General Motors just announced that the new 2020 Corvette will start at under $60,000. “What I can share with you tonight: When the 2020 Stingray goes on sale in the U.S., it will start at less than $60,000,” said Mark Reuss, president of GM, during the event livestream.
This is a huge deal. This C8 mid-engine Corvette is clearly a major step in Corvette history—one that we, and many others, feared would yield a significant bump in price. A $100,000+ price tag would take away from what has made the Corvette so compelling over the years, but a reasonable starting price for a 495 horsepower, mid-engine, eight-speed dual-clutch transmission-having Corvette? That could be a game-changer, as my coworker Raphael Orlove wrote:
But if the car costs what a regular front-engine Corvette does now or even just above it, say, at around an R35-esque $70,000 mark, things are different. Then GM is advancing the sports car narrative. It’s then offering an exotic car platform at a non-exotic price. It’s democratizing a mid-engine powerhouse, and it’s not coming from some low-volume manufacturer.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the 2020 Corvette’s pricing, like how much the trim levels or options will demand. But we do know that the basic version of the mid-engine Corvette will cost under $60,000, and that alone is cause for excitement.