Finally, A Mid Engine Corvette? | Page 13 | FerrariChat

Finally, A Mid Engine Corvette?

Discussion in 'American Muscle' started by photonut, Aug 17, 2014.

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  1. JV's89

    JV's89 F1 Veteran
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    Sport mode is about as "crazy" as I get. One of these days I'll do a track day, but on the street I'm too concerned with overestimating my driving skills.
     
  2. Edward 96GTS

    Edward 96GTS F1 Veteran
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    a mid engine vette!? oh yeah! make america great again!!
     
  3. JV's89

    JV's89 F1 Veteran
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    Are you implying that Stingrays aren't great? :D
     
  4. Ryan S.

    Ryan S. Two Time F1 World Champ
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    So what are we looking at for pricing here? How much higher of a premium over the front engine cars?

    I have hoped for decades they would go mid engine but keep pricing same as front engine cars. That def isn't going to happen but I hope we don't have 150k mid engine vettes. Not worth it at that price.
     
  5. 95spiderman

    95spiderman F1 World Champ
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    if top of the line z07 is about 100k, then mid engine will be at significantly more.

    gtr is 175k. nxs, r8, 570 are all 200k.

    caymans are almost 100k now so a vette with 488 level performance should be well above that
     
  6. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Why not? If Ferrari can charge $250k for an equivalent car, $150k for a mid-engine vette would be a deal. Particularly if they don't make the car look like an angry insect.
     
  7. Jo Sta7

    Jo Sta7 F1 Rookie
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    150k and they'll move every one. Make the interior with proper materials.
     
  8. Ryan S.

    Ryan S. Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Just hoping to have a fairly priced mid engine v8 that is american made.
     
  9. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    #309 TheMayor, Feb 20, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2017
    I've been to Bowling green. I can't see anyway they could make that car there without extensive retooling of the facilities.

    IMO, if they do this it's going to be a limited production run only maybe from an outside vendor like Ford does with the Ford GT.

    Every 6 or 7 years GM has the same idea and every year the bean counters say it's not worth it. So, don't hold your breath. Chevy sold 29,000 C7's last year -- that's close to it's all time high. It's unlikely they would throw that facility away for a higher priced model.

    The big question is from the money people: "Why do you need this?" So far this year the NSX is tracking to about 3,000 units in the USA. Not a great start. The BMW i8 is also slow. McLaren will sell maybe 2000 units of their 570's.

    When you go over $100K for a small 2 seater toy, the market gets really thin with Porsche sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room. Corvette knows this from it's own models. They know the meat of the market is between $55K and $75K. After that sales drop exponentially. This is data they have presented from their own research done before developing the new C7.

    The only reason GM ok'd the C7 is because the engineering team showed it they could do it without a lot of investment in Bowling green.
     
  10. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Texas!


    Have you priced out a new Porsche lately? Even Caymans are knocking on the door of $100k.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  11. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    #311 TheMayor, Feb 20, 2017
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    I have. But you can get a Cayman for about the price as a C7. No problem. In fact you can lease one for maybe $700 -$800 a month.
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  12. joker57676

    joker57676 Two Time F1 World Champ

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    That, plus I think Porsche and Chevy have a different clientele.

    Chevy needs to be smart with the mid-engine Vette. If they price it too high, they'll lose their ass. Chevy should study the disaster that was the Viper. All the performance in the world means exactly nothing if your core market won't pay for it.



    Mark
     
  13. Ryan S.

    Ryan S. Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Imagine that with a v8 I'd be sold lol
     
  14. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    I dunno. If I were Chevy (and they're probably glad I'm not), I'd want a mid-engine to be a halo car. A car that would bring even Ferrari buyers into the tent. I'd do the roll out the same way Ford did the initial GT. One or two per dealer. I bet the car would sell for a significantly higher premium than $150k. Go back and look at the Ford GT. I don't follow that market, but I'd be willing to bet those cars are selling for over sticker over 10 years later.
     
  15. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    The first Ford Gt happened ONLY because the bean counters weren't deeply involved and Bill Ford wanted it for the 100th anniversary.

    Even so the engineers guaranteed the company they would at least break even on the car so they were able to do it.

    Sure... Chevy could do this. But it will not be a long term strategy.
     
  16. LARRYH

    LARRYH F1 Veteran
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    you do realize that for many years they ran two separate lines one for the Cadillac and the other for corvette .. They from what I recall there were only a few actual common parts and they divided the line at the frame rail department....when you do the corvette tour you don't see the Cadillac side of the plant....
     
  17. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Trust me, I think GM should have been allowed to die a natural death, and I think it still will. I mean does anybody remember the 50th anniversary Corvette? That would have been a prefect opportunity to reintroduce a modern C1. It would have been so cool. Of course, they did nothing but slap decals and paint on an existing car.
     
  18. LARRYH

    LARRYH F1 Veteran
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    this is a possibility but you are talking around 5000 cars just to do 1 per dealer... I believe they will build a car that will have significantly lower volume then that .. They sometimes do special serial number cars and normally one thousand is right..
    I would expect 1000 cars per year.(maybe less).to get enough to start...priced at whatever they want .. IF the car matches the price and it would be good that they do that they will sell the cars with little doubt. ...
     
  19. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    I agree. This needs to be a halo car like the Enzo was. The first Enzos sold for 600k and have never looked back.
     
  20. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    I walked the factory and they described what Cadillac was doing there for a while - and why they stopped.

    It didn't make economic sense.
     
  21. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    A car like this is not supposed to make sense. It makes a statement, i.e., If Toyota can do it, Chevy can do it. The Big Boys have known about the Toyota Way for almost 30 years. This means you don't need 100,000 unit production runs to make money. You can make money producing 500 units.
     
  22. ForzaV12

    ForzaV12 Formula 3

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    I strongly disagree. The "bailout" was mishandled by Obama, but every other car producer on this planet has been bailed out in one form or another by their government or other companies or both.
    GM produces some incredibly vehicles across the entire market spectrum. Their trucks,SUVS,hybrids,family sedans and hybrids are at the top or near the top in nearly every category. They build better BMW's than BMW and Camaros and Cadillacs are considered by most reviewers to have a better chassis,steering and brakes than the European competitors. I stopped buying BMWs and Benzs a few years ago and switched to Cadillac. For me it was about the drive, not the perceived status.
    My dealer service(and free maintenance) has been outstanding.
    Sure, they can still improve-but, their biggest problem now is getting folks into their showrooms as most middle class buyers like to pretend they have status by buying a bottom feeder Benz or BMW. Buying habits are difficult to change-how else can you explain anyone buying a new Lexus when they are truly some of the ugliest cars on the road now-if they were produced by GM, all the naysayers would be calling them the second coming of the Aztek.
    As to the mid Corvette, I agree that it should be a halo car. GM can do it and at a price point that will make money. It really wasn't that long ago that GM ruled the world. If Mopar can produce a Challenger that will be selling for 75-80K(and believe me they'll make money), GM can do the Corvette for twice that. We know it will have world class and beyond capability. They already build Camaros that outrun M class BMWs.
     
  23. Jo Sta7

    Jo Sta7 F1 Rookie
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    I agree with this, I think GM is better now than it ever has been. Aside from their horrible commercials they're on fire.
     
  24. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    I went to a Cad dealer a few weeks ago and the experience was close to horrible. I think Cad needs to work on dealers to retrain them to understand if someone walks in without a cane or walker they may actually be a real customer.

    I felt like a topless super model walking into a Church social.
     
  25. WILLIAM H

    WILLIAM H Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #325 WILLIAM H, Feb 21, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    The Alfa 4C has a carbon monocoque for $55,000

    So I think the C8 would have to have one.

    I imagine the C8 will cost at least double the 4C

    I spoke to someone who said they saw a Prototype & said it looks like a McLaren P1.

    That would be great :)
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