New Corvette deliveries dropping

[Wayne M.]

GM released July monthly and calendar year-to-date delivery figures for July 2013. The numbers are down 32% over same month in 2012 (to 671 units), and 6344 for Jan to July 2013, down 20.8% over 2012.

Good grief -- July's production is less than a week's production back in the C2 era.

How much longer can this bleeding go on before GM pulls the plug on the Corvette marque ?

[Tom R.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

Wayne, do you think the drop could be attributed to the anticipation of the C7 coming shortly? I know new car design release has had that effect on me in the past (C4 to C5).
Tom

[Duke W.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

Good grief -- July's production is less than a week's production back in the C2 era.

The data in the pdf is "delivery", which is sold cars delivered by to the buyer. Don't confuse this with production data.

No doubt GM's announcement of the C7 back in January caused many potential buyers to wait and see the new model just as I did when I put my '62 purchase plan on hold and ended up buying a '63. This would account for the lower sales in the last seven months.

...which brings up a question of what's going on with C7. I assume they are in production now, but there is probably a shipping hold until it's determined that there are no production problems, so they won't arrive at dealerships until late this month or next month. Does anyone know?

Duke

[Dick W.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

The data in the pdf is "delivery", which is sold cars delivered by to the buyer. Don't confuse this with production data.

No doubt GM's announcement of the C7 back in January caused many potential buyers to wait and see the new model just as I did when I put my '62 purchase plan on hold and ended up buying a '63. This would account for the lower sales in the last seven months.

...which brings up a question of what's going on with C7. I assume they are in production now, but there is probably a shipping hold until it's determined that there are no production problems, so they won't arrive at dealerships until late this month or next month. Does anyone know?

Duke

Tom Hill told us at the convention they are on shipping hold until they are sure there are no issues with the car. BTW, looks a LOT better up close than it does in the photos

[Michael F.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

still has to many european copycat stuff for me and the rear glass and side glass look very similar to mustang, or old 280 nissan. my opinion still is crappy looking, but to those who like and buy great for you and enjoy and ignore people like me who don't like....after all it will be your car.

[Bryan H.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

the new sting ray caused me to decide to buy a 2013 427 convertible. all will have Z51 engines and the car a least to me resembles the camaro. they also deleted the round tail lights that have been on all cars since 62... hope it sells well for GM and corvette...bryan hepper

[Joe L.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

the new sting ray caused me to decide to buy a 2013 427 convertible. all will have Z51 engines and the car a least to me resembles the camaro. they also deleted the round tail lights that have been on all cars since 62... hope it sells well for GM and corvette...bryan hepper

All-----

I've been concerned about this for a long time. I just don't think that Corvettes "resonate" well with the younger generations. They're just a whole lot more interested in other kinds of cars and, these days, there are a LOT of those other kinds of cars out there and a lot of them aren't even sports cars.

Back in the Corvette's hey-day, there really weren't a huge number of alternatives to the Corvette available. There were a few British sports cars, none really very competitive with Corvette, and that was about it.

Another factor, as I've mentioned before, is the fact that the V-8 for passenger cars is dying, like it or not. Very few cars are even available with a V-8 anymore. Cadillac, once virtually exclusive V-8 territory, now has only one model car with a V-8----the very low production CTS-V. Lincoln, another bastion of V-8 engines, now has NO cars available with V-8 engines. The only car that Ford Motor Company makes with a V-8 is the Mustang and most of those are V-6 equipped. The vast majority of the younger generations wouldn't even consider buying a car with a V-8 engine. Were it not for trucks and "SUV's" (another name for a truck), there would not even be V-8 engines in production today. I believe this trend is going to continue especially as a result of the new CAFE standards. Of course, the Corvette with its trivial production numbers even at maximum factory output relative to total GM production is not going to significantly affect GM meeting CAFE standards. However, there still have to be buyers for the car to keep it in production.

What's in going to take to save the Corvette in the long run? I think it's going to take a metamorphosis to a smaller, lighter car with, at most, V-6 power.

Another factor is just plain 'ol price. In 1966, the base MSRP of a Corvette coupe was $4295. That was a lot of money for a car in those days and few could afford a Corvette even if they really wanted one. In today's dollars $4295 is about $31,000. However, the base MSRP of a Corvette is about $50,000. So, in relative terms, a Corvette is a lot more expensive today than it was in 1966.

[Jim D.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

hope it sells well for GM and corvette...bryan hepper

Sales will continue to fall, especially with that new model. Think about it, they're selling less cars now than they did in 1962.

[Joe R.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

As long as there is a void in the styling department the trend will continue. Who wants to pay 50K for a Camaro? Nobody!

We need another Harley Earl!!!!

JR

[Bryan H.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

JOE if you look at total production of around 13,000 and sales thru July of around 6000 that means there are a heck of a lot of 2013's unsold....almost 50% not a good end to the model..you may be correct about the v8 my 427(428) will be a fossil...

[Michael D.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

...which brings up a question of what's going on with C7. I assume they are in production now, but there is probably a shipping hold until it's determined that there are no production problems, so they won't arrive at dealerships until late this month or next month. Does anyone know?...

My daily commute is on I-65 north of Bowling Green. To date, I have seen exactly one northbound transporter carrying C7s. All of these cars were white.

[Steve B.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

As long as there is a void in the styling department the trend will continue. Who wants to pay 50K for a Camaro? Nobody!

We need another Harley Earl!!!!

JR

I agree 100% with Joe Ray and Joe Lucia. In order for the Corvette to survive, it needs to have dynamic styling and be priced at 30k which when one adjusts for inflation is where pricing was in the 60s.

[William L.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

Went to the NCM last week to visit my car, its in the NCRS/Bloomington Gold Marque of Excellence display and the folks there told me that the Corvette Assembly line is down and having problems? It will not be running at normal speed until September!

[Paul O.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

the new sting ray caused me to decide to buy a 2013 427 convertible. all will have Z51 engines and the car a least to me resembles the camaro. they also deleted the round tail lights that have been on all cars since 62... hope it sells well for GM and corvette...bryan hepper

I would not say this is a round tail light circa 1994.

My only issue is the rear area is all angles which is fine for me but then you have round exhaust tips they just look out of place.

[Gene M.]

Re: New Corvette deliveries dropping

I would not say this is a round tail light circa 1994.

My only issue is the rear area is all angles which is fine for me but then you have round exhaust tips they just look out of place.

I would suggest to get rid of all that black and make it body color. If I fell into a bucket of money that is the first thing I change. I would take off all the black parts and paint them body color. But I don't see a purchase in the near future ........