Having one "first come first served" list at a dealer doesn't IMHO make business sense and doesn't match what my dealer is doing and all the other dealers I've talked to in my area are doing (ie. they all have separate lists for the Stingray, ZO6 and E-Ray). And my understanding from my salesman is that in the past, there wasn't "one list" but rather the separate lists they have now, so this is nothing new for Corvettes.
But assume there's one list for everyone, regardless what type of C8 Corvette you want. I get on that list even though I already had/sold my C8 Stingray and don't want another. Now I'm in line with others for "just any type of C8". My dealer gets 40 allocations and there are 50 people in front of me on the list. Assume when pricing comes out, NONE of them want a ZO6 due to it being ++ more expensive than a Stingray...or they don't want a vehicle that feels "all the bumps" (rides differently than a Stingray), or other reasons, so ALL of those 40 allocations are for Stingrays. My dealer gets zero ZO6 allocations in this first release year. I wait until the next year, when my number 51 comes up on the list, to get a Z06. Assume this happens with Canadian dealers and US dealers as well, who all have only the one list. GM has a problem: it's released the 2023 ZO6 in the 2022 calendar year but no one is buying it (or very very few) because too many people for various reasons want the Stingray and they come first on "the one list". Then the same happens for the E-Ray. GM is unable to forecast who might buy a Z06 or E-Ray and when they will, so it produces very few of them (???) for the first model year. With this business model, it should sell only Stingrays and when the sales numbers for Stingrays decrease, only then should it start ramping up production for the ZO6, E-Ray, etc. If the sales numbers for Stingrays remains super high and those wanting Stingrays vastly outnumber those wanting the other variants, GM has this same problem beyond the first release year. Or alternatively, those wanting a ZO6 like me suddenly outnumber those wanting a Stingray in year two due to pent-up demand...so dealers are then clamouring for almost nothing but ZO6's in the 2023 calendar year: very few Stingrays are ordered and those wanting a Stingray are ++ unhappy. But again, how does GM plan its production for that scenario?
Instead, GM sets aside a
smaller portion of its production (ie. one in every 3 to 5 C8's is a ZO6?) knowing most people will order the Stingray compared to the ZO6 (given past statistics) so it can hopefully sell whatever it makes of these new variants, try and make
both the Stingray and ZO6 buyers happy, make a "new model splash" [have ZO6's on the road and catching the attention of future potential buyers] and better plan its production sequencing/numbers.
I now see the above post is my #1,000th post on the Forums which attracts an "addicted" trophy (?) according to the notification sent to me. Who knew???!!! When it comes to these Forums and anything C8-related, I suppose I
am addicted. lol