When GM announced a sub-$60,000 price for the new Corvette C8, including the destination charges, it sent the automotive community into a spiral. How could GM price a car that was built from scratch so close to the starting price of the outgoing C7? A lot of speculations were made about this ‘sorcery’ and as it turns out, there was a catch all along. According to MotorTrend, the sub-$60,000 base price would only last for the first model year. This means that for the 2021 model, GM will bump up the prices. Surprised, angry, or befuddled?

It Was Bound To Happen

When you thought that one of the most anticipated cars of all time couldn’t get any more hype, GM decided to play the sticker price shock card and that garnered all the more attention. It caused a scare to even a company like Porsche, which decided to launch new base trims for the 911 Carrera and the Cabriolet. Well played, GM. But, if you look at the Corvette pricing pattern over the years, this would have been easy to decipher. The company has used to the same trick for the preceding Corvettes as well.

But, a few months into the launch, GM decided to increase the prices by $2,000 to $53,993 for the base model. The reason the automaker quoted was a higher than expected demand. Fast-forward to 2015 and the model was selling at a premium of $4,000 over the original launch price. Folks all around the globe expected a higher sticker price for the mid-engined C8, so technically, no one will be disappointed even if the prices go up a notch because everyone was mentally prepared for it anyway.

The Company Needs To Recover The Initial Costs Before The Demand Goes Down Over The Years

However, GM can’t use the same higher than expected demand bulls**t now. The company has been anticipating high demand and has been prepping itself for this for quite some time now. GM increased the manpower and added 400 more hourly jobs at its Bowling Green factory in Kentucky, bringing the total workforce strength to over 1,300. This is the only factory in the world where the ‘Vettes are built. The 1.7 million square feet facility is built on a 212-acre property. However, with the added workforce, GM will have two production shifts in a day. From this point of view, GM can’t cite the same reason as before.

Will GM Be Able To Justify The Price Hike?

On the flip side, these are exactly the reasons why the Corvette could be receiving a big hike. Since the mid-engined C8 was built from the ground up, Chevy has invested a lot of resources in it for years together. It goes unsaid that GM has spent the highest amount on the research and development costs on this ‘Vette. Also, you cannot expect Silverados and Equinoxes to cover the costs so that the C8 can be sold at a subsidized price. Not to mention the Chevy Corvette has not seen growth on its graph since 2014. To put things into perspective, the automaker was able to move merely 18,791 examples of its sports car compared to the 34,839 examples it moved in 2014 in the U.S.

Chevrolet Corvette C8 prices

Final Thoughts

Not exactly a fair analogy, but aren’t the last five years for the Corvette very similar to a start-up logic? You undergo losses in the initial years, but then shoot up the prices when you have a solid product in your hands. For now, the base price of the C8 is a mere $3,000 more than the outgoing C7; but we don’t know how much of a hike the Corvette C8 Stingray price will get for the next year model. What we do know, however, is that it will still have a lot of buyers. Not to mention the fact that Chevrolet has made an array of options available for the C8. So can we safely assume that even with a few options, the price could easily go north of $70,000. Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

If you to learn more, check out our article on in-depth pricing of the C8 Corvette.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2020 Chevrolet C8 Corvette Stingray.

Read our speculative review of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Zora ZR1