We’ve watched The General trying to reinvent their marketshare and there is no question that they’re working hard. Here in The Garage, I’m wondering if they are about to make a giant brand image blunder. The rumour floating around is that they are close to launching a V6 Corvette coupe based on the Kappa platform. This platform is the base for the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice. Wow, talk about diluting the strongest brand in GM’s arsenal.
The Corvette brand has been built on the mystique of the American V8. Granted, the first cars were powered by a six, but the legend was built upon the V8 muscle. The strength of the brand is based on the engine.
All this is not to say that a 3.9 Liter V6 powered Solstice wouldn’t be a blast to drive. I’m sure the car would be a howl. Personally, I would buy an upgraded Solstice, but I wouldn’t buy a downgraded Corvette. Ford sells a ton of V6 Mustangs. A buddy of mine just bought one, but I wouldn’t. What’s the point?
In the short term, I’m sure they would sell a whole bunch of V6 SolVett’s which would accomplish the market share problem. Long term though, what would it do to the strength of the brand? At a time when the Traditional Domestics are shedding divisions, would Corvette cease to be an individual brand and instead become a performance division? I think it’s a mistake.
3 comments ↓
I’m with you on this one. Some automakers are getting the clue that consumers want the best of the good old days back. Ford has attempted to make this happen with the new Mustang and it looks more like a real, classic Mustang than any other model since the early seventies.
I don’t think I’m the only want to want to see them moving toward making their products more exclusive and more branded rather than playing to the common denominator and turning every car into a stream-lined bubble in five stock colors with a bigger engine and a fancy legendary name on one of them.
This would be a shame. Having owned a 78 vette I got into the game a little bit. Going backwards would be a big mistake I think you cannot get out of and is a slippery slope.
A V6 vette is just about the worst idea i’ve ever heard. Ever. I personally wouldn’t drop the 45-50k it takes to buy a new Vette - but you can be damn sure I wouldn’t buy a neutered Vette just because it falls into my price range. Besides the first generation Blue Flame I6 models, Vettes have big, powerful V8’s. Period.
Mustangs are a bit different breed, as they’ve always had a smaller engine option, whether the V6 or the infamous I4 from the dark years. The Vette has always been V8, except for the first few years.
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