outgoing 2004 C5, if you deducted the extra couple of months production for the 2005 C6.

Last week I drove from Springfield, MO to 65 miles south of Little Rock, AR and back. I didn't see a single C7. I did see a caravan (4 C6's and 1 C5), 3 C4's individually, a single C3 , 3 C5's individually, and 5 C6's individually, for a grand total of 17 Corvettes.

Other than the 2 C7's in our club, I have only seen one other C7(yellow coupe traveling north out of Branson, MO last Friday).

I know there is another C7 in Springfield that I have not seen, as his engine went south on him and reported on this forum.