smk4565

I am not ragging on the Corvette, I am just stating reality. To take 48 seconds out of a Nurburgring lap is a lot of time, almost 1 minute of a 7 minute lap.

On Reason 2, I agree, really you can't drive a V6 Camry at 10/10ths on a street, so the Corvette is more than enough performance for the street. Also why I think they could do the turbo 4 I mentioned, still have like a 4.2 second 0-60 time and and even lighter weight tossable car. But I don't think they'll go below the Stingray. 2023 model they say for Z06 We'll see if the Z06 can match the Black series. I would bet not. They need a 48 second per lap improvement around the Nurburgring from the C8 Stingray to the Z06 to beat the Black Series, no way are they finding 48 seconds, you don't just get that with some extra power or suspension tweaks.

Why not? The next-gen C63/SL63 are going to have a 4 cylinder hybrid with 643 hp. I'd rather have that and get like 40-50 mpg than have the 6.2 V8 in the C8 making 495 hp and get 25 mpg. Adding a turbo 4 Corvette doesn't take anything away, you make it the base starting at $50k, then the current Singray is the middle and the Z06 at the top. That widens out the range and keeps the Corvette more in the Chevy price tier. Then make a Cadillac sports car to compete with these $200k European cars. If they try to market a Chevrolet against a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, etc, that is dead on arrival idea. But I know GM isn't going to do that, they are going to go all in on the Corvette, and push the price up at the high end.

Obviously since there will be an Electric Silverado. And once you have Electric Silverado and Sierra, Tahoe and Yukon are probably to follow.

Corvette is half the cost of an AMG GT, it should sell better in USA, although I bet the world wide numbers are close. Still waiting on a Corvette to beat AMG GT or the 911 GT2 RS or Huracan Evo on a track. And guess what, without all wheel drive it won’t, does this Z06 have AWD? Sure there is money, but they have never sold a Corvette in China, so it has no following, Chevy is an economy car brand there, and the price advantage the Corvette has in the USA over some Europeans won’t be as great there. So I don’t except it to be a big seller. I think it would make sense to do a 4 cylinder hybrid Corvette for here and China, they could use the CT4-V powertrain with a 48 volt hybrid and have a car that starts at $50k here and skirts some displacement tax there.

Every SL looks good, the SLS AMG with the gullwing doors, McLaren SLR, S-class coupe and convertible of this generation, 2004 CLS, G-wagon looks good too.

Only way Corvette gets to 80-100k sales a year is if they make it an SUV, which is a terrible idea. I would not be surprised if by 2030 the Mustang Mach-E is outselling the Mustang coupe by so much that they kill the coupe. The Mach-E already outsells the coupe, with the direction coupe sales are going, it would be quite easy for Ford to kill the coupe/convertible and just call that SUV the Mustang and say it is what the market wants.

It is a hell of a track car, it is the Nurburgring record holder.

25% import tax in China plus 40% displacement tax on engines over 4.0 liter. Plus GM has to cover costs of getting it certified for China or whatever needs done, the $70k Corvette here is probably $125k or more in China, if they get it there. And in Germany the C8 is supposed to cost 99,000 euros or $110k and will 30 hp due to stricter emissions. The value equation starts to reduce a bit in export markets.

The Black Series has flat plane crank, the other AMG V8’s do not.

Because that is how a Ferrari is. And it shouldn’t really matter, if you spend $100k on a car you aren’t worried about gas mileage and most of these will get driven a couple thousand miles a year so maintenance isn’t really an issue either. But Corvette fans like to bash the high revving, expensive, over complex Dohc V8s that the Europeans make, Corvette is copying that strategy and rightly so.

No way would they hit that kind of volume, the Corvette isn’t even sold in China, the worlds biggest car market and they barely sell any in Europe. Even years ago with the C5 and C6 30,000 sales was a good year in the USA and people don’t buy sports cars now. C8 is on pace for 29k sales in the US this year, chip shortage isn’t costing them half their sales. And last year they sold 21,600 Corvettes with no chip shortage. Ford once sold over 500k Mustangs in a year, this year they probably won’t get to 50,000 and next year will be worse. There is no volume in sports cars, which makes me think the only way manufacturers will be able to justify them is if they are over $100k.

I don’t know if it has stayed that true, besides the front engine to mid-engine switch, the Corvette is getting expensive, at least with all the higher trims. And it used to be that most Cadillacs were more expensive than a Corvette, the Corvette is more expensive than 5 of 6 Cadillacs which doesn’t really make sense for a Chevy. The Corvette is still a lot of performance per dollar, but with them costing $70-80k and young people not buying sports cars the Corvette has also become an old man’s car. I actually think they would be well served to put a turbo 4 with a mild hybrid in the C8, they could get the price in the low $50s probably get 23/33 mpg out of it do attract new buyers. Going up market to take on the Europeans pretty much ruined Cadillac, trying to push Camaro to higher prices and making it a track car is going to kill it off because people don’t fit in it, can’t see out of it, and it is too expensive for millennials or Gen Z to buy. I know GM wants to take the Corvette up to the high dollar range because they see European sports cars selling for $200-300k and making big profits off them, but that isn’t what the Corvette is. So are they going to attract new buyers and keep their core or price people out while the Euro snobs ignore it anyway?

Seems like they are going for Ferrari V8, DOHC, flat plane crank, high rev screamer. Probably will suck gas and require a lot of maintenance. Sort of doing everything opposite of what the Corvette usually stands for. Will be interesting to see how it is received, because usually Corvette enthusiasts don't care for the European style sports car, but they are turning the Corvette into a European style car in order to compete with European sports cars.

I don't think it is a very good looking car, in fact Ferrari hasn't made many good looking cars in a while, they seem to have peaked in the 90s as far as styling goes. Maybe that is why old Ferraris are worth so much, these new ones don't look so good.

Mercedes volume is way higher than Lincoln, Mercedes coupes are mostly high dollar or something like a C-class that is a re-bodied high volume sedan. Also Mercedes dropped SLC, S-class coupe/convertible and the C and E class coupe and convertible ate going to get merged into a CLE I assume similar to how the CLK was. They will have CLE, SL and GT as their 2-door offerings because the market just doesn’t support more than that.

Still have to stamp all the metal for a coupe body, have unique parts for lights, bumpers, grill, seats and interior probably won’t come from another vehicle so need to develop that too. Hard to make money on a low volume car that isn’t expensive. Could be possible that Lincoln will build a coupe even if they lose money on it just to have a halo product.

Yep. I am thinking of a convertible as my next car since I don’t use my back seat and if not now, when, because by 2030 there won’t be any 2 door cars left. Which will also raise prices of used convertibles.

Coupes won’t make money though, unless it has Porsche 911 pricing scheme. If the Zephyr works really well then maybe and that’s a big maybe. I think Zypher will go about as well as Continental did. Also the Mustang was the worst selling Ford last quarter not counting discontinued stuff like Fusion or Focus. Coupes are a hard business unless you have global footprint for volume and/or share the cost like Supra and Z4.

Coupe will probably never happen, maybe Lincoln gets 1 sedan. If Lincoln had 5 SUVs and 1 sedan, the sedan would likely be the lowest seller, so the product planning people probably won’t green light a sedan unless they play to grow how many vehicles they have. You could still do a SUV below Corsair and it would outsell any sedan, they can go above Navigator with an SUV and turn better profit than a sedan. I like sedans but most car companies don’t sadly.

Worth it for the growth rate they have, up 50% last year (when the industry overall was down 16%) and up 54% this year.

Tesla sold over 205,000 units in the 2nd quarter, a record number for them.

Automakers will get there by 2035. Battery tech will be figured out, EV pricing will be more like current gas powered pricing. By 2035 people won’t even want a gas car, like who today wants a cell phone from 2005? Or a TV from 2005? Or a V8 from 2005 with 300 hp that gets 17 mpg when a turbo 4 can make 300 hp now and get 27 mpg. Tech changes over 15 years.

Less competitive than what? We know Toyota does reliability and resale probably better than anyone. The 2022 Land Cruiser is 440 lbs lighter than the 2021, has a new twin turbo V6 with 409 hp and 479 lb-ft. Seems competitive, and the Land Cruiser I would guess is better off road than an Expedition or Yukon, probably more so than a Grand Wagoneer too. If they put a Lexus badge on, and pretty up the interior a bit, I don't see why it won't be a competitor to the Escalade and Navigator.

The 4Runner powertrain has to be the oldest still on sale today, that thing is Dodge Journey level old. But people still buy these, the resale value is insane on them, I don't get the appeal myself. I am surprised Toyota hasn't updated the Tacoma and 4Runner with new powertrains and new interiors. The new Land Cruiser is not coming here, but I have to imagine they will slap a Lexus badge on it and send it here. No way will Toyota spend the money to develop a new Land Cruiser and then just not send it to North America where they can cash in.