Why the Corvette is Chevrolet's billion-dollar baby

[Ed Blown Vert]

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet, GM, Earnings/Financials, Luxury


Edmunds has worked up a piece that tries to figure out just how much the global Chevrolet Corvette economy is worth, a spitballed guesstimate putting the number at more than $2.5 billion with the proviso that the number is probably low. It starts by taking Corvette's new car sales of 14,132 units last year, which would equate to $714,725,900 (including destination) assuming ever car sold was a base coupe with no options. In the final tally, a little extra padding gets that number up to $750,000,000.

But that's not all. Consider this: Many of the almost 1.4 million Corvettes produced over the model's history are still on the road. There are new parts being produced and aftermarket companies like Mid-America Motorworks deaing business, that single Illinois company doing more than $40 million a year in sales. There are the Corvette events large and small, restorers who do nothing but Corvettes, salvage yards that deal only in used Corvette parts and the Corvette magazines where owners find all this stuff.

And then there are the Corvette-themed tchotchkes, every single one of which provides a tiny contribution to the huge licensing royalties that General Motors collects every year. The article admits there's no way to come to an accurate number, but it just goes to show how valuable one specific model can be to a company.Why the Corvette is Chevrolet's billion-dollar baby originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments

More...

[Strykerg8GT]

I was always curious why GM didn't seperate the Corvette into its own brand away from Chevy when they restructured under bankruptcy. That way if they ever needed to shed brands again or sell off assets, the Corvette would be a seperate entitiy of its own and in theory could survive without GM.

[2002ssslp]

I thought GM was going to sell off the Corvette brand and part of the payback for the government loans they took.