Chevrolet Corvette Z06 due mid 2023, GM won’t fix prices to stop excessive dealer delivery fees

The highly-anticipated Corvette Z06 is due in Australia mid next year. But US car giant General Motors has no plans to stamp out excessive dealer delivery fees, and is not considering fixed-price sales locally.

The 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 – the ultra high-performance version of the new C8 Corvette – is due in Australia by the middle of 2023, the company has confirmed, as the waiting list stretches two years.

However, for now, General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) remains tight-lipped about pricing.

Based on overseas RRPs – primarily the US and Canada – the 2023 Corvette Z06 will likely cost close to or in excess of $200,000 when it arrives in Australian showrooms.

Of particular concern to Corvette customers in Australia is what steps, if any, General Motors can take to minimise – or stamp out – excessive dealer delivery charges.

As Drive has previously reported, some GMSV showrooms in Australia have charged between $25,000 and $39,500 for dealer delivery, while others have charged customers their usual rate of about $2000.

When asked for an update on local Corvette Z06 timing and pricing, the boss of General Motors Speciality Vehicles (GMSV), Marc Ebolo, told Australian and New Zealand media in a briefing in Detroit:

“From our point of view, (the Corvette Z06 is due) roughly the middle of next year. I wouldn’t go down to that level on pricing. We’ll be announcing pricing at some point, but not yet.”

When asked about how many orders have been received – and if GMSV has asked Detroit for an increase in supply to reduce waiting times and remove the incentive for dealers to charge excessive delivery fees – Mr Ebolo said: “You can imagine that from the moment (Australian customers) heard about Corvette Z06, they started showing interest.”

The GMSV boss said he would not disclose Australian order numbers.

However dealer sources claim they have been told the first two years of allocations of the Corvette Z06 are sold out.

When asked if GMSV was exploring any other ways to discourage or stamp out dealer delivery fees – such as introducing a fixed-price sales structure – Mr Ebolo said: “At the moment, no (plans to switch to fixed prices).”

When asked to clarify GMSV’s position on excessive dealer delivery fees – and whether the company would discourage the practice, Mr Ebolo said: “We’ve made a statement on the dealer delivery side of things, and we won’t be expanding on that.”

The last time GMSV issued a statement on dealer delivery fees was last year. At the time, the company said: “As independent franchises, dealers are free to set their own delivery fee, but GMSV expects and encourages all dealers to ensure our valued customers have the best possible experience.”

When asked if GMSV has made any formal requests for increased supply of Corvette from the US factory – because additional vehicle stock would ease pressure on prices and dealer delivery charges – Mr Ebolo said: “Supply remains very tight, every market is selling out into the distant future. 

“Like every market, we put our hand up for our fair share of the allocation. We’ve done that looking into next year. We would hope to get a bigger allocation next year, but we don’t know.”

GMSV has sold about 2000 vehicles a year in Australia over the past two years; most of those have been the Chevrolet Silverado 1500.

Demand for that model also exceeds supply, however General Motors remains limited in the number of pick-ups it can send to Australia, even though we equate to a fraction of the demand in the US.

“Demand for Silverado has been amazing,” said Mr Ebolo. “The passion and excitement for that vehicle … there are lengthy order banks for both models.”

The GMSV boss said it will not be easy to ramp up supply of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 or 2500 locally because of demand in North America.

He indicated bottlenecks included a limited supply of pick-ups globally, and the remanufacturing process in Melbourne.

“In terms of production capacity, as of right now, we believe that we are moving into a steady state,” said Mr Ebolo.

“We have projects we are looking at, we would like additional volume, and we believe demand is out there. We are looking at each project very carefully.”

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