Corvette - the future?
Discussion
The closure of Bauer Millett is indeed sad day for all UK Corvette fans who had perhaps hoped and dreamed that they would one day see the brand achieve the market share,and the international stature it rightfully deserves.
Other dealers have come here and gone in the night [Stratstone?} - But it seemed there was always BM!
They were always there to offer that simple but essential recipe for sales success - that being factory backed warranty service and wise experienced advice, for the non technical customer to just wanted to own a 'Vette'.
BM represented an 'oasis' as it were, in that vast 'desert of ineptitude' which defines GM's abject failure to successfully deploy the Corvette brand, in the mainstream market outside of the USA.
Now BM have gone, sadly, things do indeed look bleak for potential customers.
Those who hanker after a brand new ‘Eurospec’ Corvette, are surely advised presently to ‘hasten slowly’ before parting with their hard earned cash.
The idea that GM continues with what amounts to a 'Fortress America' position with regard to Corvette sales, in what is today a Global Marketplace for high performance Sports Cars - just beggars belief!
Porsche, Aston, Jaguar, Bentley etc - all of course do big business in the USA but now do almost as many sales in emerging markets like China.
I wonder how many Corvettes for instance were sold in China in 2014 - if their pathetic UK effort is anything to go by, then, will someone surprise me by telling me a figure greater that 0 ??
It's bad enough for Corvette fans and all those potential customers in the market place - what the investors, shareholders and indeed the employees at Bowling Green must think - well I can only imagine!
Admittedly UK Corvette fans are well serviced with regard to personal import service providers, specialist Corvette dealers, and enthusiast forums.
However, with the best will in the world, these areas of activity are of little interest to mainstream market customers, who are looking to spend £70k+ on a car!
These customers are looking firstly for a product which, ex showroom - at the first turn of the key - is fit for use on European roads!
A product which is served by an easily accessible, established and competent retail dealer network, offering the prospect of manufacturer backed spares, warranty, service and repair, and general after sales functions.
I am by no means centrally located in the UK, but I am only 10 minutes driving from Nissan GTR, BMW ‘M’ , Mercedes and Audi service and sales outlets - and 30 minutes form Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati and Bentley offering’ gold star’ customer attention.
In that same 30 minutes driving, I can even arrive at a McLaren showroom where sharp suited salesmen are very keen to pitch for my business!
Corvette! Corvette, where art thou - 300 miles away - not good enough!!!
Not even in the UK??? Just pathetic - a joke, and no other word for it!
A sad one at that mind you, especially for all present Corvette owners, as well as for potential new customers - because they, and the Corvette brand in general, deserve a whole lot more respect, and much,much better treatment from GM than that offered, for whatever reason, by the present state of affairs.
The house of GM has many rooms to be sure!
In those rooms marked ‘Design and Development‘, there are some sharp cookies, and really smart guys behind the door - respect and good luck to them!
In those rooms marked Business Development, Financial Management, Sales and Marketing, Quality Control - there are a team of no hopers hiding out, and undeservedly living well on the proceeds of past glories.
Time for them to go!
The future for Corvette?
THe Corvette is a great product, and providing the vehicle is tailored for the specific demands of each particular market it engages, there is no reason whatsoever to suppose that it will not to be a sales succees, anywhere there are customers hankering to buy high performance machinery.
Best way for GM is to hive it off to a younger team of forward thinking, motivated and committed industry professionals, who are best able to develop the brand, and maximise its fantastic potential in a modern Global Marketplace eager for its presence.
Other dealers have come here and gone in the night [Stratstone?} - But it seemed there was always BM!
They were always there to offer that simple but essential recipe for sales success - that being factory backed warranty service and wise experienced advice, for the non technical customer to just wanted to own a 'Vette'.
BM represented an 'oasis' as it were, in that vast 'desert of ineptitude' which defines GM's abject failure to successfully deploy the Corvette brand, in the mainstream market outside of the USA.
Now BM have gone, sadly, things do indeed look bleak for potential customers.
Those who hanker after a brand new ‘Eurospec’ Corvette, are surely advised presently to ‘hasten slowly’ before parting with their hard earned cash.
The idea that GM continues with what amounts to a 'Fortress America' position with regard to Corvette sales, in what is today a Global Marketplace for high performance Sports Cars - just beggars belief!
Porsche, Aston, Jaguar, Bentley etc - all of course do big business in the USA but now do almost as many sales in emerging markets like China.
I wonder how many Corvettes for instance were sold in China in 2014 - if their pathetic UK effort is anything to go by, then, will someone surprise me by telling me a figure greater that 0 ??
It's bad enough for Corvette fans and all those potential customers in the market place - what the investors, shareholders and indeed the employees at Bowling Green must think - well I can only imagine!
Admittedly UK Corvette fans are well serviced with regard to personal import service providers, specialist Corvette dealers, and enthusiast forums.
However, with the best will in the world, these areas of activity are of little interest to mainstream market customers, who are looking to spend £70k+ on a car!
These customers are looking firstly for a product which, ex showroom - at the first turn of the key - is fit for use on European roads!
A product which is served by an easily accessible, established and competent retail dealer network, offering the prospect of manufacturer backed spares, warranty, service and repair, and general after sales functions.
I am by no means centrally located in the UK, but I am only 10 minutes driving from Nissan GTR, BMW ‘M’ , Mercedes and Audi service and sales outlets - and 30 minutes form Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati and Bentley offering’ gold star’ customer attention.
In that same 30 minutes driving, I can even arrive at a McLaren showroom where sharp suited salesmen are very keen to pitch for my business!
Corvette! Corvette, where art thou - 300 miles away - not good enough!!!
Not even in the UK??? Just pathetic - a joke, and no other word for it!
A sad one at that mind you, especially for all present Corvette owners, as well as for potential new customers - because they, and the Corvette brand in general, deserve a whole lot more respect, and much,much better treatment from GM than that offered, for whatever reason, by the present state of affairs.
The house of GM has many rooms to be sure!
In those rooms marked ‘Design and Development‘, there are some sharp cookies, and really smart guys behind the door - respect and good luck to them!
In those rooms marked Business Development, Financial Management, Sales and Marketing, Quality Control - there are a team of no hopers hiding out, and undeservedly living well on the proceeds of past glories.
Time for them to go!
The future for Corvette?
THe Corvette is a great product, and providing the vehicle is tailored for the specific demands of each particular market it engages, there is no reason whatsoever to suppose that it will not to be a sales succees, anywhere there are customers hankering to buy high performance machinery.
Best way for GM is to hive it off to a younger team of forward thinking, motivated and committed industry professionals, who are best able to develop the brand, and maximise its fantastic potential in a modern Global Marketplace eager for its presence.
I think Corvette has a very bright future indeed. It's just (unfortunately, or not, depending how you see it) it won't really need the likes of the export market to make that future bright.
I don't think a few Brits will really be featuring on GM's future marketing plan.
The Chinese market definitely won't feature - GM has other brands like Buick for that.
And Europe as a whole will probably not be seen as the greatest untapped market. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they can sell 10% of cars in Europe, but to be honest, right now they can sell them as fast as they can build them with just the domestic market.
I don't think a few Brits will really be featuring on GM's future marketing plan.
The Chinese market definitely won't feature - GM has other brands like Buick for that.
And Europe as a whole will probably not be seen as the greatest untapped market. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they can sell 10% of cars in Europe, but to be honest, right now they can sell them as fast as they can build them with just the domestic market.
If someone 'really' wants a Corvette the lack of a franchised UK dealer will not put them off. The product is so reliable that any fears about after-sales service are most unlikely to be realised - service intervals are so extended and probably only yearly for many owners. For the 'real' enthusiast perhaps this will be even more of a 'spur' to own a new Corvette - to own something even more exclusive than before. It will be interesting to see how well Ford do with the introduction of the rhd Mustang in Europe and if it is successful whether it will actually deter 'real' Mustang enthusiasts from buying the new car.
roscobbc said:
If someone 'really' wants a Corvette the lack of a franchised UK dealer will not put them off. The product is so reliable that any fears about after-sales service are most unlikely to be realised - service intervals are so extended and probably only yearly for many owners. For the 'real' enthusiast perhaps this will be even more of a 'spur' to own a new Corvette - to own something even more exclusive than before. It will be interesting to see how well Ford do with the introduction of the rhd Mustang in Europe and if it is successful whether it will actually deter 'real' Mustang enthusiasts from buying the new car.
Speaking as someone who has recently bought a C7 from BM and thinks it is fantastic, a step change from the C6 which I also loved,I would definitely not have bought it if I had known that BM would cease to exist and there would be no dealer in the uk.
While I agree they are reliable I did have a few problems with my C6 which were resolved under warranty by BM.
If I experience similar problems who has the expertise and software to resolve the problem now there is no main dealer in the U.K.
I think that your view will be very much a minority one, I can not believe many people want to blow 70k on a car with no main dealer support.
It is a real shame because the car is fantastic and I agree with the some of the other comments if it was marketed right it would be a winner for GM in Europe.
Oblackvette said:
If I experience similar problems who has the expertise and software to resolve the problem now there is no main dealer in the U.K.
I think that your view will be very much a minority one, I can not believe many people want to blow 70k on a car with no main dealer support
But we still have GM authorised service facilities in the UK for all servicing (and more importantly) warranty issues - its just the authorised new sales/re-sale of the cars that currently is not available. I think that your view will be very much a minority one, I can not believe many people want to blow 70k on a car with no main dealer support
It amazes me that GM will cover all factory 're-calls' on cars not even purchased in the UK. A couple of years ago I was half considering buying a really low mileage C6Z06 which was (then) about 4 or 5 years old - I remember doing a check on the car and the factory re-call for the de-laminating roof panel was outstanding - but could have booked it in to a GM dealer for no additional cost.
A bright future for Corvette?
A light at the end of the tunnel - indeed?
Well, all we who love Corvette can all hope for, is that it's the light of the dawn of a day for the brand's success , and not the light of yet another express heading back towards it, the down the line - and the consequent disaster thereby.
If the - 'sod the customers, who needs them - they can wait' - attitude that Corvette appears to adopt to selling its wares outside the USA, is indeed at the core of its mission statement, then we are right, unfortunately, to be very pessimistic about the brands future under the present management.
In my experience across the years, I've seen the 'sod the customer' mantra and its variations employed by many companies, and the vast majority of those companies today have one thing in common - they all went bust.
Indeed, it’s worth remembering, painful as it is, that in 2008, GM was bust, - big style!
Corvette today is primarily brought to you in the marketplace, not as a consequence of the sales success of its brilliant design, but as a function of the financial generosity of the US taxpayer funded TARP bailout.
That generosity extended to the tune of the US taxpayer having to shoulder losses of $11.2 billion dollars to support GM!!
The ‘old ‘GM was a bloated inefficient behemoth of an organisation which failed magnificently for two basic reasons.
It was a Company managed by a crowd of chancers who, with the one hand, blithely led the enterprise into financial oblivion, whilst with the other, went about producing products which no one wanted to buy.
Wonderful stuff!
So what of the ‘new’ GM?
Is it ‘meet the new Boss - same as the old Boss‘?
Well we’ll have to see - certainly Ms Barra certainly has her problems, and behind the present smokescreen of ‘happy hype’ it’s again not looking good.
Buick sales in China - OK - but no big deal really!
In the present Chinese market conditions, even Lada, if it was still in business could have made a mint selling cars there!
The really interesting and revealing fact about Buick, is that GM announced this month that is going to build Buick in Europe for sale in the USA in a desperate attempt to bolster flagging European Opel production capacity - now I wonder what the UAW will say about that!
In truth GM wants out of Europe - it announced so in Dec 2013 - but it’s stuck there, mired in, because it can’t afford the financial cost of the exit.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/05/news/companies/gm-...
Of course GM said then that they would still maintain a Corvette presence in Europe - ha-ha!!
In truth, GM is in retreat from major sources of potential revenue in its export markets, because it is still struggling, big style, to come up with a business model which it can use to generate the profitability needed to make ends meet.
Gloomy stuff.
So then, what about things on home front USA?
Recall - recall - recall! it’s all we hear from there!
Constant quality control issues - production problems deliberately left for years, unaddressed and unresolved, with law suits and vast extent of consequent multi billion dollar liabilities, looking to wipe out GM’s whole years profits!
Finally back to Corvette, and its confidence inspiring sales policy of ‘let the customers queue up in the cold and wait, we’ll get round to them sometime - yawn’
So what of this queue of customers?
Take the C6Z06 - the C6 range topper and without doubt, one of the best enthusiast Sports car designs ever to come from any USA producer.
A fantastic product - if Porsche had produced it, they would have asked twice GM’s the price for it - and would without problem, have sold twice as many in the Global marketplace.
Taking a look at published production figures what do we see?
We see a production output in the period 2006 - 2008 which was in the region of 6000 to 8000 units per annum, dwindling in the period 2010 - 2013 to fewer than 1000 units per annum.
Here is a Corvette, a Manufacturer that has been in business for more than 50 years producing the Brand Leader in the US Sports car market - and its documented as only able to produce a whopping 471 units of its range topper in 2013.
What happened to all those queuing customers out in the cold waiting patiently to be offered the privilege to purchase one of these wonderful creations?
I know!
They all surfed the net and put in a Google search for - Corvette LS7 valve guides.
Having read the results consequent of their search, they all promptly shut their wallets, and breathing a sigh of relief at their lucky escape, they, countrywide, rightly ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction from Corvette dealerships
Oh yes - we know it was all Linamar’s fault - ha-ha
Did someone say Corvettes were reliable??
The new GM -eh! - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!
Caveat emptor.
A light at the end of the tunnel - indeed?
Well, all we who love Corvette can all hope for, is that it's the light of the dawn of a day for the brand's success , and not the light of yet another express heading back towards it, the down the line - and the consequent disaster thereby.
If the - 'sod the customers, who needs them - they can wait' - attitude that Corvette appears to adopt to selling its wares outside the USA, is indeed at the core of its mission statement, then we are right, unfortunately, to be very pessimistic about the brands future under the present management.
In my experience across the years, I've seen the 'sod the customer' mantra and its variations employed by many companies, and the vast majority of those companies today have one thing in common - they all went bust.
Indeed, it’s worth remembering, painful as it is, that in 2008, GM was bust, - big style!
Corvette today is primarily brought to you in the marketplace, not as a consequence of the sales success of its brilliant design, but as a function of the financial generosity of the US taxpayer funded TARP bailout.
That generosity extended to the tune of the US taxpayer having to shoulder losses of $11.2 billion dollars to support GM!!
The ‘old ‘GM was a bloated inefficient behemoth of an organisation which failed magnificently for two basic reasons.
It was a Company managed by a crowd of chancers who, with the one hand, blithely led the enterprise into financial oblivion, whilst with the other, went about producing products which no one wanted to buy.
Wonderful stuff!
So what of the ‘new’ GM?
Is it ‘meet the new Boss - same as the old Boss‘?
Well we’ll have to see - certainly Ms Barra certainly has her problems, and behind the present smokescreen of ‘happy hype’ it’s again not looking good.
Buick sales in China - OK - but no big deal really!
In the present Chinese market conditions, even Lada, if it was still in business could have made a mint selling cars there!
The really interesting and revealing fact about Buick, is that GM announced this month that is going to build Buick in Europe for sale in the USA in a desperate attempt to bolster flagging European Opel production capacity - now I wonder what the UAW will say about that!
In truth GM wants out of Europe - it announced so in Dec 2013 - but it’s stuck there, mired in, because it can’t afford the financial cost of the exit.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/05/news/companies/gm-...
Of course GM said then that they would still maintain a Corvette presence in Europe - ha-ha!!
In truth, GM is in retreat from major sources of potential revenue in its export markets, because it is still struggling, big style, to come up with a business model which it can use to generate the profitability needed to make ends meet.
Gloomy stuff.
So then, what about things on home front USA?
Recall - recall - recall! it’s all we hear from there!
Constant quality control issues - production problems deliberately left for years, unaddressed and unresolved, with law suits and vast extent of consequent multi billion dollar liabilities, looking to wipe out GM’s whole years profits!
Finally back to Corvette, and its confidence inspiring sales policy of ‘let the customers queue up in the cold and wait, we’ll get round to them sometime - yawn’
So what of this queue of customers?
Take the C6Z06 - the C6 range topper and without doubt, one of the best enthusiast Sports car designs ever to come from any USA producer.
A fantastic product - if Porsche had produced it, they would have asked twice GM’s the price for it - and would without problem, have sold twice as many in the Global marketplace.
Taking a look at published production figures what do we see?
We see a production output in the period 2006 - 2008 which was in the region of 6000 to 8000 units per annum, dwindling in the period 2010 - 2013 to fewer than 1000 units per annum.
Here is a Corvette, a Manufacturer that has been in business for more than 50 years producing the Brand Leader in the US Sports car market - and its documented as only able to produce a whopping 471 units of its range topper in 2013.
What happened to all those queuing customers out in the cold waiting patiently to be offered the privilege to purchase one of these wonderful creations?
I know!
They all surfed the net and put in a Google search for - Corvette LS7 valve guides.
Having read the results consequent of their search, they all promptly shut their wallets, and breathing a sigh of relief at their lucky escape, they, countrywide, rightly ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction from Corvette dealerships
Oh yes - we know it was all Linamar’s fault - ha-ha
Did someone say Corvettes were reliable??
The new GM -eh! - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!
Caveat emptor.
Chaps- we are an Official repairer for Cadillac/Corvette in the UK. I know for many of you a trip down south is not the most convenient of things. We will try and help out as much as possible with the use of loan cars or doing jobs as quick as possible to get you back on the road. We have Jim in the workshop who is ex White Quay so has experience with the product.
If anyone is looking to purchase a new Corvette/Caddy/Camero please do get in touch and I may be able to assist you.
Sorry to piggyback on this thread.
If anyone is looking to purchase a new Corvette/Caddy/Camero please do get in touch and I may be able to assist you.
Sorry to piggyback on this thread.
Say it a bit louder Woody - there are a more than a few people out there need to hear it, including, I have to say GM management both in UK, Europe and Stateside. The seeming lack of any official published statement about where GM Corvette etc is going in the UK and Europe is disgraceful and undermining the brands reputation. As we can see with (only) the very few replies on this thread there are significant doubts about comfortably buying a new GM US vehicle in the UK irrespective of how good or otherwise the vehicle is. The previous comments on this thread regarding GM's financial woes (I think)really hits home and make one wonder if the situation for GM currently is one similar but far larger than the one we had in the UK all those years ago with British Leyland. Is it a "wake up GM and smell the coffee" scenario for? - the following comment was (oddly) sent to me earlier this week on 'Linked In" - but it is an interesting comment on the 'condition' of the American and perhaps Global auto industries corporate 'myopia'.
Quote
At the Detroit auto show, General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra announced that the company will launch a new electric car in 2017, the Chevrolet Bolt, designed to have a single-charge range of 200 miles, and to sell at a comfortable price point in the range of $30,000 (after the substantial Federal rebate on electric vehicles).
And the papers are now full of stories from the auto show painting this as a serious attempt by GM to compete directly with Tesla, which plans to introduce its own medium-priced electric car by 2017, the $35,000 Model 3. Auto industry reporters covering the story paint GM’s initiative as a challenge to Tesla, a company described as GM’s key rival in the electric car category. According to these reporters, this is shaping up to be a head-to-head fight for the mid-priced electric vehicle market which, by 2017, should also be joined by a variety of other carmakers.
But I think most of these industry pundits aren’t fully grasping the nature of this story. Tesla almost certainly welcomes competition from GM, as well as from Toyota and any other traditional car manufacturer. Tesla wants GM and the others to be successful with their new electric car models, because the more success they achieve, the more credibility and infrastructure support will be gained for the entire electric car category, which will almost certainly benefit Tesla even more than the other companies.
How else can we explain the fact that just last year Elon Musk, Tesla’s iconic CEO, chose to freely reveal all of his company’s patents in the electric vehicle category? Musk probably hopes that GM has been able to accelerate its plans for the Bolt by capitalizing on some of these now-available patents.
Think about the costs that Tesla has been incurring, all by itself, to get this category kick-started. It has laboriously and single-handedly set up its own charging stations up and down the East and West Coasts. It has plans to set up quick-charge stations that will fully charge an electric car even faster than you can fill the tank of a traditional gas-powered car (essentially by dropping the battery out of the bottom of a vehicle and installing a fully charged one in its place). And Tesla is challenging state legislatures and car dealer lobbies in a number of states for the right to sell cars directly to consumers through Tesla stores, designed like Apple stores, rather than being required by outdated laws to set up franchised dealerships.
If they’re smart, companies like GM and Toyota will copy not just Tesla’s electric technology, but also the luxurious and completely frictionless user experience that makes the Tesla such a joy to operate in the first place. In many ways, Tesla isn’t really a car manufacturer at all. They are an information company with a high-end computer that has a surprisingly large number of car features. With just 17 moving parts, the Tesla Model S is almost constantly connected to the mother ship manufacturer, and its internal software is updated every week.
Nor are Tesla’s customers and fans just a bunch of climate-change do-gooders. They are mostly the kind of young, upper-middle-class early technology adopters who always have to have the latest i-Phone.
To paraphrase a famous GM tagline, the Tesla is not your father’s automobile.
Or, to use a word invented by the linguistically gifted George W. Bush, traditional carmakers are constantly “misunderestimating” the nature of Tesla’s real challenge.
End Quote
Written by Don Peppers - a key speaker on US corporate affairs (seemingly)
Quote
At the Detroit auto show, General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra announced that the company will launch a new electric car in 2017, the Chevrolet Bolt, designed to have a single-charge range of 200 miles, and to sell at a comfortable price point in the range of $30,000 (after the substantial Federal rebate on electric vehicles).
And the papers are now full of stories from the auto show painting this as a serious attempt by GM to compete directly with Tesla, which plans to introduce its own medium-priced electric car by 2017, the $35,000 Model 3. Auto industry reporters covering the story paint GM’s initiative as a challenge to Tesla, a company described as GM’s key rival in the electric car category. According to these reporters, this is shaping up to be a head-to-head fight for the mid-priced electric vehicle market which, by 2017, should also be joined by a variety of other carmakers.
But I think most of these industry pundits aren’t fully grasping the nature of this story. Tesla almost certainly welcomes competition from GM, as well as from Toyota and any other traditional car manufacturer. Tesla wants GM and the others to be successful with their new electric car models, because the more success they achieve, the more credibility and infrastructure support will be gained for the entire electric car category, which will almost certainly benefit Tesla even more than the other companies.
How else can we explain the fact that just last year Elon Musk, Tesla’s iconic CEO, chose to freely reveal all of his company’s patents in the electric vehicle category? Musk probably hopes that GM has been able to accelerate its plans for the Bolt by capitalizing on some of these now-available patents.
Think about the costs that Tesla has been incurring, all by itself, to get this category kick-started. It has laboriously and single-handedly set up its own charging stations up and down the East and West Coasts. It has plans to set up quick-charge stations that will fully charge an electric car even faster than you can fill the tank of a traditional gas-powered car (essentially by dropping the battery out of the bottom of a vehicle and installing a fully charged one in its place). And Tesla is challenging state legislatures and car dealer lobbies in a number of states for the right to sell cars directly to consumers through Tesla stores, designed like Apple stores, rather than being required by outdated laws to set up franchised dealerships.
If they’re smart, companies like GM and Toyota will copy not just Tesla’s electric technology, but also the luxurious and completely frictionless user experience that makes the Tesla such a joy to operate in the first place. In many ways, Tesla isn’t really a car manufacturer at all. They are an information company with a high-end computer that has a surprisingly large number of car features. With just 17 moving parts, the Tesla Model S is almost constantly connected to the mother ship manufacturer, and its internal software is updated every week.
Nor are Tesla’s customers and fans just a bunch of climate-change do-gooders. They are mostly the kind of young, upper-middle-class early technology adopters who always have to have the latest i-Phone.
To paraphrase a famous GM tagline, the Tesla is not your father’s automobile.
Or, to use a word invented by the linguistically gifted George W. Bush, traditional carmakers are constantly “misunderestimating” the nature of Tesla’s real challenge.
End Quote
Written by Don Peppers - a key speaker on US corporate affairs (seemingly)
Unfortunately I agree with most of the above posts, GM will not IMHO put the effort in to market and sell Corvette correctly in Europe.
I had to wait 11months for mine after placing the order.
The UK appeared to be the last country to get any cars in Europe for some reason. ManU freebies excepted.
I would surmise that this lack of support from GM had some impact on the Bauer Millet closure and perhaps illustrates GM commitment to the UK and it's future intent when it failed to supply it's only dealer with stock in a reasonable time frame, they wouldn't even supply a demonstrator.
It must be difficult to sell car's on a lead time approaching a year with no demonstrator.
They can sell all they make in their home market at the moment so you can imagine the scenario where they look at demand world wide
e.g. U.K 2014 sales 6 (apart from the ManU freebies,) mine was on the first and only 2014 consignment one of six cars.
I guess Europe as a whole won't be a great deal better per country.
In contrast I was reading a post by a sales guy for one of the big USA dealers, he sold 8 one rainy Tuesday winters afternoon.
The top dealers selling >1200 C7's (extrapolated from the 2nd quarter figures).
It's easy to see why GM's focus is domestic, they can sell all they can make with little effort.
Personally I think this is short sighted because of course this domestic demand will abate in time and it is a good enough car to sell world wide
it has no real competition at it's price point. Spec a 911 up to a comparable level and you looking at 100K+.
It all seems a shame and a missed opportunity, c'est la vie.
I had to wait 11months for mine after placing the order.
The UK appeared to be the last country to get any cars in Europe for some reason. ManU freebies excepted.
I would surmise that this lack of support from GM had some impact on the Bauer Millet closure and perhaps illustrates GM commitment to the UK and it's future intent when it failed to supply it's only dealer with stock in a reasonable time frame, they wouldn't even supply a demonstrator.
It must be difficult to sell car's on a lead time approaching a year with no demonstrator.
They can sell all they make in their home market at the moment so you can imagine the scenario where they look at demand world wide
e.g. U.K 2014 sales 6 (apart from the ManU freebies,) mine was on the first and only 2014 consignment one of six cars.
I guess Europe as a whole won't be a great deal better per country.
In contrast I was reading a post by a sales guy for one of the big USA dealers, he sold 8 one rainy Tuesday winters afternoon.
The top dealers selling >1200 C7's (extrapolated from the 2nd quarter figures).
It's easy to see why GM's focus is domestic, they can sell all they can make with little effort.
Personally I think this is short sighted because of course this domestic demand will abate in time and it is a good enough car to sell world wide
it has no real competition at it's price point. Spec a 911 up to a comparable level and you looking at 100K+.
It all seems a shame and a missed opportunity, c'est la vie.
GM marketing is non existent here in the UK and yet they've missed such a good opportunity. As one of the most successful GT teams of all time, how many times have we seen an advertising campaign telling us all of their many successes at Le Mans? How many times have we seen an advertising campaign telling us all how well the Corvette model X car did around the ring? Never. How many times have we seen advertising campaigns from Audi reminding us of their success at Le Mans? Get my point......
Any other manufacturer would jump at the chance to have a 60 year old icon that's still selling well, winning iconic races and setting quicker times at the ring than far more expensive exotica, and they would be shouting all about it from the roof tops. Everybody would know about it.
GM, well they can't really be bothered....
Any other manufacturer would jump at the chance to have a 60 year old icon that's still selling well, winning iconic races and setting quicker times at the ring than far more expensive exotica, and they would be shouting all about it from the roof tops. Everybody would know about it.
GM, well they can't really be bothered....
Gixer said:
GM marketing is non existent here in the UK and yet they've missed such a good opportunity. As one of the most successful GT teams of all time, how many times have we seen an advertising campaign telling us all of their many successes at Le Mans? How many times have we seen an advertising campaign telling us all how well the Corvette model X car did around the ring? Never. How many times have we seen advertising campaigns from Audi reminding us of their success at Le Mans? Get my point......
Any other manufacturer would jump at the chance to have a 60 year old icon that's still selling well, winning iconic races and setting quicker times at the ring than far more expensive exotica, and they would be shouting all about it from the roof tops. Everybody would know about it.
GM, well they can't really be bothered....
Yes you are so right, that just about sums it up GM just can't be botheredAny other manufacturer would jump at the chance to have a 60 year old icon that's still selling well, winning iconic races and setting quicker times at the ring than far more expensive exotica, and they would be shouting all about it from the roof tops. Everybody would know about it.
GM, well they can't really be bothered....
Is it that they can't be bothered, or that they have goldfish-like memories? They may be able to sell all the C7s they can build in the US right now, but what about in a few years time when everyone's traded up from their C6 and sales drop off? Same thing happened with the C6, although compounded by the financial crash and GMs financial problems.... They need to start winning non-US markets over more seriously to avoid the "boom and bust" effect (unless they're going to reduce their model cycles from around a decade!)
GW65 said:
Is it that they can't be bothered, or that they have goldfish-like memories? They may be able to sell all the C7s they can build in the US right now, but what about in a few years time when everyone's traded up from their C6 and sales drop off? Same thing happened with the C6, although compounded by the financial crash and GMs financial problems.... They need to start winning non-US markets over more seriously to avoid the "boom and bust" effect (unless they're going to reduce their model cycles from around a decade!)
Harley Davidson perhaps should be the perfect 'role model' - over the last few years they have developed a huge and loyal international following - so much so that 'overseas' sales take priority over 'home' sales in USA.Edited by roscobbc on Thursday 22 January 17:56
Edited by roscobbc on Thursday 22 January 17:56
I think the problem with GM is they still in their mind have their European division to service Europe - Vauxhall/Opel and of course Saab previously and their US brands to service the US. They always appear reluctant to cross products between their regions, the Holden being the only exception I can think of and that originated in Auz so was already LHD, where as Ford have from time to time shared platforms or even cars over all their regions.
Let's just hope that plenty of people buy these new corvettes as they are a brilliant car to drive! As a former technician at Bauer Millett I got to prep and drive a few of the Manchester United players cars, and of all the cars we got to play with, in my opinion it was by far the best! (probably followed by the Cadillac cts-v)
V8 YEA said:
Aussie cars are RHD mate. If you take a left hooker over there it has to converted to RHD.
The exceptions are unmodified classics. GM would'nt convert LHD to RHD the RHD market is too small,
that's the reason we got RHD Monaro's and everything else LHD from them
Clearly a typo mate The exceptions are unmodified classics. GM would'nt convert LHD to RHD the RHD market is too small,
that's the reason we got RHD Monaro's and everything else LHD from them
Australias first RHD converted C7:
http://corvetteclinic.com.au/
And this ones a snip at only $AUS 249,990 (Blimey!)
http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/Chevrole...
http://corvetteclinic.com.au/
And this ones a snip at only $AUS 249,990 (Blimey!)
http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/Chevrole...
Edited by Silver C6 on Sunday 1st February 23:46
Edited by Silver C6 on Sunday 1st February 23:49
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