They sell enough Corvettes worldwide that they actually make a tidy profit on every one of them. Surprising, but GM actually loses more money on the HHR! The design of the C5 did have to be subsidized a bit by the other divisions, but that was simply because they'd let the car languish for so long without a redesign. The ZR1 was an almost completely different car that was developed mostly under contract with Lotus Engineering.

Also, Chevrolet does *not* have much of a hand in Corvette development. Corvette is actually considered to be the "ninth" brand division at GM that just happens to be sold at Chevrolet dealerships. In other countries, the Corvette is simply "Corvette", not the "Chevrolet Corvette". They have their own unique development and performance operations and their own unique plant and powertrain systems, save for running the occasional Cadillac XLR down the line (which uses a completely different powertrain).

Making the Corvette into something that's going to compete with the Miata would be an insult to tradition. The Corvette has always been about being the halo car for GM--the best and most advanced car GM has on the road. Ford completely screwed up with the Thunderbird and lost a lot of money on it.

The Solstice and Sky roadsters compete with the Miata just fine. People who buy Miatas are not the same people who plunk down $70k for a 505-HP Z06. There are people who are putting LS2s in their Soltice/Sky, but there's a difference between being a Corvette and pretending to be a Corvette...

 

I aggre crafty.

The Thunderbird was an example of retro done wrong. Just bad quality and underpowered, didn't help that it was overpriced. It was NOT in competition with the Miata.

 

I like the look I see here but doubt if the vettes will look like this by 2011. This is still in the concept stage.

 

crafty, the ZR1 engine (LT5) was Lotus designed and Mercury Marine built, but the rest of the car was regular 4th gen (C4) Vette.

 

Ohhh...there were a lot of differences. Have you ever seen the photos of the '86 and '87 mockups they had running around England? Just about the whole rear end of the car was completely different. The front K-member was different on the ZR1 for the LT5 engine and upgraded suspension. Lotus designed not only the engine, but almost all of the ZR1 package upgrades including the suspension and spec'd the ZF transmission and Dana 44 rear. All GM really had to do was build new molds for the bodywork to wrap around all the changes Lotus made. The only body panels shared between the regular C4 and the ZR1 were the hood, facia, roof panel, and front fenders. Even the windshield was different!

 

You may have read it already, but you'd love the book "All Corvettes Are Red" which is the story of the development of the C5.

To make a long story short the Corvette Engineering team figured that it would cost $200 million to develop the next Vette. Now where to get the funding. They hid costs in the C4 program, and, I don't want to ruin one of the more juicy bits but there is also a part about your last sentence...

I'm not one to push books on people, but EVERYONE who loves the Corvette should read this book:

All Corvettes Are Red
James Schefter
ISBN 0-671-68501-5

 

 

hehe that was a pretty good article...
hell funny but at the same time dissapointing...

so now they say the bue devil may be fake or whatever...i dont know man cuz ive seen it , well in pics and in mags and in videos of the car that is supposedly the "blue devil"...also ive seen the "tiger shark" vette...

damn its crazy to think they may b fakes now

 

I think the RED one is more likely what its going to look like, not the Yellow one.

 

I'd rather have a good sting ray any day. Still not used to the "Here's my butt in your face" Vettes of today.