The word “global” is thrown around a lot these days. In an effort to curb costs on making region-specific cars, big auto companies are trying to combine operations across continents. The sharing of ideas between America and Europe will help GM meet the steadily increasing minimum fuel mileage requirements. It may also help GM make the best Corvette ever.
GM released a press release saying it had solicited 10 design proposals from around the world for the next generation C7 Corvette.
Picture: GM
This is the first time GM has looked outside its own design studios for inspiration for the Corvette. The move comes as GM tries to aim the Corvette at a younger crowd who have flocked to imports like the Nissan 350Z and Audi TT. They also want to grow the Corvette’s European market share. We’d be willing to bet most of those design studios were located in and around Europe.
GM seems to be overhauling the next Corvette from the ground up. The press release indicates they are looking at new styling, content, marketing, and pricing. To get at that younger, hipper crowd, GM will probably trim the car down to make it look smaller. Ed Welburn said that “today’s Corvette is about the same size as the Porsche 911”, but it looks bigger because it is thick. Thinner likely means lighter, with more of an emphasis on handling as well. Corvette racing unveiled a 5.5 liter engine for its ALMS racing season, which is said to be a very close relation to production motors. But much of GM’s competition uses much smaller engines, usually V6s displacing 3.5 liters or so. But it still has to be a Corvette, and that has pretty much always meant a V8.
The General is reaching out across the world to make a better Corvette. The results should be interesting to say the least.
Press Release
GENEVA — For the first time, General Motors Co. studios across the world have submitted design studies for the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette.
Late last year, Ed Welburn, GM’s vice president of global design, invited GM’s 10 styling studios to submit design proposals.
Some “were absolutely phenomenal,” Welburn said. “There is a lot to pick from. The direction that we take is very important, and the decision has not been made.”
Global input on the Corvette’s design is one of several steps GM is taking to attract buyers in Europe, where the car has little appeal, and young U.S. buyers who favor imports.
“We have challenges in the States with the Corvette,” Welburn said in an interview at the Geneva auto show. “The average age of the customer is really rising.”
The current average age of a Corvette buyer is 54, according to the Power Information Network, a unit of J.D. Power and Associates.
The current Corvette debuted in the 2005 model year. Prices range from $49,880 for the base coupe to $107,830 for the ZR-1. Both prices include shipping.
A redesign is due in two to three years, industry sources say.
Corvette critics often cite the sports car’s size, saying it looks big.
Welburn said today’s Corvette is about the same size as the Porsche 911, but the styling makes it look bigger. “We have to develop a design that feels trimmer, meaner, to go along with the incredible performance that the car has,” he said.
In addition to styling, content, pricing and marketing strategy are under discussion, he said.
“It is a key time in the development of the Corvette,” Welburn said. “There is a lot of debate and a lot of study on the bandwidth of Corvette.”
But, he added, “It can’t mutate into something that gets so far away from Corvette that it is no longer a Corvette.”
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