Will Corvette Survive?

[Alan S.]

In a 20 page advertising supplement to Friday, July 24th's, NEW YORK TIMES, entitled "THE FUTURE OF CARS", there's a brief interview with Mark Levine, Vice-President Sales, Service and Marketing, General Motors Corporation.
2 of the questions asked were:

"What about high-performance models in the future?"
"You'll see fewer high-performance models and they'll be more expensive. Look what we're doing right now with Camaro. The Camaro V-6 gets 28 mpg. With that kind of economy from our volume model, under CAFE rules we can afford to build a few high-performance Camaro SS or Z-28 versions.

"Will the Corvette survive?"
"There will be a Corvette as long as you and I are around!"

I sure hope so!!!
Regards,
Alan

[Martin N.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

Anyone know how old Mark Levine is? I hope he isn't in his 90's

Marty

[Wayne B.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

Corvette makes money so if a model makes money a business won't kill it...ooopps! That's right, the government owns it, wouldn't be surprised if they came off the assembly line with square wheels (but correct tire pressure!).

[John H.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

Anyone know how old Mark Levine is? I hope he isn't in his 90's

Marty

Actually, it's Mark LaNeve - used to be VP of Sales & Marketing, since last week is VP of Sales (Marketing now belongs to Lutz). LaNeve is in his early 50's, came from Cadillac originally.

[Duke W.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

"Mark Levin" is a radio talk show host who's "Liberty and Tyranny" is currently a best seller.

I doubt if the Corvette will survive in it's current big V-8 form beyond 2015. Fuel economy standards beyond that will require a much smaller engine and maybe a hybrid system.

It comes down to whether the federal government, which is now the majority stakeholder in GM, is willing to fund about $1 billion for a new Corvette that will not negatively impact the CAFE standards that GM and the rest of the industry must meet beginning in 2016.

Right now the "biggest" vehicle that meets them without higher cost technology, like hybrid, is something on the order of a four-cylinder compact sedan, like the Honda Civic.

Duke

[Tom S.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

CAFE should not bother the Corvette. I drove my 08 to Bloomington and had a tankfull going up that I got 654 miles on. 30.5 mpg. Coming back I had a tanfull that I got 614 miles on and 30.5 mpg. With 430hp and that kind of mileage I don't think Obama would want to cut that.By the way I use pencil and paper as well the dic to check mileage and compare the two. Usually the pencil and paper method is a little better.

[Duke W.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

You don't understand how fuel economy is measured and CAFE computed. There's lots of information about this subject on the Web.

Assuming the Obama-mandated 2016 CAFE standards stick, the new vehicle landscape in 2016 will look vastly different than today.

Most people don't even have a clue.

Duke

[Art A.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

"Most people don't even have a clue."

Including Obama!

[Jack C.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

Mark Levine, the radio talk show host drives a vette.

[Tom S.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

I know how corporate average fuel economy works. All I am saying is get the real facts out about what the corvette can do fuel wise with areo dynamics, a 6 speed and excellant fuel injection system.When figured with a Volt,Cobalt and others it will be a very good average for Chevrolet..

[John H.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

CAFE is Corporate Average Fuel Economy - a "fleet" average; not every vehicle has to meet the number, but the manufacturer has to sell enough vehicles that get better than the target number to balance the number they sell that get below the target number.

The problem is that the fleet average number for 2016 is 35.5 mpg, which requires that cars get 42 mpg and trucks get 29 mpg, based on the traditional volume share between cars and trucks.

42-mpg cars do NOT look like Impalas or Malibus - they're Honda Civic-sized (or smaller), but about 300# lighter, and are much more expensive due to premium materials, turbochargers and direct injection for their 1.3L engines. They have to sell LOTS of these to offset any cars in their mix that get less than 42mpg.

Trucks are even more interesting - imagine what a 29-mpg pickup, Tahoe, or Suburban looks like.

People have no clue what's going to happen in terms of customer choices in 2016; all they know is "gee, that's great - my 2016 car will get 35.5 mpg". The beltway bureaucrats haven't told them what's going to be available to "choose" from.

[Duke W.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

In 2016 the U. S. new car landscape is going to look more like present day Japan than present day U. S. Even Europe will have larger vehicles because half or more will be diesels, but U. S. emission regulations will likely preclude wide availability of diesels over here.

Like John and I said, most people don't have even a vague clue of the coming changes in new vehicle availability. It's going to be more dramatic than anything we've ever seen before. Vehicles will be both very small and very expensive relative to today.

If Americans really knew what is coming, a grass roots effort might get lower CAFE numbers, but most Americans are too intellectually lazy to read the tea leaves, get off their butts, and start protesting the socialist government we now have.

Duke

[Steve B.]

Re: Will Corvette Survive?

In 2016 the U. S. new car landscape is going to look more like present day Japan than present day U. S. Even Europe will have larger vehicles because half or more will be diesels, but U. S. emission regulations will likely preclude wide availability of diesels over here.

Like John and I said, most people don't have even a vague clue of the coming changes in new vehicle availability. It's going to be more dramatic than anything we've ever seen before. Vehicles will be both very small and very expensive relative to today.

If Americans really knew what is coming, a grass roots effort might get lower CAFE numbers, but most Americans are too intellectually lazy to read the tea leaves, get off their butts, and start protesting the socialist government we now have.

Duke

Hopefully things will change for the better after the 2010 elections but I'm not holding my breath.