General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Chevy division sells its flagship Corvette Stingray Coupe for under $54,000. Since the car ranks as a world-class sports vehicle, in theory it should sell for much more.
A primary reason the Corvette costs relatively little is that consumers still often look to foreign manufacturers for muscle — albeit refined muscle. Mercedes’ AMG line and the BMW M line have engines with outputs over 500 HP. The Corvette’s is 460 HP, but its low weight allows it to sprint from zero to 60 as quickly as almost any other car in the market. But it is not a BMW.
So, there is an argument to be made that selling the Corvette at a low price — sometimes tens of thousands less than similarly performing cars — keeps it competitive in what is a crowded niche market.
One of the glaring differences between the Corvette and other ultra-fast sports cars is that it has only two seats — an obvious observation, but an important one. The BMW M3 has four seats and a 425 HP engine. At a base price of $62,000, it might be tempting to buy the Chevy for $10,000 less — but a BMW is a BMW. Mercedes and Audi have four-seat cars with similar specs at similar prices.
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Chevy, cleverly, wants consumers to ignore comparisons to four-door vehicles of any sort. GM steers comparisons to two ridiculously priced cars, both from Porsche. The first is its iconic 911, which has a base price of $82,000. The other comparison GM wants consumers to make is with the Porsche Cayman, priced closer to the Corvette at $62,000. The comparison begs the question of whether the snob appeal of a Porsche can ever be matched against a brute of an American car. Wishful thinking on GM’s part.
One thing that has to override GM’s need to make the Corvette something that it is not is Corvette sales, which trump any marketing gimmick because they are so spectacular. Sales of the Corvette jumped 199% in the first four months of the year to 11,693. Does the relatively low price of the Corvette help those numbers? Most experts would say prices are almost always a factor in volume, except when drivers absolutely have to have an $80,000 Porsche.
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