The mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette Z06 looks awesome. I mean, here’s a brand new car with a warranty that offers an 8,600-rpm, 670-horsepower flat-plane crank overhead cam V8 for less than a comparably equipped Porsche 911 Carrera S. That’s supercar stuff for luxury sports car money. As it stands, there’s just one problem: Chevrolet might’ve built too many of them.
A quick Cars.com search reveals 1,069 brand new Z06s sitting on dealer lots, and Chevrolet’s own inventory finder has an even higher number, 1,677 overhead cam naturally aspirated Corvettes available for people to buy right now. That’s nearly half the national inventory of all Corvettes, and you know what the rules of supply and demand say.
That’s right, it’s discount time, and the discounts are getting pretty good. For example, take a look at this brand new Z06 with the Z07 package up for sale at a Chevrolet dealer in Texas. It’s a loaded 3LZ trim, has a light grey interior that won’t threaten your posterior with searing should you leave this thing parked in the sun, and it’s being listed at $149,915 despite having an MSRP of $161,915. That’s a discount of $12,000 off sticker price.
Want to go further? Here’s a dealer in Miami with 48 Corvette Z06 examples in stock, all of which are listed below MSRP. Want the biggest discount? This mid-range 2LZ trim in a fetching shade of yellow with the carbon aero package is listed for $133,528, or $19,952 below MSRP. Okay, so it doesn’t suddenly make it Mustang money, but considering this is the closest thing to an American Ferrari 458 Italia out there, that’s not bad.
This 2025 Corvette Z06 hasn’t even arrived on the lot yet, but that still isn’t stopping a dealer in Minnesota from slicing $12,000 off the MSRP. It’s a base 1LZ trim in Sebring Orange, and while the window sticker says it should cost $127,100, it’s being listed for sale at $115,100. That’s well-equipped Stingray money, and at that point, why not give up a few creature comforts for an amazing engine?
It’s a stark contrast from what we saw two years ago, when C8 Z06 examples were going for well above MSRP on auction sites. This 2023 Corvette Z06 Convertible was one of the first to hit Bring A Trailer back in March of 2023, carrying a sticker price of $126,785. By the time the gavel dropped, the high bid stood at $227,000, a shocking premium simply to be one of the first with a C8 Z06.
Likewise, this 2023 Corvette Z06 with the Z07 package hit Cars & Bids back in February of 2023, and it sold for a whopping $218,200. Sure, it was a desirable spec and it had some automotive celebrity provenance with YouTuber The Stradman being the original owner, but that’s still $47,040 above MSRP.
So what on earth happened for prices to swing from dozens of thousands of dollars above MSRP to five-figure discounts in just over two years? Well, a few things happened, starting with the obvious one of production ramp. At first, the Corvette Z06 made up a small portion of Corvette production as GM worked on slowly building pace. At the time, it was a hot car available in small numbers, so those who wanted to pay to be among the first owners did so. However, four things then happened to affect demand. Firstly, Chevrolet ramped up production, making it less difficult to order a Z06. Secondly, pricing rose, making the Z06 still fair value but not a screaming deal. Third, Chevrolet announced faster Corvettes. The ZR1 makes four digits of horsepower and can hit 233 MPH, while the ZR1X adds an electric motor to the equation for a claimed sub-two-second zero-to-60 mph time. Suddenly, the Z06 wasn’t the hottest Vette on the block.
Finally, Chevrolet dealers are likely facing the reality that selling new enthusiast cars kinda sucks. After all, many enthusiasts don’t just look at new cars, they also look at used ones too. Most people likely wouldn’t compare a well-specced new Honda CR-V to a gently used BMW X3, but there’s probably some enthusiast out there comparing a C8 Z06 with a second-hand Porsche 911 GT3, or even an Audi R8 with its V10 wail.
However, if you do want a new Corvette Z06, now seems like a pretty good time to buy one. After all, if you can easily find them being advertised for five figures below MSRP, there are probably dealers out there with older inventory that have more wiggle room when it comes to a deal. I guess the moral of the story here is to not fall for the new car hype and immediate over-MSRP gratification because waiting a couple years could save you serious bucks. Just think, you could do a bunch of trackdays with the $12,000 you save.
(Top graphic image: Cars.com seller)
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Yay! I’m SO glad CheVette prices have finally come down!
I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I would probably take one of these over a Porsche with this price disparity.
And, I will never spend six figures for a car, so it’s kind of a moot point. And I just want something solid, quiet and adequately powered. So, don’t worry about me driving up the auction price or whatever.
Everyone who wants one of these and has the cash already owns one.
I just can’t see all my Chevy-owning buddies going out to spend the money on this after they’ve just rebuilt their Silverado’s transmission for the 2nd time.
Everyone who wants one AND can afford one has one already.
I’ll need another $50K off the top even to consider walking into a Chevy dealer, which I don’t believe I ever have.
It’s quite possible potential owners want a manual transmission. I know, besides the price, that this fact takes it off my list. Not spending that much money to let an engineer choose my gear.
I can fully envision/feel what a manual would feel like in that car. I put 165K on an ’01 Jetta TDI on the same clutch. And I enjoyed it and was sad when I sold it off.
But I also enjoy my ’17 Accord V6 with an AT and try to not abuse it.
6 digit costs for an American car just sounds silly, but I never claimed to be smart. My boss loves his 2020 (I think it’s a ’20) and if I do a good job he can buy another one.
I don’t understand who the target market is for this. Isn’t the Corvette buyer Gary in receiving who decides he can finally splurge on that Corvette after his kids are finished with college? And then he washes and details it every Saturday for the rest of his life? Gary cannot afford a $150k Corvette.
Meh, there have been expensive versions of the Corvette for a long time.
A 1990 ZR1 *started* at $58,995, which is almost exactly $150K in 2025.
As you can see from some of these ads, it’s possible to get into a C8 Z06 for significantly less.
It’s not as if the base Stingray is going anywhere.
And for half that, Gary can buy a base model that already has more power than you can possibly use on public roads.
More power than you can possibly use legally.
Thank God I recently bought a Miata.
The Corvette is objectively a bargain when you compare its numbers to cars with similar performance. The catch is—it doesn’t really matter.
Outside of the small handful of owners who regularly track their cars, almost no Corvette driver will ever come close to using the performance it’s capable of. In most cases, the driver’s limits are reached long before the car’s.
And if the driver is the limiting factor, there are plenty of cheaper options that will deliver that same “ceiling” of performance for far less money. Yes, the Corvette undercuts Porsche and Ferrari in price, but GM still needs to move enough units to justify the sticker. The reality is that not many people are willing—or able—to drop $120k on a toy. The ones who can usually have the means to step up to Porsche or Ferrari. And since ultimate performance isn’t the deciding factor, those buyers tend to gravitate toward the newest, flashiest, and most expensive option they can get.
I’d agree with you if I didn’t see so many in the company parking lot on a daily basis, daily driven, year round. While I personally have no interest in one especially after driving it, I can see why GM engineers like them. It’s the peak of non-boosted V8 power we’ve ever built. By contrast I’ve never seen a Ferrari, Porsche, or Lamborghini on campus.
I’m sure there are currently a lot more Corvettes on the street than Ferraris. The issue is that GM likely needs to sell many, many, more to make the Corvette profitable, and the higher-end ones mentioned in the article are being discounted are too expensive to sell in that type of quantity.
My point above is that corporate GM employees, most of which can cross shop a new Z06 Vette or Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo, seem to exclusively buy Vettes in my purely anecdotal experience.
When it comes to Halo cars like a Vette, there’s an absurd amount of R&D cost that trickles down for the rest of the fleet, and an absurd profit margin per vehicle in strict component cost, especially in the top trims. New Z06’s selling under MSRP is just the market correcting for excess supply.
The reason for the “excess supply” was my point. I’m sure you realize that GM employees buying Corvettes more than Porches or Ferraris isn’t really an indication of anything at all. That is like saying that Chicago Bears jerseys sell better in Chicago than Green Bay indicates something about the quality of the teams.
Also, few, if any, buyers cross-shop the Z06 and a Ferrari or Lambo. The only Porsche on the list would be the 718. Ferraris and Lambos start at a little under double the price of a Z06.
I mentioned it’s purely anecdotal, but it reinforces my point that at least for GM employees, there’s no cross shopping as you mentioned before and now agree with.
You seem to contradict yourself here, which is what I was directing my comments at:
The Corvette was new and interesting a couple of years ago, but isn’t any longer. Hence them now sitting on lots and being discounted. The people who can make purchases like I described no longer want Corvettes. Unlike those premium brands, the Corvette doesn’t have much cache among the people who can afford cars over $150k once they aren’t the newest thing.
If GM’s business plan required them to sell high-end Corvettes like the Z06 and ZR1 in significant numbers, they likely made a big mistake and are going to have trouble offsetting their development costs. Assuming that the business plan already accounts for the value of that development when it trickles down to more mundane models. Plus, I don’t think that trickle-down is as valuable anymore now that GM only sells CUVs and trucks.
Since this is kind of directly applicable to my work, there is trickle down, it’s just not in engines or drivetrain as much. It’s body structures, electronics, and electrical systems.
Super high volume hasn’t been a thing historically, but there was a large spike in vette sales in 2023. Looking at sales numbers, more C8’s have already been built by Q2 2025 than all C7s during a 6 model year run. So the numbers are up slightly overall, despite COVID impacts. I don’t work in that department so I have no idea what the sales goals are/were.
I’m sure there is some trickle-down effect, but the further away the halo car is from the core product, the less likely it is to be significant. However, when creating the business model, I am sure those benefits were estimated and accounted for in the sales needed to cover the development costs.
The C8 is going to need a lot higher sales figures to break even than the C7 given the exponentially larger investment required to develop it.
While the calculations made aren’t going to be easily accessible data, discounting is generally a sign that something isn’t on target.
It’s no longer the newest thing or the top dog, so it’s not as interesting to the braggarts. Like Nsane brings up, for the real world driver on the street, what does it really offer over the much cheaper regular Vette besides a little better sound? The base car is a steal for the performance at its price, so much so that the looks can be excused, but for double the price, you get academic performance improvement that looks like it cost a lot less and competes with more attractive (and prestigious) vehicles that you aren’t as likely to see six similar enough others of every time you go out for a drive.
I don’t understand your numbers. Every Corvette ever built is one of one. 🙂
The only yellow vert with black interior and automatic built on a Wednesday that was also a full moon! One of one!
I love everything about these except the price and I actually think this is pretty clear evidence that they’re too expensive at MSRP. There’s something about spending six figures on a Corvette that’s hard to wrap your head around, and I think it’s especially hard for the people that can actually afford to do it to wrap their heads around.
I think you have to really love what’s going on here engineering wise to take the plunge, and the fact that a base C8 is already a 500 horsepower super car that hits 60 in under 3 seconds, runs an 11 second quarter mile, tops out at 184 miles per hour, and can be had for half the price is a bit of a sticking point for potential buyers.
I think the ZR1 and whatever even more insane variants that are coming are probably what appeal to the “sure I’ll drop six figures on a sports car” crowd. The Z06 may just have gotten lost in the shuffle a bit…and as much as I personally like them I’m not sure I can say with certainty that a Z06 would be what I’d buy if you gave me a $150,000 check under the condition that I had to spend it on a car. There’s just so damn much that you can get at that price point.
But you know what? Good! I hope it continues. Maybe they’ll make enough of these that they’ll one day slip within striking distance of attainable. That tends to be what happens with Corvettes…although if the regular stingray would go ahead and start depreciating already that would be great.
I like the yellow and orange? but would not get the white unless I could get it wrapped or something. Still six figures is wild for a car.
I don’t know anything about the lives of people who will pay $150k for a car. I have to assume they’re the sort of folks who pay cash unless there’s some 0.9% financing available. I was under the impression that the 1% weren’t suffering financially in the same way as the 99% are, but maybe I’m wrong.
There are some people on this site that are familiar with the ins and outs of how people who can afford to drop $150,000 on a toy usually do so. I can’t say I that I know exactly how it goes, but if I recall correctly the run of the mill 1%ers tend to lease stuff like this and fund it by borrowing against their portfolios. In the end they basically don’t wind up spending anything.
I’m sure someone who knows the specifics will chime in. But they definitely aren’t writing $150,000 checks. In order to get and stay that wealthy they know better than to tie up massive chunks of cash in depreciating assets.
For what it’s worth, my friend who has a 718 GT4 RS just straight up financed it. But he’s as fond of spending money as he is making it.
I can think of how they do it… they make it a business purchase and the costs of of the vehicle go against the rest of the income the business makes… whether that income comes from investment returns, rental income or sales of a product or service.
It makes me think of a girl I went to university with. Her dad had a construction company. Among the regular work vehicles they had, they also had other “company vehicles” such as a Jaguar for “executive use”.
I recall her trying to cry poor once saying “We only made $25K last year”… and I pointed out “But that was $25K of profit… after paying ALL of your expenses, RIIIIIIGHT? So in essence, you’re doing FANTASTIC because you still have over $2000/month left AFTER you’ve paid for housing costs, car costs, your tuition and a whole bunch of other things which includes paying yourselves a standard wage… riiiiight?”
And she smiled because I saw through the “crying poor” BS/Joke.
And another way I can think of… let’s take someone like Taylor Swift or The Kardashians (barf) or a famous athlete.
Someone like that has income is tied to their style and reputation. They might get an expensive vehicle as part of a branding/promo deal where she may get to use the vehicle at little or no cost to them.
So that’s another way.
This is why a certain citrus-colored individual will never release his personal tax returns. On his personal 1040 he probably shows chump change for his actual income, because his business(es) own and pay for everything. Average person wouldn’t understand why a “billionaire” has an annual salary of probably $100k.
As a CPA, that’s not how it works unless you just brazenly commit tax fraud and make it all up.
investment returns, rental income or sales of a product or service.
These types of income are segregated, reported independently and subject to numerous rules to avoid the exact thing you are describing.
I’m sure people commit tax fraud, but you’d be nailed to a cross for what you describe.
I’m sure you are completely correct. I’m only talking about what I saw and heard with someone with a family-owned construction business.
Also note that I’m in Canada… the CRA isn’t as aggressive as the IRS… or so I’ve heard.
They buy them the same as everyone else.
Some finance, some pay cash.
The decision usually rests on what else their money could be doing for them.
I think it’s a mistake to lump the buyer of something like this in with the buyer of a Rolls Royce or Lamborghini or something. Cars like this, even at $120-150K, are within the reach of an older middle class person who has been responsible with their money over the decades, or who cashed in some home equity or something. The “lease and borrow against stock holdings” finance bro is not the typical purchaser of a Corvette, at least based on what I’ve seen and who I’ve talked to.
“Older middle class person who has been responsible with their money” here. At a certain point, buying an expensive toy just isn’t that big of a deal, financially. It’s more about the deciding how much will I use it and enjoy it vs. the opportunity cost of tying up some capital while you own it. I’m sure you’ve made that exact calculation with your Viper. (I’m also a big Viper fan)
Also, it’s not like that $150K disappears, it’s just tied up in a slightly depreciating, non liquid asset.
For me and many of my cohorts, we watch the used market and buy at the low point of the depreciation curve and get most of our money back when we sell. I’ve bought and sold four used sports cars in the last 15 years (two S2000s and two C6 Vettes) and made a slight aggregate profit. I enjoyed my last C6 was for 5 years and sold for $530 less than I paid for it (thank you Carvana).
With certain cars, it’s just not the same math as buying a new minivan, putting 180,000 miles on it, and essentially getting nothing back.
Also, we do pay cash in high interest rate environments and likely finance at least part of the cost in low interest rate environments. I got 1.9% financing on a used C6 back when rates were super low a few years back so it made sense to borrow when our portfolio is earning 10%.
When you’re old, time is the precious resource, not necessarily money.
It’s fascinating to me that someone would pay $227k for something like a Corvette. It’s especially ridiculous when you see them two years later on fucking clearance sale at the local Chevy store. With the exception of something like the ZR1, the Corvette is not a special car, and you’ll NEVER get that money back when it’s time to sell.
<man in front of his 2002 PT Cruiser>
… I know what I got! Now lowballers!
<local KBB trade-in value of of $358-915>
While it’s true you “NEVER get that money back”, you can get most of it back. That’s where you decide if it’s worth the opportunity cost vs. your enjoyment of the car for X amount of years.
Was driving my last C6 GS convertible for five years worth the $530 it cost me, plus gas, maintenance, and insurance? Absolutely.
I wouldn’t necessarily buy a NEW C8 Z06, but I could definitely make the math work on a used one.
I was really just talking about people who pay well over MSRP for new cars, or the idiot who spent $227k on a Corvette that I can go buy at my local Chevy dealership for roughly half that much two years later. I think the C8 is a bargain for what you’re getting, and despite the fact that I generally hate Corvettes, I really dig the C8 – but it’s not something that is going to appreciate or even hold its value. It’s just a Corvette, it’s not like it’s something rare or super special. GM will build as many as they can sell. Actually, it appears that they built MORE than they can sell.
I wouldn’t pay that much over either, but it’s abundantly clear to me after shopping for these off and on over the last few years that there are a lot of people out there for whom time is more valuable than money, who don’t mind losing $50-100K to get to enjoy their cars a little sooner, and who would rather take that depreciation hit behind the wheel of a legit supercar than an S Class or Range Rover, which will lose similar value in the same timeframe.
Thank you… This is a really good point, and one that I didn’t consider. I suppose if I’m gonna lose my ass on a car, I’d rather be doing it in a C8 than a Range Rover.