Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that has been manufactured by Chevrolet since 1953. The Corvette has proudly distinguished itself over the past 55 years as the original and best American sports car. The Corvette is an American Icon and known for being bold, sleek, sexy, fast, powerful, daring, brash, ultra tech, a little nasty and world class at the same time. Since 1953, Corvette has been a legend to millions of fans in the United States and around the world.
Marketing Environment
Today, the economy is struggling with rising crude prices and escalating gasoline prices at the pumps. With the price of premium gasoline averaging $4.30 a gallon the gasoline guzzling days of the sports car could be numbered.
In 2007, “sales for the Chevrolet Corvette were down almost 8 percent” (Cetawayo, 2008). General Motors (GM) Spokesman John McDonald said “the declines are a reflection of fluctuations and pressures on the overall economy and housing market” (Cetawayo, 2008). Mr. McDonald may need to revisit that comment as the Corvette is in danger of increasingly declining sales with every uptick in the price of gasoline. With so much focus on gasoline prices, fuel economy, and cutbacks on discretionary spending GM needs to carefully look at its future production plans for the Corvette.
In February 2008, GM posted a 38.6 billion dollar loss, the largest in automotive history. The Chevrolet Corvette is GM’s highest quality car, costs more than $50,000, and has a very small margin of profit. With such a large financial loss in 2007, GM can no longer afford the small profit margin and declining sales on such a high priced product.
General Motors not only needs to look at the Corvette but all of its models as it “conti ...