Hearing bad news on the new C8

[Larry E.]

[Frank K.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

A manual was included and the electric front drive is in the future. Gm is going forward not behind!

[David R.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

Having owned many, many Corvettes over the past 45 years - and every one of them manual except my current C7 - I think the statement that "If no manual transmission is offered, sales will suffer" is simply opinion. Obviously GM does not agree. I was sure that I would miss the car/driver interaction of a manual when I got my C7 (It's a 2014 Premiere edition convertible, and automatic is the only way they came) - but after owning it for a while, I found I didn't miss the manual at all. Many, many Corvette (and other performance car) drivers agree. The "state of the art" in auto transmissions has been shifting - pun fully intended - to automatics for quite some time now.

While we don't know for a certainty that GM will NOT offer a manual transmission option on the new C8, it increasingly appears that will be the case. That doesn't mean a manual gearbox can't be fitted later, but for production start-up, offering only one transmission choice does make some sense. There have been a lot of opinions (and that's all they are) complaining how "stupid" GM is for doing this or that (or NOT doing this or that) regarding the new C8 - which none of us mere mortals have even seen yet. My own opinion - admittedly not worth anything more than anyone else's - is that we should give the GM design staff and engineers some credit, or at least the benefit of the doubt, until the new C8 is officially introduced and the automotive press and first few lucky customers have the chance to wring the car out for a while. I didn't honestly intend to order a first-year C8 anyway, but will likely be in the market for one a couple of years down the road. By then, we'll know a lot more, and our individual opinions will become informed opinions. And those are the best kind.

[Bill M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

I say to my sons that the only reason I will not buy a 20 is that I can not have a manual transmission. They say but dad!! The automatic is faster!! I say I am 62 years old and am not drag racing anymore. I prefer to drive my car shift my gears and do a natural burnout in front of my house. I really hope that the standard will be offered later,didn't GM take a while for the 84 standard to arrive?

[Don H.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

The demographic GM is aiming the C8 toward is not aging baby boomers. There are not enough of us interested in buying the C8 to keep the model alive. GenX, GenY, and GenZ don't want a stick since they don't know how to use one. Gotta face facts, we become more irrelevant with each passing day.

[Terry M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

Last numbers I saw (over a decade ago) is the someplace between 25 and 30% of people know how to drive a manual transmission. Take a look at the number of manual transmission Corvettes sold. The last numbers I saw were in that range.

If it doesn't sell, it will be gone.

[Bill M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

I read a statistic years ago that in the 60's the average age of the corvette owner was around 26!! 40 years later it was in the 60's . so what ever GM is doing it is not working. look at NASCAR they catered to the Wine and Cheese crowd and now the sport is all but gone. I don't know when all of this changed but I remember when we would look at a hot car and one of us would say "yea but its an automatic"

[Bill M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

terry I agree but every child that I have taught to drive a standard has a new respect for operating a vehicle. driving a standard means you can pay less attention to texting.

[Terry M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

terry I agree but every child that I have taught to drive a standard has a new respect for operating a vehicle. driving a standard means you can pay less attention to texting.

You are right, but you and I are in the minority.

[Bill M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

Yes I was a minority when I bought my first vette I said chicks recognize 2 cars vettes and Volkswagons and I am not driving a bug

[Dick W.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

Tried buying a big three pickup with a manual transmission. Manual transmissions are going the way of the Doo Doo bird. Even semi truck sales show a move to auto/semi-auto transmissions

[Edward B.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

Very, very few sales will be lost. and those only to the more mature drivers. The vast majority of today's drivers have no idea of how to operate a car with a manual transmission, even to the point that a manual transmission is now being depicted as a "Millennial Anti-Theft Device." Traditional items and abilities are changing and GM is well aware of these changes. Additionally, remember the costs of obtaining EPA approval of a manual power train in addition to an automatic power train; this is a cost that GM is happy to avoid.

[Jim L.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

The vast majority of today's drivers have no idea of how to operate a car with a manual transmission, even to the point that a manual transmission is now being depicted as a "Millennial Anti-Theft Device." .

This is true. In fact that is how my own son refers to a manual transmission. He has many friends who have no idea what a clutch pedal is for.

[Joe L.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

GM Authority’s source also claims that the C8 will lose its manual transmission option -- something we’ve suspected was going to be the case for quite a while -- in favor of a dual-clutch automatic. Can’t win them all.(Yes we can>we won't buy
it.)

If no manual transmission is offered sales will suffer. It seems they always learn the hard way. JMHO>Larry

Larry------


Most of the exotic sports cars have all gone to dual clutch automatics---Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin, McClaren, etc. As far as I know, you cannot get any of them anymore with a manual transmission. So, GM is simply following that lead. The Corvette is probably the last high dollar sports car with a manual transmission. The "writing has been on the wall" for quite some time as far as Corvette goes. I would only have been surprised if the C8 had been available with a manual transmission.

In addition, having only 1 transmission available is beneficial in that the designers of the car do not have to contend with the need to incorporate design compromises that would be necessitated if the car needed to be designed around 2 transmission choices.

Very few cars are available with manual transmissions anymore. And, there are going to be even fewer in the future.

[Bill M.]

Re: Hearing bad news on the new C8

before you know it the car will drive its self!! I wonder what has happened to the pleasure of going for a drive?