Chevrolet Versus Ferrari...
Robert Goodman
Creative Problem Solver | Expert in White Space Situations | Seeking Senior Marketing Positions
Ferrari launched an extraordinary car to mark its 80th anniversary.? And it did so quickly on the heels of McLaren Automotive Ltd announcing the W1.?? Rumors abound that Porsche Cars North America will announce the successor to the 918 Spyder.? If it does so, it will mark the return to the Triple Crown of Supercars (or what is more commonly called by a name that many find personally offensive).?
Porsche 918, McLaren P1, and Ferrari LaFerrari were held in high esteem.? They were the pinnacle of what high performance automobiles could be at the time.? However, an unlikely spoiler has entered the race.
It is not Mercedes-AMG GmbH One or even the Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd Valkyrie.? It is the Chevrolet Corvette Zora by 通用汽车 .? This is going to be the successor to the car that Mark Reuss just piloted to 233 mph.
For the longest time Corvettes competed against the entry level Ferraris like the Dino and 3x8s.? Very rarely could a Corvette compete with the likes the Testarossa series or its successors.? And when it did, it did so in ZR1 guise.
Now the intrepid Corvette team is looking to unseat the king, and it is not going to miss.
The Zora is not only expected to meet or exceed all the benchmarks established by this trio, but it is going to do so at 1/16th the price.? By the time the 799th and final, F80 rolls off the production line, the Zora will have potentially passed serial number 800.?
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And while it may help to know America’s favorite DJ, Steve Garrett , to land a prime allocation of the Zora, it will not take the loop jumping skills of a Ferrari completionist to land one.
As I stated earlier, Ferrari has been competing Corvette for some time in all the sports car comparisons going back to the early 80s.? And the Ferrari has always commanded a price premium. ?In fact, all the cars that the Corvette has competed against in those articles were more expensive.? And they remain so in the secondary market today.
The Corvette has always been competitive, but it did not always come out on top.? And that is the distinctive thing about the Zora.? It will exceed the “King of the Hill” status of the ZR1 and punch further above its weight than ever before.
Ferrari announces it crown jewel, and the automotive press simultaneously praised it and panned it.? It is an amazing feat of engineering. ?And there is no doubt it will be a wonderful car worthy of not only being top-tier Ferrari, but an enjoyable automobile.? On the other hand, it is no longer the pinnacle of automotive engineering.? That is going to a variant of a car that can be ordered to spec for 90% of its MSRP.? A potentially mass-produced American automobile could easily unseat it using similar technology at a fraction of the price.
This is not just a marketing conundrum for Ferrari, but for all sports car manufacturers in Europe looking to establish dominance.? Once a car can reach maximum velocity before completing the Mulsanne Straight, it stops being fun and starts being a liability.? Any faster sports car may just be irrelevant. ?
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5 个月Interesting and insightful!
Global Sales Executive@ MAHLE | North America DE&I Chair, MBA, Business Development, Strategy, Leadership
5 个月Very hard hard call and being a retro owner and can say Corvette is a world class car - however i still have to go Ferrari
Chilled Out Pro
5 个月There are some discrepancies in this article, but it’s otherwise accurate. The issue is that all roadgoing cars exceeding 400-500 bhp are useless off the track. Yes, the vehicle has the capability, but that can’t be achieved on public roads. Add that it can only be achieved by a professional race car driver on a closed course immaculately prepared on a perfect day with perfect weather and a team of engineers to constantly adjust every facet of the vehicle at that moment. Anyone telling you they pin the accelerator on any car until it reaches maximum velocity on a public road with more bhp than what I stated is a bald face liar. You know, the fantasy football/armchair warrior crowd. It’s all bullshit. Buy a standard C8 and call it a day. The only people (less than 0.001%) that can use a base C8 to its fullest already have a fulltime job racing cars. Save your money for things that pay dividends.
Innovator | Enthusiast | EVangelist
5 个月??