"Mach-inator" (Mach-inator)
01/22/2018 at 17:40 • Filed to: Corvette, Chevrolet, Chevy, Mustang, Camaro, Businessing, Speculation
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"Mach-inator" (Mach-inator)
01/22/2018 at 17:40 • Filed to: Corvette, Chevrolet, Chevy, Mustang, Camaro, Businessing, Speculation | 4
| 16 |
Credit: Jalopnik
If you’re one of those purists who won’t take anything other than a RWD Corvette with the engine up front where God intended, who thinks the idea of a Mid-Engine Corvette is blasphemous to all that is holy in the Church of Pushrod, and who conveniently ignores
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and
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to the contrary, then you’re going to want to find someone to blame if this Tribulation ever comes to pass. And that one to blame is the Ford Mustang. Allow me to explain:
As any Fiero fan will tell you: ‘The Fiero was killed off because it was a threat to the Corvette’. There’s not much evidence to support that claim, but the Corvette has always been GM’s halo car. Nothing in the line-up was a greater sportscar than the Corvette ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). Today GM’s halo car can be had with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and a top speed of 210 mph. The problem is the divide that separates ‘The Best’ from the ‘Next Best’ in the line-up hasn’t always been wide, especially as of late. Because the Camaro has just gotten that good.
The Camaro has always slotted below the Corvette in the line-up and has gotten a lot more breathing room since the demise of the Firebird. Today’s generation of Camaro can be optioned with the same LT1 and LT4 V8’s found in the Corvette and the 1LE provides the same track focused goodies of the Z06. And this is the heart of the problem. The Camaro’s performance in comparison to the Corvette makes it look like a great value proposition. Let’s take the Camaro ZL1 1LE and the Corvette Z06:
Now is spending an extra $20,000 worth it to be a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ? I don’t think so. Yes, the ZR1 will blow the Camaro and the Z06 out of the water, but it will have a price to match. There still remains a significant amount of overlap between the models and the Corvette needs to do more to separate itself from its Font-engine RWD brother. Thus the change in drive layout.
Credit: SuperChevy
But the Camaro isn’t the one to blame for this predicament. It has its own war to focus on, that against its cross-town rival: The Ford Mustang. The Camaro has always played second fiddle to the Mustang. Its not news when the Mustang outsells the Camaro, but when the Camaro outsells the Mustang even ‘Real People’ hear about it. Every generation brings better and better Mustangs and Chevrolet must keep pace or risk forfeiting the inevitable magazine head-to-head articles. Ford’s announcement of a
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is just the next battle in this war. Ford can continue increasing the Mustang’s performance without worrying about it competing with another Ford product. They have no competitor for the Corvette. The Ford GT is a half-million-dollar, limited production supercar. No one is cross shopping a GT and a Corvette, much less a Mustang.
This means the sky’s the limit for the Mustang and Chevrolet is forced to keep up. To save the Corvette, Chevy will have to move the Camaro up and have it assume the position of the front-engine RWD ‘drivers car’ while the Corvette leaps ahead as Chevy’s mid-engined halo car. In short, the Corvette has to become mid-engined to separate itself from the Camaro, which has to keep pace with the Mustang that has no internal competitor. Thus, just blame the ‘Stang.
2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 18:15 |
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Your looking way to far into this.
Not that it’s wrong just that it really doesn’t matter because hopefully we can all enjoy the more Camaro models and new Vette that comes from this.
I hope.
Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 18:21 |
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So, according to this, there is no way the Corvette is going mid-engine to compete with Ferrari or McLaren or Porsche? This is only true if you ignore all other sportscars in the world... and are also a Mustang fan.
Do we know that they are dumping the front-engine version of the Vette??
Urambo Tauro
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 18:28 |
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So it seems that there are two potential evils that GM must choose from. Do they dare produce something better than a Corvette, knocking the ’Vette from its long-held position as GM’s halo car? Or do they take the Corvette name and apply it to something completely different from what we’ve come to expect a Corvette to be?
I, for one, would find it less offensive to introduce a new halo car. I care more about the Corvette’s own identity, than I do about GM’s hierarchy of vehicles. It feels almost as wrong to put the Corvette’s engine behind the driver as it would be to build a FWD Corvette.
crowmolly
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 18:29 |
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Corvette is already mid engined. FMR layout.
I like to think that GM is spending money on developing the Corvette as a world class car vs. a “redneck hotrod”. They want to go after some of the rear mid engine competition.
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Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast
> Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast
01/22/2018 at 18:46 |
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Also, there have been mid-engine Chevrolet sports car concepts since before the Mustang existed. (CERV I+II)
Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
> crowmolly
01/22/2018 at 18:50 |
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Yeah, it’s not like the Corvette hasn’t had major changes in the past. The original wasn’t even a V8!
From Sunday cruiser to muscle car to Super GT. Mid engined Super sports car is the perfect next step in its evolution
RacinBob
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 19:12 |
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I have to think of my departed friend Ron who bought a new black Corvette every year I knew him. Ron liked the feel of cruising in a Vette. He wouldn’t give a darn that the Camaro had similar HP, it’s still a Camaro.
Ron grew up in the 50's and the Corvette was his car. It was his one guilty pleasure and I don’t think he’d buy a rear engine one no matter how fast it is at Daytona. And I don’t think he would buy a Camaro.
My feeling is that the Ron’s of the world will take to a mid engine Vette about as well as the Harley Faithful took to a Harley with an engine designed by Porsche.
If they make it mid engine, Chevy may sell more of the Vettes in Europe, but I doubt they will in the USA.
Stephenson Valve Gear
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 20:04 |
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I went out to my garage, showed this post to my Mustang, and severely reprimanded it. It is now in a time out so it can think about what it has done...
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Mach-inator
> Stephenson Valve Gear
01/22/2018 at 20:13 |
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Number one very best comment
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Mach-inator
> 2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered
01/22/2018 at 20:17 |
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Mach-inator
> RacinBob
01/22/2018 at 20:23 |
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RacinBob
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 21:26 |
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Buy this ‘18 Vette for $12,000 off of MSRP..... 5480 new Corvettes in inventory in US...
Yes - they have a problem, but I just don’t see how making the Corvette more expensive and rear engine will fix anything.
At this price, it does make me wonder what would be more fun, a new Stingray or a Type R.....
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RacinBob
> RacinBob
01/22/2018 at 21:34 |
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How would you like to be a dealer trying to unload this low mile’14 for $6,000 less than you can buy for new.....
AdverseMartyr
> Mach-inator
01/22/2018 at 21:38 |
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Is it just me or does that photo from SuperChevy look like an NSX?
RT
> Mach-inator
01/23/2018 at 09:34 |
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I always enjoy reading theories like this on Oppo, but I noticed one problem.
But the Camaro isn’t the one to blame for this predicament. It has its own war to focus on, that against its cross-town rival: The Ford Mustang. The Camaro has always played second fiddle to the Mustang. It’s not news when the Mustang outsells the Camaro, but when the Camaro outsells the Mustang even ‘Real People’ hear about it.
It goes without saying that the Mustang was a huge success at launch, whereas the Camaro was always a step behind, a simple imitator - but the 1960s ended. If we examine the next two decades, you’ll notice an opposite trend.
Why are the 70s and 80s so important to the Mustang-Camaro rivalry? Because these were the last two decades when American passenger cars outsold imports (which eventually drove the pony car into a niche by the 90s). So this was the final chance for the Camaro and Mustang to make an impression as popular cars among ‘Real People’.
The Mustang was already off to rocky start for most of the 70s, when it became the infamous and unfashionable Pinto-based Mustang II. But even after the more well-received Fox-body Mustangs were introduced, the Camaro still outsold the Mustang. Take this data from 1985. The Camaro is the 13th best-selling car in America, while the Mustang doesn’t even make it into the top 20. They are also separated by huge sellers like the Sentra and Corolla, so the Camaro was certainly on top.
This proves that the Mustang never really forced the Camaro into entering Corvette territory, as it wasn’t always threatening it. Modern cars in general have higher horsepower ratings. Don’t blame the Mustang, blame the industry.
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RacinBob
> 2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered
01/23/2018 at 13:54 |
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More information;
40,600 sold ‘16,
32,000 sold ‘17,
5480 new and in dealer stock on 1/22/18
