How fitting they're asking '7' figures over sticker...

 

Did you mean to say they are asking $1 million over sticker? If so, ha, ha, ha, ha . . . they're insane.

 

You can go into the Ferrari dealer and touch a Ferrari, but go into the Jag dealer and you can't touch an overpriced parts bin special because it will fall apart under the pressure of a greasy fingerprint.

 

The Santa Monica Nissan dealership got a used GTR in once and put up a velvet rope fence around it with DO NOT TOUCH signs plastered everywhere. This wasn't even when they first came out, it was two years ago.

The Project 7 looks good in white.

 

No - that was meant to be a joke. But probably not too far off.

 

Not an uncommon practice for LA area dealers for high demand low production vehicles. Actually not that common with high end dealers. Manufacturs's of exotics generally frown on this practice.

 

Similar to how Chevy dealers get weird about test driving corvettes. The same corvettes that share service bays with malibus and impalas.

 

Possibly . . . but I think many Chevrolet dealers (not all) bend over backwards to treat Corvettes and their owners differently, which means impressing the importance of that upon their employees. Like with the F-Type, many Corvette owners will not consider buying one from stock if it has more than 10 miles on it, so they custom-order instead.

I've purchased 2 new Corvettes over the years from different dealers, and when I went for service, I always received white-glove, "Ferrari-style" treatment. Only certain senior tech at those dealers were allowed to touch my cars, and that was not a request I made. That's always what I was told by the service advisor who checked me in.

 

Try test driving a Corvette and they want your financials before hand ... LOL go across the street and take any Porsche out you like for a drive. Had several friends who would have bought a new toy from GM, even as a fun daily and where completely put off by the treatment for a "cheapo" car and dropped double the money on something else the very same day.

 

I had the same experience. Before pulling the trigger on the F-Type I wanted to be certain I wouldn't be happy with a new C-7 for much less money. The dealer wouldn't let anyone test drive the new C-7. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even SIT in it because the one on the showroom floor had a dead battery and the key fob would not unlock the door. Sales person never even tried to open it manually somehow. I would assume if there ever was a dead battery you'd still have SOME way of getting into the car?

This wasn't a small dealer either. You'd think they'd have ONE car they used as a demo?

 

This is another one of those forum "deja vu all over again conversations." The difficulty of being able to test drive a Corvette is really driven by supply, demand, and buyer expectations. Even though GM builds 35-40K of these cars every year, they sell very well and usually quickly. Most dealers are always complaining to GM about not being able to get enough Corvette allocations, which are based upon total dealership sales.

Dealers have also learned that not many want to purchase a Corvette w/ several 100 miles on it. As I said above, if the car has more than 10 miles on it, most potential new Corvette buyers will walk away. They could care less about the people who leave because they weren't allowed to test drive. They'll sell them all, and much easier on a car with only 1 digit besides 0 on the odo.

This isn't like F-Types and Porsches that sit around for months and sometimes years on end. Hell yeah, they'll let you drive those cars.

 

Had the same experience trying to look at the C7 when it came out, right down to they wouldn't let me sit in one. I'm a tall guy, head room is very important and one reason why I couldn't buy a Viper. They also were demanding a "market adjustment" of $5k. No thank you.

Fast forward 6 months and the same dealer called me up saying they had a bunch in and I could test drive one. They also were now taking $5k off the MSRP.

They do sell fast, but GM has also saturated the market within the first year. A C7 is pretty easy to attain now, the Z06 is their new halo baby.

 

I've been following Corvettes through 3 generations now, and the C7 is following the same marketing path as the C5 and C6. At introduction, it's mark-up over MSRP followed by Z06 introduction, and the discounting begins. They build about the same number every year and essentially sell out every year. Yes they discount off MSRP after the first year, but that's the plan as it is with all makes.

If you check Cars.com, you won't find many 2015s. You'll also see most cars report under 10 miles on the odo.

 

The C4 rolled out exactly the same way.