Photo: Autotrader
Nearly 2.5 years late considering that Chevrolet started accepting orders for the C8 in July 2019, the notorious dealer markups that hamper down the mid-engine sports car’s appeal may be rectified in the near future. None other than Steve Carlisle, the President of General Motors North America, decided to put the greediest of dealerships on notice.
As reported by Corvette Action Center, “it has come to our attention that (…) a small number of dealers have engaged in practices that do not support a positive sales experience for our customers.” Don’t know about you, but if I were Steve Carlisle right now, I would be repentant to announce a markup crackdown after so many woeful accounts from would-be owners.
The statement further reads that “dealers agree to effectively, ethically, and lawfully sell and promote the purchase, lease, and use of products by consumers.” In other words, GM is putting a collar on price gouging. There were one too many instances of customers getting surprise ADMs upon delivery, markups that were not previously communicated by the dealers.
What’s going to happen to dealers who aren’t playing nice? According to Steve Carlisle, the biggest of the Big Three in Detroit will redirect vehicle allocations to honest dealers. Once again, couldn’t GM threaten its dealers with no allocations whatsoever in July 2019 when they revealed the C8?
I’m still amazed how much time General Motors needed to identify this problem, especially if you remember that C8s are pretty rare in terms of yearly production output. For the 2021 model year, for example, the factory in Bowling Green rolled out a total of 26,216 examples. Precisely 15,112 of those were coupes and the remaining 11,104 examples were convertibles.
As to what made GM address the price gouging now, I have this little suspicion it may have something to do with the 2023 model year Z06. It’s a stupendous corner-carving machine with an equally stupendous flat-plane crankshaft V8, and obviously enough, it will be rarer than the Stingray.
The statement further reads that “dealers agree to effectively, ethically, and lawfully sell and promote the purchase, lease, and use of products by consumers.” In other words, GM is putting a collar on price gouging. There were one too many instances of customers getting surprise ADMs upon delivery, markups that were not previously communicated by the dealers.
What’s going to happen to dealers who aren’t playing nice? According to Steve Carlisle, the biggest of the Big Three in Detroit will redirect vehicle allocations to honest dealers. Once again, couldn’t GM threaten its dealers with no allocations whatsoever in July 2019 when they revealed the C8?
I’m still amazed how much time General Motors needed to identify this problem, especially if you remember that C8s are pretty rare in terms of yearly production output. For the 2021 model year, for example, the factory in Bowling Green rolled out a total of 26,216 examples. Precisely 15,112 of those were coupes and the remaining 11,104 examples were convertibles.
As to what made GM address the price gouging now, I have this little suspicion it may have something to do with the 2023 model year Z06. It’s a stupendous corner-carving machine with an equally stupendous flat-plane crankshaft V8, and obviously enough, it will be rarer than the Stingray.
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