Quote:
Originally Posted by rush91
I for one hope it is not true. For starters, by building this, your excluding more than half of your customer base. That makes no sense to me at all. Say you have your base front engine 2017 Corvette, followed by your highly optioned Vette. Then the top of the line front engine ZO6, followed by the top of the line mid engine Zora.....Would it be world beating? Yes......would it be a technological marvel? Yes.........Would it be the fastest Corvette ever to come out of Bowling Green? Yes.....The only way it makes sense to me is if the entire Corvette line goes mid engine, which will never happen. What are they going to produce 500- 1000 cars and that's it?
At over $150K, with dealer mark up, the majority will sit in showrooms. Unless it is priced at around $100,000, your losing money on every car. Now I know there are ALOT of rich Corvette guys who will say I don't care what it is priced at, but they are in the minority.....I know Dave Mclellan and the boys experimented with mid engine designs in the late 70's, early 80's. And I know the current Corvette is pretty much as far as GM can take it as far as performance and handling. A mid engine mule has been testing at the GM proving grounds, so this is gonna happen. A mid engine Corvette is the future and WILL happen. But from my purist point of view, it doesn't compute unless the whole line goes mid engine. Why cant they go a hybrid mix like the GT-R? Sorry for the soapbox moment, that's just my two cents.......
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Yours is not a new argument, and it has been applied to various concept Corvettes in the past; even to the ZR-1 (at twice the base price in 1990).
It's hard to argue with success, and Corvette C5R and C6R has certainly played a part in Corvettes' success at the dealerships. All things considered, the Corvette has held its own and then some...up to now. But, you said yourself the Corvette has taken the front engine (a push-rod, no less) design to the practical limits. So, the question is, for how much longer will the current platform be successful against competing designs? (Even the Cadillac CTS-V, a sedan no less, will challenge the C7s on a road course!)
I see it as a
"chicken or the egg" argument. On the one hand I believe you're right: the bulk of the current Corvette buyers are not primed to jump into a Corvette costing 2x+ as much for a Corvette (as history of the ZR-1 proved). But, on the other hand, those that can afford to pay 3x or more for a European mid-engine world beater aren't buying Corvettes anyway.
It seems to me history may be repeating itself: the marketing department at GM is facing the same elephant in the room it did with the C4 ZR-1: unquestionable performance increase over the current (base) offering, but at a cost out of reach for the majority of the day's Corvette buyers. The difference this time is, as you said, the current (front engine, rear wheel drive) platform has nearly run its course. AND too, the writing on the wall may also be spelling the end of the pushrod motor, no?
For my 2 cents, it's going to happen. And, I expect there will be some gnashing of teeth at GM over it; a repeat of the kind we saw with the C4 ZR-1. Only this time it might be harder to pull a rabbit (LSx) out of a hat to beat over the heads of the mid-engine, DOHC fans.
I will be interesting to watch what develops...AND, what the competition comes up with!
