Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

[Stuart F.]

Don't know if anyone else has mentioned this as yet, but in a recent interview with Autoweek Magazine, the current CEO of GM, Fritz Henderson, stated that the Corvette would survive because "it pays it's rent"! He also noted that the C-6 would continue to be upgraded and development continues on the next generation or C-7.

Of course this is good news, but Mr. Henderson may just be speaking from his heart as, let's face it, the real boss in Washington may have other ideas.

See: www.autoweek.com/article/20090506/carnews/905069988


Stu Fox

[David D.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

Good point(s) Stu.....

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2009...NEWS/905069988

I believe that the 'boss' in washington could terminate it because of the Green community or for any other stoopid non-common sense reason what so ever. Things are more of a reactionary mood that good ole common sense for the forseeable future.

I am sort of hoping that some private entrepreneur or group comes together to purchase the Corvette business side and continues the legend. Unfortunately the problem I see though is that with the growing push towards green efficiency, justifying a high powered (albeit good gas mileage) down the road, maybe a risky purchase.

I think of what happeded to Harley Davidson, when the AMF corp was destroying it, and several entrepreneurs came together, bought them out, turned the business around greatly, primarily because they were not only new owners, but actual harley drivers and knew what they wanted and did it. I could forsee this eventually happening to Corvette brand.

So how many want to kick in a few bucks, be ready to purchase for 10 cents on the dollar and save the Corvette.
We could each then own a newly designed ZR2...

Just my personal opinion,
David

[Chris E.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

I think it is unlikely that GM will evaporate off of the face of the earth. It is just too big. Will it go into bankruptcy? Probably. Will it come out? I think so. Will Corvette survive? I think so.

Chevrolet needs Corvette as a halo car.

I could see them killing the ultra high performance cars like the ZR1, but I doubt they'd kill the product line entirely. Corvette is a platform for on-the-street technological exploration. All of the learnings from Corvette bleed down to other GM brands. They need this kind of activity and Corvette is the means to accomplish it. Without this kind of investment in R&D, they will fall even further behind the competition.

[Jamie F.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

David,
On first thought it seems that a private group buying Corvette would be a good thing, but unfortunately we all know what will happen. Once it becomes a separate entity ALL economies of scale are lost from being part of the GM fold.
So then the new owners will have to buy engines and transmissions from GM or somewhere else, and then they will have to buy or design all the other parts and pretty soon we have a small specialty car manufacturer and if you look around all of those, ie, Ferrari, Lambo, Panoz, Shelby, Saleen, etc., their cars are either $150K+ or they are struggling.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

I think what we can expect from the current administration is something like what happened during FDR. The big three got together with FDR and established Rules for the market that froze out all the independents such as Auburn. They could not, as a small manufacture, comply with all the rules and restrictions so were forced to close their doors. The same thing is shaping up in the Health Care Industry today; all the big companies are getting in bed with Obama and the small companies will be forced out of business. Less competition and higher costs to us all.

No small company making just Corvettes could survive, specially with all the new "Green" rules coming down the pipe.

Stu Fox

[Terry M.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

Avanti bit the big one some years ago. Some of the circumstances were the same -- spin-off from a larger company. And some circumstances are different -- the economic situation was different then than now. But it became a small independent company trying to make a go of it, and failed.
There is no reason to think and independent Corvette would survive in todays, or tomorrows, marketplace.

[Joe W.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

I'm reluctant to even mention the rumor I heard from a friend who,
is a retired Fo Mo Co exec. The buzz at Ford is for GM to sell the rights
and tooling to Ford.

I know, it's Sacrilegious!

The Ford Motor Company doesn't have a product that is a true
"sports car" and that the Corvette would give them that niche' market share.
Whatever.

The closest thing Ford had to the Corvette (ZR-1) was the
Ford GT which, is no longer being produced and that it was only
limited production, unlike the Corvette. He said the Mustang is not
considered in the same category as the Corvette and I agreed. It will
be interesting to see what happens.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

I think I can speak for a number of old diehard Chevy fans when I say I'd rather see the Corvette die than have the Bowtie replaced by a Blue Oval. We didn't blow their doors off in battles for so many years just to hand them eventual victory in the war. No way!

Stu Fox

[Chris E.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

I think I can speak for a number of old diehard Chevy fans when I say I'd rather see the Corvette die than have the Bowtie replaced by a Blue Oval. We didn't blow their doors off in battles for so many years just to hand them eventual victory in the war. No way!

Stu Fox

Totally agree. Not that I hate Ford, but it would be like selling the formula to Coke Classic to Pepsi.

[Jamie F.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

is a retired Fo Mo Co exec. The buzz at Ford is for GM to sell the rights
and tooling to Ford.

There are so many reasons why that is so wrong, and would never happen, I can't even list them all! And that's just from the Ford perspective.

[Joe W.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

There are so many reasons why that is so wrong, and would never happen, I can't even list them all! And that's just from the Ford perspective.

I totally agree and apologize for even responding to this thread.
I'm not a fan of rumor circulators and I told my friend not to believe
everything you hear. Unfortunately, thanks to my input, I have now become
one of circulators. It made me upset when I heard it and the last thing I want
to do is strike a nerve. Again, please accept my apology.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

Joe;

You have nothing to apologize for, believe me. There are a lot of things going on and serious enough to have us all concerned. Anything is possible, yes, even Ford buying the Corvette brand is feasible. After all, they seem to be the only one of the big three that have played their cards right. What makes things interesting is that they are causing the administration fits as they are not caving in like the other two. You can bet they will try all kinds of ways to bring them in line including penalties of all sorts, and UAW pressure to bring them into the fold with strikes, etc. Even if they refuse to go to bed with them, the Union is so it makes for strange bed fellows, don't you think?

Again Joe, interesting point and thanks for posting it.

Stu Fox

[Jamie F.]

Re: Fritz Says Corvette Will Survive

Joe,
No worries, thanks for passing that along. I didn't mean "wrong" in a literal sense, but more in a passionate current vernacular sense. Especially if your a Ford Guy, can you imagine??? A Ford Corvette??? If anything they would have to rename it Thunderbird or something...