Chevrolet
GM loses $20k on Every Entry-Level C8 Corvette!
Now that’s one of the reasons why GM will hike the prices of the mid-engined Chevrolet C8 Corvette after a year.
The biggest shocker related to the all-new mid-engined Chevrolet C8 Corvette got to be its pricing. Nobody believed that GM could tackle that aspect with an entry-level model which costs $59,995 It was too good to be true. Well, now Motor Trend reports that GM could be taking quite a bad hit on its economics because of the pricing.
One of Motor Trend’s sources inside GM – a senior official in the company – has informed that the price of the C8 Corvette “would have to go through the roof in order to cover GM’s cost.” Ouch. That doesn’t sound good.
The project was conceived and executed with a starting price of $79,995 in mind. So the whole design, engineering, and packaging were carried out with that budget as the reference point. Once we bring the announced starting price of $59,995 to the picture, we’ll see that Chevrolet is losing a significantly-high figure of $20,000 per every base model C8 Corvette that’s sold.
No wonder GM is planning to hike the prices after the first year. It won’t be viable at all for the company otherwise. Yes indeed, the mid-engined C8 Corvette is one hell of a halo car. But in order to make the whole idea of having it in production profitable, the sales got to bring in some kind of profits or at least cover the costs involved in making each unit. A price hike is the only way ahead.
Until then, the tempting starting price will get its designated job done – generate a lot of buzz, sell out every single car which is built in the first year, and of course please the existing Corvette customers who can change lanes to the new model without having to shell out a lot more than they did for the C7.
Source: Motor Trend