mid engine corvette qtr panels leaked photo

Haggerty renderings look good but don't fit with the mule photos or the rear gender photos.

 

I think this car is going to be stunning...but better yet..will evolve into something epic with Z06 and ZR1 variants..and who knows maybe even a Zora supercar variant.
But if they build hybrids, I'm out.

 

I like the rendering, except for the intakes.
How do they know it will start at 70k?

 

They do care about European sales...they are terrible. They aren't going to significantly grow the domestic business, so you need the multiplier of another market.

 

Rumor has it it's not going to be shown at the Detroit show. So far no confirmation. You would think Chevy would be pumping up the PR expectations in advance.

 

All of the intrigue equals free advertising.

 

mmmm... a press release would do much better.

 

Not if all it says is "We won't reveal at the Detroit Auto Show".

 

Yep.
"This release is to inform you that the car we haven't admitted exists will not be shown at the Detroit show"

 

I wouldn't belive a word of the hagerty piece.
We already know from the authenticated cad drawings that it will have coil springs yet hagerty says leaf springs will return.
Additionally hagerty refers to a +600 hp na pushrod v8 which is also a non starter.

Basically they do t know their ass fro. Their elbow.

 

As I predicted in this thread........spent the day at the Detroit Show.
NO ME Vette. Sorry folks.

 

They care. They are in the business to make money.

Btw, have you seen who sponsors Manchester United? Chevrolet. You don't sponsor the top club in the U.K. if you don't care about export sales.

 

If they cared about making money they would not be investing in a mid engine Corvette. It's a PR stunt for Chevy but the car will not make them money after all the investment in time, energy, and cash

 

480 photos of the Detroit Auto show

Not one of a 'mid engine Corvette"

 

Disagree - it's one of their most profitable vehicles, which justifies keeping it. It's not a halo car. From what I've seen (real or otherwise) business case suggests 40,000+ units per year, which if Chevy makes 20% gross margin, could be $250m per year. Over a 5 year run, that's a decent ROI on a (relatively) limited production vehicle.

 

Right.
Aug 4, 2012 - The General Motors executive who agreed to a record shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United worth a staggering £175million has been sacked. Global marketing chief Joel Ewanick was axed less than 48 hours after it was announced the Chevrolet badge would be emblazoned on the United shirt from next season.

 

We can debate it - but it was done. You don't spend that kind of money on a whim...I've tried

Chevrolet wants to win in the European market with the Corvette - this isn't speculation, it's been stated and it's part of the strategy for the platform. They basically withdrew Chevrolet as a brand from the market to focus on Vauxhall, but still sell the Corvette and Camaro in Europe.

As someone that does marketing and product management as a living, you ask yourself why would they keep relatively low production vehicles (and ABSOLUTELY low sales in Europe) if it wasn't a cornerstone of the strategy? Note, Chevy is NOT selling trucks in Europe. They have a very high margin product in Corvette, and it makes sense to reap the benefits of those margins by increasing sales in an adjacent market.

If your core market is essentially flat (and it is, there have been some good / bad years, but you can predict with high accuracy that Chevy will sell 30,000 Corvettes per year in the domestic market), then you look at either a) extending the platform (ZR1, Z06, Grand Sport) and/or b) getting into an adjacent or new market (Europe).

I posted the numbers previously, I think Chevy has sold less than 1,000 Corvettes per year in Europe for quite some time. By contrast, the Ford Mustang and Porsche 911 are near 10,000 units. Chevy KNOWS it can take some of that market, and if they can get to 5,000 units, it's a win. My rough math tells me that's between $30-40M in gross margin, well worth the effort.

Otherwise, Chevy would have withdrawn the ENTIRE brand from Europe. They didn't, which clearly implies they are looking for the C8 to penetrate the European market. I'm fairly confident that's why they are moving to a mid-engine platform, and why they'll almost certainly have an electric version of it.

 

Not when they turn it into a 3000 car per year vehicle.

 

FAIL

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That would make zero sense, and if GM actually did that, then they should fail. No business leader in their right mind would convert a fairly high volume, high margin product into a niche product.

It would also contradict the leaked engine numbers, which imply volumes in the range of what I am suggesting - 40,000 - 45,000.

 

We shall see.... someday when Chevy actually tells us something.

 

I like that.

 

You said (repeatedly) that the new Ford GT was a "PR stunt". OK, I guess....250 units a year, have to make a YouTube video, etc. Got it.
The mid-engine Corvette is NOT the Ford GT. It is the next evolution of the Corvette brand. There is NO doubt that it will be a VOLUME car, just like Corvettes have ALWAYS been. Corvette has been saddled for the last 2 generations (C6 and C7) with limited budgets. The C7 was supposed to be mid-engine (this is well documented), the Corvette team was well on the way in 2007. Then the end of world came (November 2008) and we are lucky we got the C7, in any form. It's R&D budget was slashed by 75% and that's why we got an evolutionary Corvette instead of a revolutionary Corvette. This time, we get REVOLUTIONARY and I can't wait.

 

The Hagerty piece is a joke, and I am very surprised a guy with Don Sherman's knowledge of Corvettes would write it.
The CAD leaks, the"McDonalds" car, and the painted front/rear fascias from Bowling Green show how many things they (Hagerty) got wrong. Here's a short list of Hagerty errors:
1. The aforementioned "leaf springs" comment (the CAD clearly shows coilovers)
2. The roof
3. The wheels
4. Front AND rear fascia
5. Side view mirror placement
6. 600HP LT1....yeah, right.
7. Exhaust tips

 

These pet projects ARE PR stunts. Its cheaper to do this and make a splash about your brand then paying advertising. Its how they justify all this expense.

Many times GM considered dropping the Vette. In fact they had to fight like hell during the government bailout to keep it. The reason they kept it was not because it made them money but dropping it would be a sign of the Chevy brand dying.

WHY did they not show it at the Detroit show? The reason is they have a better PR campaign planned for a better time for maximum impact. If you don't understand this you are complete naive in the way the auto business works.