Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart
GM Explains How It Kept The 2020 Chevy Corvette Under $60,000
One of the greatest mysteries surrounding the 2020 Chevy Corvette is how, exactly, General Motors was able to keep its starting price under $60,000. The current C7 Corvette Stingray, this generation’s entry-level offering with 455 horsepower (339 kilowatts), starts at $55,900. And yet, according to GM, the C8’s starting price could be within a stone’s throw of the C7. Motor Authority, also curious about the mental mathematics needed to justify the low starting price, asked GM how it kept the price so low.
General Motors president Mark Reuss told the publication the automaker would spread out the C8 Corvette’s cost over an expanded future lineup. Just like the C7, the C8 will have a “portfolio” of models. The new 2020 Corvette Stingray is just the beginning. Rumors of a hybrid and plug-in model are already swirling online. And there are rumors GM could expand the Corvette model into a brand with a sedan, SUV, and Corvette-based Cadillac offering. That’d be one way to spread development costs. Reuss also pointed to GM’s new Global B electrical platform as another reason for the price.
Corvette Chief Engineer and Vehicle Line Manager Tadge Juechter attributed the C8’s remarkably low starting price to GM’s economy of scale, which allows the automaker to provide a lot of content in the vehicle without having customers pay for extras. Being part of a larger company has its benefits, according to Juechter.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartandhp
|
Those are the same reasons for cost containment that GM used to use for the special cars made for promotional purposes nearly 30 years ago.
Jim Perkins gave the same reasons for the wild interior in the 1993 Indy Pace car. The pre-chapter indy pace cars featured huge one time investments in interiors and graphics.
Later new designs that did not make any real sense also used this cost containment idea, with the the Sky and the Solstice the SSR and others coming to mind as prime examples of so called "halo" cars where the real cost was borne by everybody else buying product within the GM Line up.