Photo: Chevrolet
Ah, Bob Lutz! Love him or hate him, the man knows a lot about the automotive industry. Having spent many years at General Motors, the 87-year-old Swiss American executive believes that the time is high for Chevrolet to make the Corvette SUV.
Lutz told Automotive News that a high-riding SUV with the performance credentials of the Corvette lineage would work wonders for General Motors, serving as a competitor to the Porsche Cayenne. The thing is, would the prospective customer or the owner of a Cayenne even consider this alternative?
The truth of the matter is, those who entered the Porsche club don’t even consider brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and so forth. The only way up from there is switching to McLaren, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. But even after experiencing the next tier, many people turn back to Porsche for the automaker’s superior reliability and build quality. This modus operandi is one of the reasons the Porsche high-end market is inflating.
Even Lutz let it slip that nobody is going to get out of a Porsche 911 to buy the C8 Corvette, the first mid-engine 'Vette ever. What’s even more interesting is most C8 customers will flock from the C7 according to Lutz.
If you search “typical Corvette owner” on the Internet, you’ll likely find a lot of Cars & Coffee crash videos and that the median age is extremely close to 60 years. Those are people with money to spend, and back in their younger days, driving a ‘Vette was all the rage. In other words, we tend to agree with Lutz on the customer base for the C8.
As for the Corvette SUV, that’s a bad idea and General Motors shouldn’t even consider it for a single moment. Spinning off Corvette as a stand-alone brand would be a bit uninspired as well, leaving the Camaro alone in the Chevrolet performance lineup. Impressive as it is, the Colorado ZR2 pickup truck can’t be considered a performance vehicle.
If you had close to $100,000 to spend on a souped-up means of personal transportation, would you go Corvette or prefer anything from the Porsche 718 Boxster to the Cayenne?
The truth of the matter is, those who entered the Porsche club don’t even consider brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and so forth. The only way up from there is switching to McLaren, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. But even after experiencing the next tier, many people turn back to Porsche for the automaker’s superior reliability and build quality. This modus operandi is one of the reasons the Porsche high-end market is inflating.
Even Lutz let it slip that nobody is going to get out of a Porsche 911 to buy the C8 Corvette, the first mid-engine 'Vette ever. What’s even more interesting is most C8 customers will flock from the C7 according to Lutz.
If you search “typical Corvette owner” on the Internet, you’ll likely find a lot of Cars & Coffee crash videos and that the median age is extremely close to 60 years. Those are people with money to spend, and back in their younger days, driving a ‘Vette was all the rage. In other words, we tend to agree with Lutz on the customer base for the C8.
As for the Corvette SUV, that’s a bad idea and General Motors shouldn’t even consider it for a single moment. Spinning off Corvette as a stand-alone brand would be a bit uninspired as well, leaving the Camaro alone in the Chevrolet performance lineup. Impressive as it is, the Colorado ZR2 pickup truck can’t be considered a performance vehicle.
If you had close to $100,000 to spend on a souped-up means of personal transportation, would you go Corvette or prefer anything from the Porsche 718 Boxster to the Cayenne?
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