Reality check:

1. The C8 is not sold out in the US, dealers don't really have allocations yet (they get them in Sept. as far as I heard), so how can it be sold out when dealers don't even know how many cars they get? broken heart Demand is high though according to Corvette dealerships in the US, higher than when the C7 was introduced.

2. The C8 will be a dead duck in the water in Europe if GM makes the same mistakes of the past again. Meaning: Too high prices vs. the US market, lousy spare parts delivery times (up to 3 months and more), bad service (they sold Corvettes for 130k in the same dealerships selling Opel cars for 20k), serious image problems and actually bad product quality at times (a 130k car with a cheap plastic interior looks really bad).

3. The best way to introduce the new C8 to a very very difficult European market would be the C8 with the n/a V8 engine at an entry level base price of let's say 70k EUR, maybe 69k EUR. This would be a very very hard blow for Porsche and other manufacturers in Europe and this could actually lift the image of the C8 in Europe and open the door for the more powerful upcoming Turbo and Turbo hybrid models. Of course GM will not do that and the same old happens again, no surprises here.  If GM can offer the C8 for a base price of under 60k USD in the US, I think it should be possible, even if they don't make a ton of money out of it, to offer the C8 with the V8 n/a engine in Europe for under 70k EUR.

4. Ford introduced the Mustang officially in Europe a few years ago and it became the best selling sports car in Germany at some point. The reason was simple: V8 n/a engine for a ridiculously low price of around 45-50k EUR. Quality was never the best but the cars were attractively priced, good performers and fun to drive. Now Ford got lazy and it will cost them a lot: They had issues with the particulate filter adaptation on 2020 models and their cars lost power, the 4-cyl. Ecoboost over 20 hp as far as I heard, the V8 still lost (I think) 10 hp in the automatic version. Also, the Mustang GT350 and the new Shelby GT500 are not officially available in Europe. This is really a bummer since some Mustang owners would love to upgrade for example. There also would be demand for a GT350 and maybe even for the new GT500 if Ford prices the cars right and knows how to market them. No such thing happening, I think Ford misses an opportunity here but I guess the particulate filter is a challenge for them, similar to European manufacturers.

In the end, I think that the new C8 will be a huge success in the US but another "dud" in Europe, as sad as this may sound.


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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mercedes C63 S AMG Cab (2019), Range Rover Evoque Si4 Black Edition (2019)