The Corvette has long been a symbol of the American sports car. With a rich history dating back to 1953, it strikes a powerfully nostalgic tone with its buyers. However, many true sports car fans dislike the Corvette because it is a car with a duel personality disorder. The problem is that it is a Chevy.
We aren't talking about brand loyalty here, the problem is that the Corvette has a duel personality disorder. Chevy has always been known for affordable, long lasting reliability. Not high maintenance performance sports cars. The average Corvette buyer is a 58 year old, white American male who has probably bought Chevy's most of his life and continues to expect the same affordability in the Corvette.
Chevy wants to take on the big European names like Ferrari and Porsche. This means making some changes that will drive up the price. The problem is, will this cost them their current fan base? For example, the C6 Corvette comes with clunky, hard, drive-flat tires that last forever instead of slick, high performance tires that most sports cars have. When asked about it, Chevy's response was that their fans would never go for expensive, short life tires, making the Corvette look like a poor man's Porsche.
Chevy also installed cheap, low quality seats in the Corvette. It has been noted that you literally slide around in the cheap seats as you make tight turns. When asked about it, Chevy's response was the same: that their customer base wouldn't appreciate expensive seats.
The problem is, if you want to play with the big boys you have play by their rules. So a person who buys an $80,000 Corvette will want to sit on cheap seats when a Porsche for the same price offers far more luxury? It has also been pointed out that the average age of Porsche 911 buyer is 53, not to far behind the Corvette buying age. Right now, for your money, the Porsche is a better car.
The Corvette has the history and prestige to be taken seriously as an elite car, but changes are needed. One possibly change is that Chevy disassociate them self from the Corvette name completely, even going so far as to remove the famous Chevy bowtie from the front and back of the car. They would not be the first to do so, as Dodge has recently done with its new super slick Viper. It seems like Chevy wants to step up to the super car plate, let's just see if they can hit a home run.
We aren't talking about brand loyalty here, the problem is that the Corvette has a duel personality disorder. Chevy has always been known for affordable, long lasting reliability. Not high maintenance performance sports cars. The average Corvette buyer is a 58 year old, white American male who has probably bought Chevy's most of his life and continues to expect the same affordability in the Corvette.
Chevy wants to take on the big European names like Ferrari and Porsche. This means making some changes that will drive up the price. The problem is, will this cost them their current fan base? For example, the C6 Corvette comes with clunky, hard, drive-flat tires that last forever instead of slick, high performance tires that most sports cars have. When asked about it, Chevy's response was that their fans would never go for expensive, short life tires, making the Corvette look like a poor man's Porsche.
Chevy also installed cheap, low quality seats in the Corvette. It has been noted that you literally slide around in the cheap seats as you make tight turns. When asked about it, Chevy's response was the same: that their customer base wouldn't appreciate expensive seats.
The problem is, if you want to play with the big boys you have play by their rules. So a person who buys an $80,000 Corvette will want to sit on cheap seats when a Porsche for the same price offers far more luxury? It has also been pointed out that the average age of Porsche 911 buyer is 53, not to far behind the Corvette buying age. Right now, for your money, the Porsche is a better car.
The Corvette has the history and prestige to be taken seriously as an elite car, but changes are needed. One possibly change is that Chevy disassociate them self from the Corvette name completely, even going so far as to remove the famous Chevy bowtie from the front and back of the car. They would not be the first to do so, as Dodge has recently done with its new super slick Viper. It seems like Chevy wants to step up to the super car plate, let's just see if they can hit a home run.
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