Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

[Larry S.]

I tried to find the answer by Googling, but I guess I'm not good enough. I'm sure GM made no money the first few years (it's hard to make a profit when you only build 300 cars one year!), but what about later? Of course, Corvettes can't be profitable right now, like just about every other car model, but it's always been a low production model at a comparatively low price, which is not a recipe for profit. I'm just wondering how this might play into GM's current plans.

[Clem Z.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

read the book "all corvettes are red" and see how much trouble they had developing the C-5

[Jack U.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

I remember one bit information from one of my books.... Chevy almost dropped the model in 1955 but upper management didn't want Ford to get the "best of them" with Thunderbird. (I'm paraphrasing.)

[Duke W.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

IIRC the Corvette first made a profit in 1957 and has been profitable ever since. Corvette has always had to justify its existance by being profitable. Total sales and profits are a tiny percentage of GM's total (over the years), but, still, the car would not have survived this long unless if was profitable.

Most of the C6 development costs and tooling amortization is already written off, so the current model will probably remain in production as long as it covers manufacturing and ongoing modest development, but with current C6 supply at 180 days (down from over 200 last month), I'm beginning to wonder...

If reduced production schedules are still profitable in the foreseeable future production will likely continue, but as some point sales may drop way off and a new car will be needed.

The problem with this sceneario is that there may not be a C7 in the development pipeline, so the car could die, perhaps to be resurected someday, like the current Camaro.

BTW my take on the new Camaro is that sales will drop off rapidly in the first year, and I wouldn't bet that it will survive more than 3 model years. Look at the GTO, Prowler, and that '39 Ford looking Chrysler - forget what it's called. The auto industry needs to invest billion of dollars that they don't have to keep up with new government requirements/regulations and changing consumer tastes. There will be little room to develop "niche" cars. It's going to be like the seventies, again.

Duke

[Dick W.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

I remember hearing at one time about 27k a year was break even for the plant. Don't remember when that was

[Larry S.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

IIRC the Corvette first made a profit in 1957 and has been profitable ever since. Corvette has always had to justify its existance by being profitable. Total sales and profits are a tiny percentage of GM's total (over the years), but, still, the car would not have survived this long unless if was profitable.

Most of the C6 development costs and tooling amortization is already written off, so the current model will probably remain in production as long as it covers manufacturing and ongoing modest development, but with current C6 supply at 180 days (down from over 200 last month), I'm beginning to wonder...

If reduced production schedules are still profitable in the foreseeable future production will likely continue, but as some point sales may drop way off and a new car will be needed.

The problem with this sceneario is that there may not be a C7 in the development pipeline, so the car could die, perhaps to be resurected someday, like the current Camaro.

BTW my take on the new Camaro is that sales will drop off rapidly in the first year, and I wouldn't bet that it will survive more than 3 model years. Look at the GTO, Prowler, and that '39 Ford looking Chrysler - forget what it's called. The auto industry needs to invest billion of dollars that they don't have to keep up with new government requirements/regulations and changing consumer tastes. There will be little room to develop "niche" cars. It's going to be like the seventies, again.

Duke

Thank you for your insight. I agree that the new Camaro won't last long; it's just too ugly to vie against it's competitors, the Challenger and Mustang.

I didn't realize that there might not be a C7 planned. But the C6 isn't that old in Corvette years, is it? Hopefully GM could hang on with it a few more years by tweaking it instead of developing a whole new generation. It seems to me that Corvette lovers will still buy the car unless it develops into a POS. Plus, it's GM's flagship car that does (used to, anyway) make a profit, however small, despite the development costs. Seems to me it'd be worth hanging on to. Just my opinion (or perhaps wishful thinking).

[Tom L.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Although there may not be a C7 in the pipeline, I heard from a reliable source that the next Corvette model change will be the division of the Corvette into two models. The new vehicle will be a Chevy Stingray, which will be a less expensive version of the current Corvette. I heard that, along with the introduction of the Stingray, the Corvette will stay in the line up but will be a higher priced, performance oriented vehicle.

This, of course, was GM's pre-financial ruin plan. Has anyone else heard this?

[Randy R.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Let's hope this does not happen. GM does not need to continue the dilution of their product lines. The last I want to see is the stingray/ corvette become a pony car.

[Larry S.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Although there may not be a C7 in the pipeline, I heard from a reliable source that the next Corvette model change will be the division of the Corvette into two models. The new vehicle will be a Chevy Stingray, which will be a less expensive version of the current Corvette. I heard that, along with the introduction of the Stingray, the Corvette will stay in the line up but will be a higher priced, performance oriented vehicle.

This, of course, was GM's pre-financial ruin plan. Has anyone else heard this?

You know, that idea may have some merit. BMW now has the 1 series for sale here; other brands have entry-level cars. That, however, doesn't dilute the market for the higher-priced models. Up until the recent economy slump, BMW was the fastest growing car company, and it makes some very expensive models. It wouldn't bother me that someone else bought a cheap version of the car I'm driving.

Now, that wouldn't be my preference as to what may happen, but I don't have any problem with that idea.

[Paul B.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Although there may not be a C7 in the pipeline, I heard from a reliable source that the next Corvette model change will be the division of the Corvette into two models. The new vehicle will be a Chevy Stingray, which will be a less expensive version of the current Corvette. I heard that, along with the introduction of the Stingray, the Corvette will stay in the line up but will be a higher priced, performance oriented vehicle.

...wasn't it a year or two ago where a car magazine(forget which one)showed a concept "Stingray" that would be a V6 car built on the Sky/Solstice platform??? Actually the "concept" car I thought looked pretty cool.

[Tom L.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Paul,

Despite Pontiac's demise, the Solstice plant has survived the latest round of plant closures.

[Stewart A.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

We had manufactured a muscle car in Ausralia, called the Monaro that you guys got in the states called the Pontiac GTO. It was powered by a V8 Chev and sales were very strong here. GM always stated that it would not make any coin out of it. Nobody believed it and when they stopped making it we were all very surprised. I don't think people realize how much money it actually takes to make a car for today. They talk in billions not millions it's scary stuff. So if they make the wrong choice of car and sales are slow it can have an enormous effect on company bottom line. Hence the GM disaster.
VW, Audi, Toyota, Honda are lucky they make cars that the public see as 2009 cars. The Euro stuff run on diesel and get good economy, and the Jap product run little 4 cyl and get good economy. GM is targeted at the larger family car market in the states with a combined misserable economy and has badly suffered for it. So in a nut shell I think the Corvette would not be very profitable if at all, especially now. Stewy

[Patrick H.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Although there may not be a C7 in the pipeline, I heard from a reliable source that the next Corvette model change will be the division of the Corvette into two models. The new vehicle will be a Chevy Stingray, which will be a less expensive version of the current Corvette. I heard that, along with the introduction of the Stingray, the Corvette will stay in the line up but will be a higher priced, performance oriented vehicle.

This, of course, was GM's pre-financial ruin plan. Has anyone else heard this?

I think that this is one of Motor Trend's perennial rumors over the past 20 years. I'll believe it when I see it, and I hope that I don't.
One could easily say that there are 3 divisions right now of the Corvette.

Patrick

[Stewart A.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

I hate to be negative but I think GM has more on it's plate than worrying about the Corvette at the moment. Stewy

[Wayne W.]

Re: Has Corvette traditionally made a profit?

Already have the new design. No developement cost.