Lucas Bell 
Leading up to the debut of the totally redesigned C8 Corvette, there were a substantial amount of questions surrounding the mid-engined sports car. Out of all the uncertainty, the Corvette faithful seemed most concerned about a dramatic price increase to go along with the next-gen Corvette. But when Chevrolet unveiled the car with a sub $60,000 price tag, there was a sigh of relief that America’s sports car retained its affordability. However, it may be too affordable for its own good.
In an interview with Motor Trend, a source from within General Motors stated that the automaker will lose money on every C8 Corvette with a sticker price below $80,000. In order to avoid plaguing the Corvette faithful with sticker shock, Chevrolet instead decided that it was better to take the financial hit on the base-spec cars.
This seems to likely be the same source as the one that said the C8 Corvette ZR1 will be a twin-turbo V8 hybrid, and we have reason to believe that isn’t entirely true. So with that in mind, we’re approaching this statistic with caution.
Considering the fact that Chevrolet has released this new ‘Vette with an extensive options list, most customers will likely end up closing the $20,000 gap a decent amount. This is not the first time that an automaker has decided to sell a model at a loss. The ultra-rare Lexus LFA debuted with a sticker price of $375,000, which was not high enough for Lexus to break even on the run of 500 vehicles.
In that same Motor Trend interview, the GM source corroborated that the price of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette would rise by 2021, with additional increases to follow in the years to come. We don’t expect the price of the base C8 to make the jump all the way up to $80,000, as Chevrolet has a number of higher performance Corvette models in the pipeline. These models will almost certainly start in the six-figure range, which should help to offset the losses from the lower spec’d C8 Corvettes.
The Chevrolet Corvette has always been known to punch above its price point when it comes to performance. Keeping the two-door sports coupe’s price in line with Corvette’s of the past was a good publicity move, but only time will tell if it was a good business decision.
