August began with 32 actual C8s listed on Carsales. During the month 15 cars ‘disappeared’ from the list (which we will assume were sold), while 23 ‘new’ cars were added. Thus, 8 more cars were added than were sold, raising the number listed at the end of the month to 40 cars.
Note: The cars that are marked in Carsales as “New Car to Order” are not counted in this survey as these cars don’t yet exist. They provide potential customers with a supposedly “Indicative Drive-Away” price if they order that car. But it is not hard to see that it is virtually impossible to buy C8s at these prices!
During this month, 58 C8 Corvettes listed on Carsales had price changes, all bar 2 were price drops. The August end-of-month price range was between $235,000 and $328,490. These cars listed had been on Carsales for an average of 72 days, ranging between 3 and 294 days. The car that has been listed for the longest period has had a price drop of $30K during the period of its listing.
In looking at all C8s for sale (rather than just those sold), in January 2023 there were 15 cars listed with an average asking price of $307,489, while today’s 40 listings have an average price of $267,318 which represents a 13% drop in the asking price and approximately 175% increase in the number of C8s listed.
As an additional observation, it appears that regardless of the car being a Carbon Edition, 3LT, 2LT, or whether it has an extensive range of expensive options, none of these factors appear to influence the price. A convertible (HTC) does appear to edge out a coupe in price, but the evidence on that is not 100% certain.
As time goes by, the number of people desperate to purchase a C8 will diminish as the cars continue to be shipped to Australia from the USA. It is natural that the people wanting a C8 will have been able to purchase one. With an expensive enthusiast car such as the Corvette C8, there will be a finite number of people who really want to purchase one and the demand will be basically fulfilled. From that point onward, sales will reduce to a very limited flow of new buyers who have been converted to C8 lovers. There is not a “bottomless pit” of C8 buyers waiting for the next shipload of the Bowling Green products.
In August, 15 cars were removed from Carsales with an average asking price of $262,517, and it is assumed (for lack of better information) they have been sold, and been sold at the advertised price. Back in January 2023 the average price of the 13 cars removed from the Carsales listing was $299,335. This represents a 12% price drop from January until now. A comparison of the past 3 months shows that in July, the average asking price was $268,896, in June it was $272,511, and in May $280,156. These figures show a constant drop in the selling price of used C8s.
So, a reasonable conclusion is that the C8 used car price has dropped 12-13% in the 8 months so far this year. On an annual basis, this would be approximately a 19% drop. This situation is not so good if you have a C8 to sell.So far this calendar year, 99 cars have been removed from the Carsales C8 listing. During the same time, 206 new C8s have been delivered through the GMSV dealerships. The total number of Corvettes sold in Australia since sales began in January 2022, is 431. The number of these cars that have been “flipped” is a difficult calculation as it would involve individually noting each car that has been advertised during that time, but it is fair to estimate this would be in excess of 33%.
There are now signs that the point of C8 saturation is approaching and it could be expected that the decline in the sales of used C8s will continue. The dollars paid for these used C8s is now getting back towards the new car price. As the waiting time for a new C8 becomes shorter, buyers are becoming more likely to wait for a new C8, rather than pay an inflated price to snare a used one in a hurry.
- Numbers are taken from Carsales.com listings only. While not all C8 are listed on Carsales, a very large percentage are. We believe these numbers provide enough information to gain a fair overall view of the C8 market.
The information from the Carsales listings is gathered and compiled with thanks to our dedicated numbers man – Peter Graham.