Chevrolet takes the wraps off the seventh generation Corvette this week, so there is a great deal of media attention focused on America's "only true sports car."
Not all of that attention is enthusiastic. The Corvette has been tremendously improved in terms of its capabilities in the past decade and become a force to be reckoned with in the various permutations of Grand Touring class motorsports.
But the Corvette's image has at the same time been in decline. Those of us from the Boomer generation still dream of owning a Vette, if we haven't already, but our kids and grand kids for the most part have other marques on their minds.
Detroit has not always been known for recognizing reality, even after it has repeatedly walked up and slapped the Big Three on the nose, but it appears folks at Chevy have figured this one out.
Exhibit A is this quote from Chevy's Chris Perry, head of marketing for the Stovebolt:
“We haven’t been managing the perception of the brand,” Perry told Bloomberg News' Tim Higgins.
“To hit our sales target, we don’t really need to advertise Corvette, there are a lot of people waiting to buy a Corvette, but to help change the perception of Corvette and help change the perception of Chevrolet, we’ll definitely be putting some marketing behind it.”
To further illustrate Perry's point, Higgins notes that "on the Internet, Corvette gets lapped by exotic sports car brands. Corvette’s Facebook page had 1 million 'likes' on Jan. 10 while Chevrolet as a brand had 1.7 million.
"Ferrari had 10 million, Porsche had 4.9 million and Audi had 6.2 million. A separate Facebook page for Audi’s R8 has 1.48 million 'likes.'”
Higgins' analysis of the Corvette's current and future position is among the most thorough pieces of analytical automotive journalism I've found in a very long time.
Even if you couldn't care less about the Corvette, you ought to head over to Bloomberg News and give this piece a read because it is superb.
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