They say, “Change is hard in the beginning, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” The same could be true of the evolutionary C8 Corvette and the fresh new energy it has brought to the brand.
Yes, the brand desperately needed new energy. We talked about it deep inside the Corvette community in hushed, often dismissive tones, but we knew it nonetheless.
We knew we needed a younger generation to embrace the Corvette with the same passion as Baby Boomers, but how? Unfortunately, the last few decades had seen the average age of Vette buyers grow older alongside the car itself.
To be honest, the Corvette was the coolest when older people were young. As a result, our brand of choice was often seen as a feel-good purchase that makes people reminiscent of when they were younger.
Nostalgia sales are good if you just want to ride that horse ‘til it drops. It’s not feasible from a business standpoint, though, to expect that demographic to grow.
Corvette, as an international brand, needed fresh energy, and we needed it fast. But, as we all knew, the messy part in the middle comes down to this one deceptively simple marketing question.
How do you attract a new audience without completely alienating your passionately loyal customer base? Here’s how GM masterfully pulled it off.
“We Had To Go For It”
In so many ways, it just made sense. Boomers were starting to age out of sports cars. When you get into your 60s, comfort becomes more important.
Sports cars were not going away, but the market was trending smaller.
Research had shown current Vette owners split roughly 50-50 on the mid-engine switch. But among the supercar owners that Chevrolet hoped to attract, 90 percent favored it.
GM needed someone to shake off the stodgy reputation of being your grandfather’s performance car. Fortunately, Tadge Juechter, a 20 year GM veteran who started under then-chief Dave Hill, was ready for the challenge.
“We had to go for it,” Tadge Juechter said during a New York Times interview, “We did it purely for physics rules, but the byproduct was that it would also appeal to a new generation.
We try to respect the past, but not be stuck in the past.”
His close, hands-on experience with the C5 and C6 prepared him and his team to produce a $59,995 mid-engine game-changing sports car.
The much-needed energy, it seems, was about to be turned up.
Turning Up The Energy
The mid-engine 2020 Chevrolet Corvette might have been the single worst kept secret in automotive history. The GM marketing team kept the speculation of the July 18th, 2019 reveal stoked to a fevered pitch through spy photos and other “leaks.”
The Kennedy Space Center reveal nights saw a record-breaking 471,000 people tune into its live stream to watch. That number is even more impressive, considering the event took place on the West Coast when most on the East Coast had gone to bed.
The newfound energy continued long after the reveal event. The Corvette page on the Chevrolet website recorded 2.4 million visits between the 18th and the end of the month.
By July 31st, over 1.3 million users had already tried out the Corvette’s Visualizer to experience configuring their potential C8.
Visitors to the Visualizer built over 940,000 Corvettes and logged more than 152,000 hours with the online tool before August even began.
The C8 platform had moved spectacularly from the CAD design stage to the hands-on ordering stage. Finally, the energy was moving to the streets.
Younger, More Affluent
We started to see the C8’s at Caffeine & Octane not long after they started rolling off the assembly line. These excited owners were new to America’s Sportscar and, often, new to the Corvette lifestyle.
Come to find out, two-thirds of C8 buyers had never bought a Chevrolet in the past. For them, the most cross-shopped vehicle is a Porsche 911.
After talking to roughly 30 new owners, it’s apparent that performance, styling, and value brought them into the fold.
While we’re talking demographics, a Chevrolet spokesman told FOX Business that the median income of a 2020 Corvette buyer was $76,000 higher than last year’s C7 owner. That puts the C8 owner’s yearly income in the range of $214,000.
That higher income led to the purchase of higher trims and additional options. A majority of 2020 buyers selected a 3LT Corvette (46.8%) vs. the 2LT (39.1%) or base 1LT package (14.5%).
Chevrolet expects to entice sales away from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Why? Ferrari’s average buyer age is 47, Lamborghini’s 48, and Porsche 911 buyers 52.
These new, younger owners bring to the fold the newfound thrill of owning their first Corvette. Their excitement is so infectious that you find yourself smiling more just by being around them.
They’re bringing back the brand’s energy, and they’re doing it at a much younger age.
The Energy Is Back!
Around 2018 or so, we were legitimately worried that Corvette clubs and the brand itself would succumb to the passage of time. Masonic Lodges and countless other once-prestigious groups that eventually faded came to mind.
After talking to over 30 C8 owners in the Atlanta area, our fears have evaporated. Not only is the future secure for America’s Sportscar, but it is thriving in ways we hadn’t imagined.
It’s remarkable what a $59,995 sports car that can,
- Reach 60 mph in just three seconds,
- While carrying two passengers and two sets of golf clubs,
- And get 27 mpg on the highway can do for a brand.
Not just for a nameplate but also for the thousands of devoted Corvette owners who faithfully call Corvette their brand of choice.
Thank you, Tadge Juechter, your team, the Bowling Green assembly plant, and everyone who worked so hard to bring us the eighth generation.
You’ve brought fresh new energy to the Corvette brand!
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