Sam Krahn 
Historically, you’ve always had a tradeoff when choosing a Corvette Convertible over a coupe. While they look great with the top down, there’s no denying a coupe looks better with the roof on, as the convertible model loses the iconic fastback design. And losing that roofline means significantly limiting the Corvette’s cavernous storage compartment under the rear hatch. Furthermore, a soft top is just a little less refined when you don’t have the roof down. But with the C8 Corvette Convertible, everything changed with the move to a mid-engined design. Trunk space is identical with front and rear storage unaffected, and the hardtop has identical refinement and almost the same looks as the soft top. Losing the drawbacks of Corvette Convertibles of the past has made C8 Convertible sales skyrocket, with CorvetteBlogger reporting 41 percent of 2021 model-year sales being convertibles.
Corvette Convertible sales haven’t been this close to the coupe since the 1969 model year, where 43 percent of C3 Corvette models were convertibles. With so few drawbacks in picking the Convertible, it’s no surprise it’s so popular right now. Apart from just being personal preference between coupe and convertible, the convertible now has the benefit of being able to roll the rear window down. This is a great way to let more glorious V8 exhaust noise into the cabin without having to put the roof or windows down.
The trim breakdown of the C8 Corvette Stingray Convertible also shows what a success it’s been for Chevrolet. Over half of buyers, 52 percent to be precise, are choosing the highest 3LT trim level. 2LT is the second most popular at 40 percent, while only 8 percent of buyers opt for the base 1LT trim. That’s different than the coupe in 2021, which saw a 47 percent 3LT, 33 percent 2LT and 20 percent 1LT. In 2020, 3LT was the most popular coupe trim.
These numbers are based on the 19,362 total 2021 C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible and Coupe models, both sold and awaiting production. More will be added to that as the final 2021 orders come in, but it gives a good picture as we move closer to 2022 production. This means 21 percent of all 2021 Corvette models are 3LT Convertibles at this point, the highest trim and cost Corvette one can buy before the Z06 is finally introduced later this year. That should give General Motors something to celebrate.
