The C8 and future Ferrari sales?

I suspect so, it's not even made the motoring news here yet as far as I'm aware.
However its worth saying we are seeing more American built cars over here year on year, helped by some very positive UK road test reviews and some impressive marketing/pricing from Ford with the Mustang, Ranger/raptor.
Jeep has been an accepted brand since the mid nineties and more recently seems to have lost a little of its all American qualities when the merger with Fiat went through and the parts sharing started.
Said that I parked yesterday next to a new UK registered Dodge Challenger which was ticking over - boy that sounded nice.

Look forward to seeing the C8 soon.

 

Here's my take from someone looking to buy a used 360. Most of the cars available have had 6 to 10 owners with minimal service records. The C8 is mid engine car that is new and backed by warranty. Both cars are priced about the same. Even out of warranty the costs for the C8 are a fraction of what the 360 will cost for maintainence. That's the dilemma I am facing as I generally love the mid engine cars. Buy the older 360 knowing I am going to get soaked in bringing the maintainence up to date or buy a brand new C8 that's under warranty for a year and less expensive to maintain.

 

A sane driving enthusiast wouldn't consider the C8. They would want a car with a manual transmission.

 

Not true. My car is an '03. It had good records, a new clutch a month before I bought it, a new leather dash cover installed, and proper maintenance. I am the third owner.
So far 3000 miles trouble free excepting replacing the coils (all 8) at a cost of a little under $400. So simple I did it myself. There was absolutely no maintenance to "bring up to date". I had a shop do all the fluids including the rear axle and the F1 system, oil, filters, coolant, and bleed the brake system for about $800 (independent shop). Not bad for a 16 year old exotic. Wonder what the C8 will need when it's 16 years old... Fair question to ponder.

I think you are only hoping that the C8 out of warranty will be a "fraction of what the 360 will cost for maintenance". I'm betting that fraction is closer to 9/10's than you may think. Do you have any upscale cars that are out of warranty? I have friends that do and they bellyache all the time about the absorbent costs of even minor repairs.

If you are impatient, then I get it. Buy the C8. New car, warranty, novelty, etc.
It doesn't sound as if you have really seriously been looking at the 360s for sale. The decent cars are out there. But it takes time and a lot of vetting. It took me over 6 months to educate myself (many thanks to the folks here) and some traveling out of state. But I got a great car that is 16 years old that still looks new and fools everyone when they look at it and try and guess how old it is. Will the C8 still look relevant 16 years from now? But I'm guessing that nobody will keep the C8 that long --- and when it is 16 years old it will be worth a fraction of what it cost new. And I'm betting that it's not 1/2 of what it sold for new. Yet the F1 360s currently are. The gated 360s are currently worth well more than half of what they sold for new. FWIW

 

Can that still be said for a 360 with over 30K or 40K miles on it?

The inability to put miles on the car for fear of dramatically impacting resale is one of the big detractors for me.

 

The big challenge with 360 ownership is the challenging service pricing/quality landscape.

Truth be told there is a rather large bogey man of a major svc charge for anyone wanting to actually drive an old 360 or 430.

Until the service becomes predictable and reasonable.... the C8 will be a major contender!

I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking about the $1000 blinker relay I can buy from my local f car dealer....... crazy pricing.... crazy....... I can't say whether this props up the 360 ownership penache'..... or scares away for potetial buyers pool.

you tell me???

 

I have 66k miles on my 99 manual 360. Drive it every weekend. That's one of the things that defines ownership, the ability to drive a car without worrying about loosing money. If you have to worry about the money that you're "loosing" and you can't drive it because of it.. can you really "afford it" in the first place?

I think it's hilarious. As I say 6 feet and 6 months. After you pick it up and drive it 6 feet out of the dealership it's a used car. By 6 months every idiot and his mom will have one and the novelty of "new" will be gone. Why buy used when Chevy has a new one ready for a buyer on the lot. I know with a degree of certainty that I can sell my 66k mile, red, 3-pedal 360 for MORE than I bought it for in the depths of the recession after 9 years of ownership. People have have made offers at C+C very politely that were declined.

Think of it this way.. unless you sell maybe a month after you buy it, in driving that C8 6 feet out of the dealership the amount that new car depreciates amounts to my ownership costs over the last 9 years.

 

Not me! Due to I'm never selling it.

 

There's alot of hyperbole flying around. An off-warranty 360 or 430 being compared to an in-warranty car that might not.. or might.. have teething issues in the first year of production. Right now nobody is factoring new car depreciation into the equation.. just wait..

When you buy the C8, you know who will be repairing it. The dealer. In 10 years, do you bring the car to the dealership and deal with a Chevy dealership overpricing a repair? No, you find an indy that you like and you work with them. They either screw up the repair (see craigslist for beaten C5's and C6's) or you find someone who does the job right.

With 360's, you have alot of owners that.. well.. have done more research reading Road and Track about the new C8 than they have figuring out ownership of their new to them 360. What makes the difference between good and bad ownership is having a shop that you trust to work on your car. Everyone shakes their head when I write about my 9 years of ownership bliss because before I bought my 360 I FOUND A GOOD SHOP THAT I LIKED (emphasis mine). If more owners a)read the damn owners manual and b) actually researched and planned their ownership experience out.. they'd have a good one. Predictable and reasonable are very subjective terms with any car. Including Porsches, BMWs or Mercs...

 

i think c8 with its dct is going to kill pricing on f1 trans 360 and 430. stick shift ferrari will continue to have that niche to itself. real question is what will happen to 458 when you can lease a new vette for $700/month?
then in couple years when the performance versions c8 come out? 700 hp dohc tt c8 z06 for $100k? 900 hp hybrid zr1 for $150k?
new ferrari will always have its customers who would never cross shop a vette but mac and lambo might feel the pressure

 

I would guess nothing.

It's always been less money to go faster in a vette.

Ferrari is a different experience entirely.

JMO

 

i live in houston, not a small city, and it has about 10 million cars.
today i did what i normally do.... i drove 20-30 minutes through town to work, i was there all day, then i drove 20-30 minutes on completely different roads to the club, worked out, and drove 20 minutes to home on again completely different roads.
the number of corvettes i saw today - just off the top of my head recorder was 4.
that means that this week i will see 20 on the weekdays, and perhaps 10 on the weekends when i drive more and more folks drive nice cars. and that means for the last month, and nearly every month, i will see about 120 vettes. it may of course be the same 10 vettes that cruise my path, or maybe its 50 vettes i see twice a month....you pick.

the number of 430's, or 360's, or 355's i saw today: 0
the number i saw this week: 0
the number i see on a monthly average: 0-4, but if i go to cars and coffee, maybe that jumps up to 8.

the c8 will be the flavor of the month, until each and every market is saturated - whatever that means for your zip code.
the number of 355/360/430's will either stay the same or decline.

if you only see something very rarely, it is interesting when you do see one, even if you know exactly what it looks like.
if you see something every single day....well ....familiarity breeds contempt....in all things.

the 430 may be my least favorite car in our collection, but i would still rather have it than a c8.
and my guess is that this will be the case 3 years from now even more.....and not just for me.

 

So in 3 years a $60k Corvette becomes a $30k Corvette depreciating $30k. Go buy a new Ferrari and watch that happen in a month.

 

Were you driving your F430 today on that route, if so my hats off to you especially if it’s a routine occurrence. In my neighborhood there are a handful of Ferraris, a GT40, a couple Lamborghinis, an NSX, and a few McLarens. I live in the front of the neighborhood and am outside quite a bit so would notice a car being driven on a regular basis but other than the NSX and a California, I only see the other cars driven about once a year. I see the guys with the 488s outside washing their cars about once a month but almost never see them driven. I do have the Ferrari bug and still looking for the right 360/430 and don’t think the C8 is for me but will be checking it out as an option, mainly because a Ferrari that is “driven” seems to only really mean 2-3k miles a year and the idea of driving a car more than I wash and maintain it sounds like a reasonable expectation.

 

your point is valid. there are plenty of cars in the hands of people who dont actually drive them (a mindset i do not comprehend).
to answer your question, i was not driving the 430 today, but i had planned to do so tomorrow.
my daily driver is a fisker......now THAT is a car you never see around here

i will add that i have a lot of cars - not all of them here of course, but i have quite a few choices in what to drive to work, so i dont actually put that many miles on any one car, but i have to keep them all running.

 

I read that in the C8 the engine has to come out for some service items...

I can’t wait to see how that is received by the motoring crowd since 348 / 355 / Tr get such a hard time over it.

Robb

 

And the C8 with over 30 or 40k miles on it 16 years from now? If not enjoying putting miles on any car that is purchased is a factor to protect resale values then the C8 too will not be immune to loss of value. And I'm guessing in 16 years from now a fairly heavy hit for the C8 even with lower mileage.
High production numbers doesn't help this. Not to mention a lot of buyers will most likely be paying a high dealer premium going in.

Like it or not, the C8 will soon be commonplace. That never helps a car hold it's value.

 

engine out! service? wow that is a huge mistake if its true. haven't read that anywhere yet though

 

Another 355 owner talked to a Corvette engineer at a C8 reveal at his track. He said some things require engine out. No service panels on the firewall.

So while I’m guessing it won’t need belt changes every 5 years that are so heavily debated or picked on with costs of maintenance,... it seems like the engine will have to come out for other items...

I don’t see the problem with an engine out because of the access it gives you along with the perfect package... but for all of those that go crazy about 355 engine outs, welcome to the party. come on in, it’s fine.

Robb

 

I'm guessing the things the C8 will need an engine out for are the same as most mid engined cars like a 458, R8, Huracan, etc. If not, Chevy dropped the ball a bit.

 

Well on the Audi R8 v8 the engine has to come out to replace the a/c compressor as an example. So it will be interesting to learn what happens and when on C8 maintenance and repair...

Robb

 

It takes about 5 years to drop to 50% but your point is valid.

 

And how long to dep 30k on a new 488???

 

10min? And 5 miles???

 

Typical cars are 10% per year on a declining balance. Ferraris vary a lot based on available inventory, options, condition, etc. On the 488, year 1 it was probably flat or up some, not down; Now it is probably following a typical curve for a bit before it flattens out some.