Should Corvette Become its Own Brand?

[Rob]

About a year to a year and half ago, I think I started this topic/poll here, but not quite sure. Now that the C6 rumor flames are being stoked more and more, I'm curious what everyone's opinons would be.

Should Corvette slip out of the Chevrolet nameplate and become it's own brand within GM leading to a 3-tier model lineup consisting of a low-priced, minimally optioned model, a mid-level, higher priced, higher performing model, and an all-out, high-priced, high-performance, exotic, super-Corvette, or should it stay under the Chevrolet nameplate continuing along the same production line as it always has? Why, or why not?

What do you think some of the pros and cons would be to each scenario?

 

[Vettelt193]

Just another idea: If Corvette was its own name they could have a Corvette SUV too. I know many corvette owners have other cars, and many of them are SUV's because of the wide range of uses they provide. I think Porsche got the right idea by making one, and a Corvette SUV would do extremely well too.

 

[ROCKETBLOCK]

Chevrolet makes Corvette....... Chevrolet makes Tahoe & Suburban. I'm a Corvette owner with an SUV by the same manufacturer now. Let's not complicate it. Not mention the increase in pricing.

 

[LongTimer]

Several years ago it was rumored that the corvette was about to go GMC ... essentially any GM dealer could pick up the brand and sell it. I rejoiced at the thought at the time. Though I have always been a die-hard Chevy man, I have NEVER found a Chevy dealer who didn't treat me and my car like a cavalier. I know that some vette specialist Chevy dealers exist, but none seem to be close by in So. Cal.

My thoughts at the time were that the Corvette Mark could be the first GM to offer real world class cars (including a 4 door) with performance as the highest priority ... sort of an American BMW that only offered "M" cars. And I hoped a local Cad dealer would jump at offering vettes. Today it appears that GM is squarely behind the Cadillac "V" effort to fill the non-two seat niches that I had in mind for my ideal Vette Line, in addition to the XLR offering which I don't see as a competitor of the vette. For this reason, I don't see the same market opportunities today as existed only a few years back.

However, customer service is STILL a big issue. I don't see the Chevy dealers letting GM take the vette away from them today, but I can't imagine them having any long term success in selling and servicing a $60k (hope not) Vette. They do a fine job of selling and maintaining trucks and lesser expensive cars. But the vette is aimed at a completely different demographic from all other Chevies. There will be more and more dissatisfied vette owners as the price increases and chevy continues to sell them. IMO.

 

[Tom73]

The Corvette is a Chevrolet, always has been and always will be. The "everyman's" sports car. If you want to go upscale then shell out the bucks and get a Ferrari or Porsche.

tom...

 

[c4ever]

The Corvette is a Chevrolet, always has been and always will be. The "everyman's" sports car. If you want to go upscale then shell out the bucks and get a Ferrari or Porsche.

tom...

;stupid

 

[Jeffvette]

Will I receive better Service from the dealership?

 

[Vettelt193]

Will I receive better Service from the dealership?

Well, I don't think it can get any worse

 

[Rob]

Let's try to keep service out of the picture and just focus on the two scenarios. For service, please see this thread:

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31662

 

[LongTimer]

The Corvette is a Chevrolet, always has been and always will be. The "everyman's" sports car. If you want to go upscale then shell out the bucks and get a Ferrari or Porsche.

tom...

All I'm saying is that GM can't charge $60k for a car and provide the level of service that most Chevy dealers have offered in the past!!!!

If the Vette is to remain ["everyman's" sports car] then GM can not charge $60k for it. I will lower my expectation of service level when the price is lower. I have owned Cads and MB that cost MUCH, MUCH less than $60k (and MUCH, MUCH, MUCH less than Ferraris and Porches - which I will NEVER OWN) and Cads and MB dealerships know how to service customers.

I am a Vette NUT and a Chevy fan, but I am also a customer paying $50-60K.

Rob, I was writing this when your last post showed up.

 

[HOTMOTORSPORTS]

Boy, that's a tough one.

I thought it would be nice to go with a separate nameplate, then the costs of keeping that separation would be enormous. Then really really special labor pricing would come into effect. The forced increased overhead has to come from someplace and it has to come from the customer.

Antitrust laws or not, we could see the temptation for some (I said some) dealers to price fix.

Whether you like it or not, it's many of the small hometown dealers that keep the competition out there. They discount to the local person that buys the pickups and cars that really pay the bills for their store.

I remember Dave Hill taking questions at Corvettes at Carlisle about allocation. He said that Chevrolet is very very commited to the dealers that supported them when the '95's and '96 were all sitting on car lots and yet still ordered Corvettes.

Maybe some of the answer is to reconsider the allocation process giving it more flexibility therefore giving the small Corvette dealers a chance to grow so that if the dealer provides the level of service and support we expect, then we will purchase from them.

Chuck

 

[Willis76]

After 50 years why change now?

For 50 years there has been a Chevrolet Corvette. What other Chevrolet line has lasted as long? Maybe a truck? How many other GM product lines have as many different model years of the same product consistanly on the road, year after year for oh so many years?

('Don't fix it if it ain't broke')

 

[67HEAVEN]

I don't care what the General calls it.....but after 50 years, it's simply a Chevy to me....but WHAT A CHEVY!

To long-time (36 years) owners like me, one of the great things about it being a Chevy is that Chevy is the everyman brand.

From Corvairs to Caprices....from Chevy IIs to El Caminos....from Cavaliers to Camaros....from Citation X-11s to 5/6/7 Nomads....from SS396 Chevelles to SS427 Impalas....from the SSR to Corvettes. What an amazing story.

I don't feel the need for an exclusive brand. The car is what it is.

 

[ROCKETBLOCK]

The Corvette is a Chevrolet, always has been and always will be. The "everyman's" sports car. If you want to go upscale then shell out the bucks and get a Ferrari or Porsche.

tom...

;stupid ;stupid ;stupid

 

[HOTMOTORSPORTS]

;stupid 2

;stupid 2

;stupid 2

 

[snake skinner]

Yes. If.......

no SUV, no sedans. Just give us various levels of Corvette like Porsche does (911, Boxster, Carrera).
Wouldn't it be great if the general gave us three (or more) engine/performance options and gave them model names like Corvette LS1, Corvette LS2 and Corvette ZO6 (just an example)

Im for the Corvette branch

 

[ROCKETBLOCK]

By the way, we don't know if Porsche's Ceyene is a boom or bust yet. Do we?

 

[yellow_2002_germany]

Remember in the early 70s...

when you could order the options you wanted on a Vette? What, 4 different engines, power windows or not, PDL or not, AC or not. If Chevy started having more option combinations available it would go at leat part of the way to keeping cost down.

How many of you actually use the Twilight Sentinel? It is in option packs 1SB and 1SC if I remember right. Our Canadian friends get it as standard. I can turn on my own lights, thank you very much. What if someone wants the HUD without sport seats? Can't be done from the factory.

Z51 is not available with F45 or F55. It was on the C4.

If Chevy did something along those lines, it might go a way towards easing the ever upward rising price.

But...keep it Chevy!

 

[justafamilyman]

Hi To All,
1) to Sherry: whoa, hot!!!!!!!!, Oh,you? No, the car. But, you can dtill drive with me.
As to the gist of the matter:
I beliave Corvette has saved Chevy for ..., well since Corvette came out. When you say "chevy", I bet the first thing anyone thinks of is the Corvette. Except, those who were "fortunate (?!?!?)" to own a Vega. Corvette has already carved itself a path in automotive history that will not end, even if the GM idiots try.
Just my 2 cents.
Oh Sherry, yea, the Corvette does desereve to pose next to you.
Brian

 

[singledad_9]

Absolutely not...

Corvette is the markee (sp.) of the chevy brand. It loses money, but it is what very many people strive for. It is a symbol that Chevy puts out a quality and performance product that can and does compete with all other manufacturers of automobiles.

Look at the Lexus, Acura and for that matter Audi verses VW brands, is there a substantial difference from their sister brands. I submit that only the price is different. GM in all of it's short sightedness has been wise to leave the vette model where it is.

Just my .02

Mike