AZhitman wrote:
Futuristic? Not even CLOSE.
Current? Maybe.
Looks much the same as it did in 1984, when it WAS "futuristic".
Absolutely I would say the same of the 911. It's VERY much the same as it was in 1976, but it has (IMO) "aged" much better.
Far from it - I'm a closet skeptic on the GTR.
I just understand the market as a WORLD market, not a US market - You, a student of the automotive market, a critic of all that is failed in Detroit, a connoisseur (at least on paper) of what "works" and what doesn't, you of all people can grasp that.
Corvette has been picking up quite well the last few years in Europe. It was a matter of improving the overall perception of quality to the public, and getting the GM dealerships in Europe on board with marketing the car to Europeans. Also, the C6 was the first generation that was designed towards the European driving characteristics(and tested @ the Nueranburg(I hate spelling it as I NEVER get it right and too lazy to look it up)). Like Nissan, GM focused the majority of it's corvette sales, in America where Corvette was born and nurtured for generations. Now, however, you can see Corvette events popping up all over Europe. People are importing C1, C2's, C3's, and C4's to Britain, Germany, and other countries, then hosting events where thousands of these cars that were never sold in Europe, have ended up. When several hundred corvettes show up for an all corvette event in Britain, you know there are people that love them. My cousin Chris, who's family is from Germany, tells me all the time about how Germans love Corvettes. I'd bet there's quite a few more corvettes in Germany, than all generations of skylines that came out of Japan.
Car enthusiasts might know alot about the GT-R, but your average person does not. The average person DOES however, know about the Corvette. It has 55 years of history. Granted most of that is in America, but there's alot of history in Europe too, not to mention the recent successes this past decade at Lemans with the C5R, and C6R.
Might I add, that the ZR-1 when it came out in 1990, blew everybody away around the world, with it's performance.
As to the newer corvettes being out-dated....
I 100% disagree with you Greg.
(for those that have good eyes, I'm parked next to a 78', 25th anniversary C3 that belongs to a gal I know quite well who also owns an old Porsche 911)