I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is hot pursuit. I'm going to take the lead today on the intro because Matt is near death's door at home on the couch. We've listened to him hack for the past twenty minutes. He's drunk. He's drunk a bottle of robitussin, and you know, it's very touch and go, but he's rallied and we're so happy to have you here.
I'm ready. It's been a tough week. I launch a new television show on Bloomberg with Katie Greifeld and Channelli Bassic, so it's been like all hands on deck working twenty four to seven, and earning season has been super intense this week. So somehow my immune system failed. But I continue to push on because it's not pandemic days. I don't stay home when i'm sick anymore. I'm still going to work every day.
We actually may want you to stay home at this point. It's basically the walking wounded over here. I'm glad you're home right now. Hopefully you can get some rest and like chicken noodle soup or something.
I can't get any rest We've had the most insane business news cycle, especially an automotive, right, I mean, General Motors kicked it off and they had such an amazing earnings report that I instantly like emailed.
It to me. I know, you know, which is perfect timing for their debut this week because it's just like all things are coming up rosy with GM while everyone else struggles, right.
Which is, by the way, a Corvette debut. And I want to talk about your story specifically, and of course our special guest is the president of General Motors. He is a massive Corvette fan himself, Mark Royce. I'm super excited to get to him, but I do want to get the earnings picture for automotive out of the way first, because it's been amazing since GM beat and they didn't
just beat right expectations for earnings. They sold two hundred and thirty thousand plus pickup trucks Silver Across, Silverado and Sierra, and they also raised their full year forecast. So this was a couple of days ago and I thought, Man, what an awesome earning season it's going to be for automotive. Then every other automaker that's come out has absolutely the bed they have Ford has had its biggest drop on the stock market after posting an amazing twenty cent earnings
miss in fifteen years. I mean, it's like a crisis level stock reaction for Ford. And then Stilantis had such a big drop in profit, like forty eight percent in the first six months that Carlos Tavares, the CEO, said, you know what, every brand right now could potentially be on the chopping block, and.
To me, crazy to hear.
Yeah, but you know what, if you look at some of the brands and near and dear to my heart as Dodge, they don't have very many products. I did love the Hornet, we talked about that, but that's all they make, right, There's no challenger, there's no charger. So the Durango still exists in some old and tired form, but they just don't have a lot to contribute. So it's just mayhem.
It's really tough. And in the luxury world, we should say that even Porscha cut its outlook for the year and took its biggest drubbing in a single day since September twenty twenty two. When ISIPO exactly? So if this isn't even just you know, mass market brands. This is hitting the luxury sector too. I think Hyundai did pretty well.
That was sort of another another highlight. They seemed to have gone up a little bit in operating profit and actually beat their estimates basically based on hybrid sales, which I know how much you love hybrids, so it's really interesting. And then here we have, of course, of course, and then we have General Motors that is basically doing phenomenal off the back of internal combustion engine trucks and SUVs,
and this Corvette is no different. It's not this isn't even This is their most powerful corvette debut ever, and it's not a hybrid. It's it's an actual V eight.
All right, let's talk about Let's talk about this corvette that's just debuted. You wrote a phenomenal story about it. Everyone's been waiting for it. It is the ZR one, right, What does that mean for Corvette? What is a ZR one?
The ZR one is right now, it's the top of the line. Now we have seen rumors that General Motors is coming out with a higher performance hybrid in twenty twenty five. They've actually trademarked a name.
Zora that such a cool name.
It's a cool name. But right now, the Z one is the top of the line one thousand and sixty four horsepower, and the two really new things about this car are number one, it's the first Corvette ever to use turbochargers, which is wild to think about. And then number two, it's got a split window in the rear like the from the sixties. So these are significant changes.
Yeah, I mean, I love the obviously, I love the Corvette, and I've been raving about it for weeks now, ever since I drove the E Ray, which is their hybrid currently. It's kind of the middle of the lineup right because they have the base Corvette, the Stingray exactly, which has just the six point two leader naturally aspirated V eight right behind the driver in the middle of the setup.
Then they have the E Ray, which has that six point two leader, you know, the traditional for now Corvette engine, and then an electric motor on the front axle. Then they had the Z six, which has the fire breathing five and a half leader flat plane crank V eight, which is kind of like a Ferrari setup, but even better than Ferrari I think could have done, because it's such big displacement and manages to keep itself together. And so this is going to be the z R one is going to be the.
Top of the line.
Yeah, well, it's gonna be basically the twin turbo charged version of the Z six, which is typically how it goes. Right, Corvette releases the Z six, which is their top of the line version, naturally aspirated, and then they come out with the usually supercharged version that's the ZR one. In this case, it's gonna be using turbos, which is something we'll ask mister Royce about. Yes, but it's gonna have over a thousand horse power.
Over one thousand horse power, and there's going to be an optional zt K performance package that adds like a huge rear wing and aggressive styling on the front and like a gurney lip on the hood, all made from carbon fiber. It's gonna have stiffer suspension and different wheels and all of that too.
They've gotten so good at I mean, they have all this alphabet soup at GM, right. I know, if you get the sting Ray, which is probably good enough to begin with for most people, you can add the Z fifty one package, which makes it a little better. If you get the Z six, which is the sort of screaming Ferrari flat plane crank, you can add the Z seven package, which makes it like a little bit racier. And now if you get the ZR one, what's the package that you can add.
It's called zt K Performance Package. I mean, I'm already sort of lost in all all of those numbers and letters.
Well, then the cool thing about the progression is so the rumored improvement on the ZR one is called Zora, which is I guess named after the original designer designer the Corvette, and that would be the twin turbo charged five and a half liter V eight in the back with an electric motor I'm guessing in the front, so like the hybrid version of the turbocharge bad ass. So it's like total top of the top of the line. And I don't know what Royce is gonna tell Yeah, I.
Mean, well, look, I took the liberty of going ahead and asking the pr ahead of this conversation for you know, to confirm anything about the Zora, and of course he did his job and told me absolutely nothing. But I did see that General Motors just on June third, trademarked that name in Mexico, which you know, they've sort of been filing these trademarks for the past few years in
the US and Mexico. So if we're reading the riding on the wall, it does seem like they're heading in that direction, which would be really cool.
Now, the only thing that's missing from this whole lineup for Corvette is an all electric version.
Right, yeah, what do you think about that?
I mean, I wouldn't probably like it very much. I don't tend to like fully electric vehicles unless they're utility vehicles like ke Has EV nine. You know, I love that, but I'm not using that as a sports car that's supposed to give me goosebumps and make little hairs in the back of my next stand up.
Right yeah, you know, I really think that Corvette is probably like the nine to eleven at Portal, where they're going to do everything they can to hold off from
electrifying their you know, chevrolets, GM's crown jewel car. And I don't think it's an accident that General Motors has just announced that yet again, they're delaying their electric pickup plant and they've postponed a Buick EV so this sort of goes hand in hand with what we're seeing, you know, as automakers including GM, but Ford and others, Mercedes have started to sort of slow down and walk back all of these electric promises that they've made because they're not selling.
The evs aren't selling as well, and there are still valid concerns about especially the charging network. And I should mention I don't know if now it's the time to talk about it, but I did have that little electric Fiat five hundred E last week that got towed when I tried to charge it. That is quite quite a story. And let me tell you it was not fun. And you could argue ultimately it was user error on that, but it was an error any user could have made unbelievable.
So they towed the car while you were charging it. I guess you weren't with.
It, so I didn't know you had to stay with your car. Here's the scenario. Basically, I go downtown for a lunch and to do an errand, and I think, oh, it'll be nice just to charge the Fiat for an hour. It was at like fifty percent. I thought this will be I just need to do it just for experience. So I know what this situation is. I go to the first charger that I've used before in a public garage parking garage. The charger's broken. I use the app
to find another available charger close by. That charging app sends me to a parking lot, an outdoor parking lot. I did have to go through a barrier, and I took a ticket to you know, to get into the parking lot. I go. There's a valet guy. He watches. This guy watched me go through this whole thing. He watches me pull up, plug in. I think, okay, I'll be back an hour. I'm just gonna go have lunch.
Come back.
The car's gone completely gone yep.
From a private from a gated park.
Apparently it was private, but it let me take it. I just thought, oh, you just take a ticket and if you don't have, you know, if you're not a member, you just pay. I just assumed if you if it lets you in, you just pay to get out.
You know.
So as by the way, thank you, thank you. So, you know, I kind of fish around and there is a sign on the side of the parking lot that has a number to call, you know, Brian's towing and I call him and it's after five at this point, and you know, I'm told that you can come get your car and it's going to be four hundred and sixty six dollars in cash.
Oh you know, I.
Can't really hear the guy. It's it's so so shady. I mean, it's basically a shakedown. It's so completely completely so you know, basically, I draw it's a mile away, they tow it a mile away to when I tell you, it's the sketchiest environment I've ever been in this side of Cape Town. I am not kidding. It was. It was like skid Row times a million. It was so sketchy.
Charles Bukowski, Yes, yes, surely that in Yeah, exactly.
So then you know, of course I get there and I'm banging on the gate. No one's there. I call the guy again. He's like, oh, you know, all right, I'll come come, And I end up waiting for you to get out to ours.
I mean, you don't just carry five hundred dollars in cash, do you? On the regular? You probably shouldn't say if you do.
No, for I'm not gonna say if I do or if I don't. But at that point I had the cash in hand because I did not want to mess around anymore with this. I was so you know what was the worst thing. The guy in the parking lot watched me do the whole thing. And he's probably the one who.
Called the Probably, yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure.
And I mean, why did he not just say, hey, you you realize this is private or whatever?
I mean? Because he gets a cut. Probably Brian at Brian's Towing said, dude, if you see anyone come in here, don't stop them, let them go call me up. I'll give you a C note. And I'm sure you know. It's a great scam. Actually, if you think about it, good, yea perfect for the modern era. You just put up a charger and then poorly sign that you're not allowed to use it. Yes, and you just wait and watch for somebody to walk away from the car, and as soon as they do, you go and jump on it.
Yes. And you know what, I would never have even gone into this parking lot except for the app sent me there. The charging app sent me there and said it was an available charger. So I thought, oh great, this is so close. You know, it's just around the corner. No big deal. I didn't even I wasn't even aware there was a charger there, So that kind of annoying.
I know it was.
It honestly was the good thing though, is the Fiat when I got it back was fully charged, so it was it was there long enough to get a full full juice going.
All right, So that that is an unbelievable story and yet so believable, right, I know.
It's alsoing, and it's like I tried to do. I tried to charge. I thought, you know, not a big deal. No, people stay with their cars for hours on it.
No, not at all, not at all. And and I feel like if you if it comes up in the app, you should probably be able to use it. Yes, a B. If you go into a gated parking lot and it lets you in, I think it's safe to assume unless you see a sign that says, you know, like private parking space that you can park there. No, and then when you get to a towing company that's cash only, you know that that's a I know.
I completely completely. I almost was like, good job, guys, you really got me this time.
Like, wow, they've earned it, Brian earned it.
Yeah, good job on that one.
So okay, but the thing is a Fiat five hundred, right, and any electric vehicle, I guess short of a Remac isn't something that you would substitute for a Corvette or
a Porsche. And by the way, we should talk about this rivalry with Mark Royce also, So I've grown up getting Road and Track magazine, or I did when I was a kid, every month, and inevitably, whenever there was a new Corvette, there would be a cover story pitting the Corvette against the nine to eleven, right, because they're sort of America's ultimate sports car versus the benchmark ultimate
sports car. Yeah, and I think, especially now with the C eight, I think you could argue that it's a more valid comparison than ever because the engines behind you, and it truly is maybe even you know, more ideal in terms of a sports car, right, a mid engine layout than a nine to eleven, which you know, with the rear engine layout has always been a little bit awkward, even if they've managed to make it work at Portia.
Yeah, you know, I wonder if we should ask Mark whether he believes a Corvette is a supercar or not.
Maybe we don't get into that, but they've clearly, you know, they've clearly benchmarked the most successful vehicles in the world in the past, and they obviously benchmarked Ferrari four, five, eight with for sure with the Z six, So I wonder if they even think about the nine to eleven anymore, or if now they're aiming at Ferrari and Lamborghini instead,
because the styling is obviously not subtle. Yeah. Also, they've expanded their product offering in such a nine to eleven way, right They now they have the Stingray, the E Ray, the ZO six, the ZR one, they'll have the Zora, and you've got to imagine they're gonna have convertible and hard top versions of probably all of those, so they'll have ten different models. Yeah, and I.
Should say the zer one is coming in coop and convertible version. They're both. They're both starting production at the same time in Bowling Green. So yeah, it's a lot of options.
Previously, by the way, because I look at these things online and lust after them and configure them. I think I've already configured a Corvette at least once today. Constantly I go back and forth between what I want, the hard top or the coop because the hard top obviously is a T top in a Corvette, so you can take off the top, but the convertible is you know,
you can do it automatically. And the benefit of the hard top is you can see the motor right because the hard top has a c through panel on the back, and then it's totally baller. You know.
As someone who has a T top C three, I think it would be nice to be able to push a button and have the top to go down, because I've made the really bad mistake of trying to take the T tops off at a stop while you're waiting at a stop light. I'd like pull them into the cabin when you're waiting at traffic. And that was I'm sure anyone who saw that thought this woman is insane.
I think you know the consensus probably, And I've been lurking on corvette forums for a long time as well. People who get the coop the hard top, they say inevitably that they don't bother anymore taking it on and off. They just it's like you have a hard top car, correct, But they're all happy that they can see the motor, which makes sense. It's so awesome to be able to see it. People who get the convertible put the top
down constantly and up constantly. I know when I spent a week with the E Ray that was one of the best functions. If it's raining, if it's too hot, you can put the top up. Otherwise you have it down. I feel like I've settled on the convertible. But this is probably something that we could talk to Mark himself about. The Other thing that I'm excited to talk to him about is the spine that they've added to the z R one.
Right, Well, they're calling it a split window. I agree. I agree to me, I think that's a little bit of a loose term. I agree. It looks more like a spine. It's more like a carb It can be carbon fiber or the body color. And yeah, it looks like a spine running down the back, which looks cool.
Right.
I get the term from your story, So yeah, it's stuck in my head now. But the thing is Mark has very beautiful classic C two corvette with the split window.
Oh I didn't.
And I mean, if you get the C two in the coupe, you want the split window.
That's expensive.
That's indicative of the z R one.
Yes, exactly.
All right.
Now, fresh off the track from test driving the brand new SE eight Corvette z R one, or at least a pre production version of that car. KNNA, let's get over to GM President Mark Royce.
Thanks for taking the time. We know, I think you just got out of the car. Can you just tell us what it's like to drive? We're so curious.
So, yeah, I've driven the car on quite a few occasions, but the car today was the first time I've driven. It started on camouflage with you know, exposing the split window on the coop and so that was pretty special.
And it's the capability of the car is just insane, so you'd know that.
But you've seen the power numbers, the torque numbers, the where it happens rpm wise, you know this is a it's a very special, you know, power train in the Gemini twin Turbo LT seven very special.
Talk to us about the turbochargers. Uh, why do a turbo charger?
Now?
Does this mean that the V eight has sort of been topped out in terms of its capabilities and now we're looking for other ways to get more power?
Well, nothing's nothing's ever topped out. I think at least in my career it hasn't been. But I think you know, the turbos that we architect the engine for are you know, they're sort of the electronically controlled waste gates that they're pretty sophisticated and how they make the engine breathe. And you know, if you think about an engine is basically an air pump, right, So you're bringing air into it
and you're you're you're pumping air out of it. And so the more efficient you make that air pump, the more you're you're going to get out of it. So, uh, just looking at something like our Indian engine, changing the location of a turbocharger dramatically changed sort of where we pick up torque and what our PM range. So you know, that's how sophisticated some of the fluidynamics modeling is around.
You know, the air pump called an engine in this case Gemini, and so I think that's that's really important. But the turbo charge piece of it, you know, as long as you can get a linear develop you know, delivery of power from how you're controlling what's happening with it. And as you know, the software and controls for turbo charges have gotten so sophisticated that there's really not a new lag there's no, there's none of that.
Well, first of all, we should say that the Z six already has and correct me if I'm wrong, the most power from a naturally aspirated V eight of any production car, right, that's correct. And I was lucky enough to drive in that car with you a couple of years ago, which was probably super fun for you, terrifying for me on the on the testing track in Detroit. This is even more powerful. Have you made any changes to the actual engine other than adding the turbo chargers?
Absolutely.
I mean, if you look at how we deliver fuel, there's we're sort of a you know, this is hard to deliver enough fuel to realize the capability of it. So you know, we've got some pretty sophisticated fuel delivery systems in fact too. And then we we've also taken the intake is when you see the engine, you'll see it, but it's a split intake that.
It is really fascinating. So there's that.
There's you know, the hardening of some of the components of the engine are very special. You look at the front of Gemini ZO six, you know, five and a half leter naturally aspirated engine. You look at the front cover of the LT seven, it's really different, but the core engine is still the same, right, So the architecture was designed to handle it.
And there's a lot of cool things on it too, because just fun things to do.
I mean there's little little Gemini rockets cast into the turbo chargers and the heads and blocks, so that you know, in the future when you get one of these, or you're looking to get an engine or place parts on it, it'll have a Gemini brocket.
On it if it's genuine, and you can't really fake that.
And so you know, Gemini obviously the twins and and so you know, and the teasers you saw the twin scroll of the swirls. We really thought a lot about, you know, how to mainten it and how to do things that are cool for people who buy these cars.
By the way, can I ask Mark in the past, and the kids may not know this. In the past, US astronauts have had corvettes, right yeah. Yeah. And now that NASA is preparing a mission to send once again Americans to the Moon, you know, astronauts are going to be sort of right at the top of our cultural focus again. Have you guys had talks with NASA about giving them C eight corvettes.
I would love to.
I don't know if you know the story of all these are delivered man, back in the late sixties there, when it was basically a person in my job in GM sold these cars to a dealer for a dollar so that it wasn't just free, I believe, and then
and then gave them to the astronaut. So I don't know what we'll concoct, but I would love to be involved with that, and we haven't done it, but what a special deal that would be, right, I mean, I think, by the way, fighter pilots are one of our number one customers, right, they love Corvette, So you know, yeah, so it's all good.
Can you tell us a little bit about who you're benchmarking when you're developing this car. Who are you looking at? Who are who's the benchmark in the segment for you guys.
I think there's different cars that do different things that we benchmarked, and you know, the four fifty eight we did that from a sound standpoint. We've done lots of different cars over the years on C eight as we developed it. But you know, we always look at our competition and take them very very seriously. So nine to elevens we have a really good relationship with Portia at the nerber Ring in Germany, so we have swapped corvettes with nine to eleven's and then, you know, so it's
pretty fun, it's a good it's really cool. So it's a great camaraderie. And there's only a couple of times a year they do the industry pool there, so typically once once one of those times we'll stay in the same hotel as the Porsche engineers.
So pretty cool.
I know that you guys did some Nerbour green laps. Do you want to say what time were a time you were close to are you going to announce that anymore?
Or zero to sixty times or a quarter mile? Can you tell us any detail?
Yeah, I can look at the cargo comfortably more than two fifteen top speed wise, and these are stimulations. We haven't finished the car yet, as I said, we're going to take it in September to the ring, but you know, the zero sixty we do not have a time money yet. We just haven't finished it, and then the quarter mile will be on or you know, ten seconds not no problem.
The other thing where Matt and I always talk about and I'm curious what the conversation is for you guys at GM talk to us a little bit about manuals. Obviously this is this is not a manual vehicle are Is there any conversation about that for you guys our customers asking for it? And would you ever come out with a manual Corvet?
Yeah, even even Mark uh and the sting Ray, Like, I know you're gonna have trouble putting a manual transmission on a thousand horsepower hypercar like the z R one, but you could you could do it on the sting Ray like and you do you do on the the Black Wing. Right, you have a manual transmission a Cadillac, so why couldn't you do it for a for a Corvette.
Again, the whole I think there are the whole car is architected around our d CT that's made it up to you know, whatever engine we put behind n C eight and so that DCT is is a core architecture decision. And if we carry things to do other variants on transmissions, it's scar mass and it's scar costs, and it affects every eight and that's that's not what we're going to do. So it'll it'll damage the efficiency and the power delivery and the performance of allse eights to do a very
small volume on manuals. And you know, there are probably a few people that love manuals. I love manuals. We do them on our Cadillacs. That's not scarred because of the architecture of the car. But this is a pretty specifically architected car for the range of power units that you see. And it's very tough to fit an engine like an LT two and base form all the way up to the LT seven in the same area of
the car and not carry inefficiencies in it. But adding a manual, it's just, you know, it's it's a bridge too far.
It makes sense, And I mean, obviously this car is you know, it's more of a race car. Anyway you want to faster shifting, you're gonna you know, you're going to get a better lap time. In terms of the availability and the pricing, what are we looking at, Because it's so amazing that you've kept the stingray you know, down to like sixty and change the E ray. I just spent a week in the e Ray and it
was like, I couldn't believe how amazing it was. The only thing I could compare it to is the Lamborghini Hurricon that I had driven like a couple weeks before. But this is like another level on top of another level. So and I think the Eray is like one hundred and six to start, and then the z O six is like, what one twenty ish? So what are we looking at this for the ZR one.
Well, I can't tell you the price right now because we haven't finished the pricing on it, because that's where we are in the program. Well, we try and price as close to delivery as we can, so not only for our customers, but also you know, so we see the actual market dynamics and the environment that it's in. But it's you know, you have to plan something for
the business case. All I can say is that, you know, Corvette and c A is designed from day one to be accessible to a lot of different folks at different price points. And you know, right now we've got fifty percent of the market in sports cars, so we're doing it very profitably. So I'd say we have the formula pretty pretty well understood, and you know, I want, I want everybody to be able to enjoy these cars. And uh, you know, I don't think Corvette or Chevrolet stands for
anything else. It's not farmed out, it's not made somewhere else, it's not you know, half a million dollars, it's none of that's it's a pretty pretty thoughtful progression and price that matches the performance.
What about for the z R one? What about production? Are you gonna make an unlimited number to meet the orders?
What?
What are the orders? Does the order book already look like right now? And are you making these in Bowling Green?
We are making them. Everything's made in Kentucky, including the engine obviously.
But yeah, no, we we we haven't opened the orders on them at matt because we're we're fulfilling E Ray right now in ZO six and and of course sting right so you know, we're pretty maxed out and in terms of capacity. But as all of those things change over time, we introduced the next variant that makes sense. So yeah, we're not going to constrict things. You know, it's going to be based on allocation, and the allocations based on Corvette dealers who sell corvettes, you know, and how many well.
Mark, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. We really appreciate it.
And yeah, thank you. It's going to be a great night. So push you guys were here.
Thank you. Wow.
So that was great. I love that he had just gotten out of the car before we talked to us, and I kind of did want to ask him more about the split window though, because that's a really interesting I mean, they haven't done that since the sixties, that's crazy.
I love how much joy Mark Royce takes in driving and building products for others to drive. Like when he drove me around their testing track in Milford in the Z six, he was not letting up. I mean, it was good for fast and I was like, you know when you go for a hot lap with a race car driver and you're legitimately scared for your life. I had that feeling when I was in the Z six with him.
Yeah, it's it's not necessarily it's not like a thrill lap. It's more like a you might die lap.
Yes, And by the way, for those I'm not an engineer, but I have learned a lot about flat plane cranks over the years because you know, Ferrari does them, and
that's what makes that screaming sound. And then like ten years ago, Ford benchmarked the Ferrari with its five point two liter V eight in the Mustang and I remember talking to Jim Farley about it and he was telling me, like, the problem is with the with that setup, there's so much vibration that the engine literally begins to shake itself apart.
And that's why Ferrari historically hasn't had at least one of the reasons historically hasn't had very big displacement, right, because if you have too much displacement, then in that setup, the engine just vibrates itself into pieces. So it was already an amazing engineering feet that Ford had built a five point two liter V eight with a flat plane crank and it managed to hold itself together. Now GM has built a five point five lider V eight with a flat plane crank and at least so far isn't
falling apart. So it's just so cool and that they're able to do that, and the way it sounds is hair raising.
Yeah, I can't wait to hear it. And I also can't wait to hear what their actual lap time in is that is at nurburg Ring, because Porsche's had some pretty fast ones lately. And if they're benchmarking, did you say they're benchmarking the four eighty eight, which is what we thought.
No, he said they benchmarked already the four fifty eight, sorry, four to fifty eight in the Z six. And I heard a story. I don't know if this is true, but I heard that they got a four to eighty eight and the engineer were like, this isn't as good as the old one, so they like sold it and went and got a four fifty eight instead, which is the consensus among Ferrari owners as well.
Chevy did that, Yes, is what you're saying.
Wow, Yeah, Chevy went out and bought you know, the new one, and they were like, yeah, this is this just doesn't happen.
You have you have a good source on that the soul.
No, I think I'm pretty sure I've read that in anything from some idiot on a forum to a writer for Car and Driver, I.
Don't know, but or anywhere in between. Yes, it's out there, it's out in the ether.
It's out there, and you know, I just love the idea of these engineers for a big company like GM going out to a dealer or going on, you know, bring a trailer and buying another brand's car and then bringing it back to Milford and testing it and they'll I'm sure Mark gets a couple of laps in it, and they'll have you know, Tony Stewart will take it around the track for them and they'll say, yeah, we like the way you know it turns in, but it doesn't really take the gas so well on exit, and
you know, it just to me, that's the fun part of them making these cars.
So and the other thing is every person who works at an automaker with whether it's an executive or someone in the communications department, they've all got a dirty little secret of what they own at home that is not the car brand they work for. For instance, you know, I know several people who work for German car brands. They're very high up and they own a Corvette. Yeah, and it's kind of like they know, you really have to get them drinking to get it out of them.
But then they do and they love it, but they're also embarrassed.
It's funny. I actually, for a couple of years dated the daughter of a very high ranking Mercedes Benz executive, and you know, he always had two or three top of the line Mercedes products at his house outside the grunt. Yeah, oh no, he actually kept them in the garage because in Germany you've got to be you don't want to be too showy or your neighbors will freak out, so
like you've got to hide that kind of stuff. But even though he had access to everything Mercedes made, and obviously they make amazing top of the lines Apex Predator products, he's still desperately always wanted either a Corvette or you know, a Dodge Viper, and he ended up getting a Corvette, a CEO six, I remember, and I thought it was funny because he actually paid like twice us MSRP because they didn't have a market in Germany, so he had to have it kind of gray area shipped over. But
it's so funny. I was like, you could have an SLS Black Series and you've got this Corvette CEO six in your garage, and he was like, yeah, I just love the the grunt and the kind of brutal power that it delivered.
So yeah, I believe it fascinating.
All right, Well, I had a million other questions. Hopefully Mark Royce will come on on my TV show. I want to ask about expanding the Corvette like sub brand. You know, they could easily and rumors are that they're working on it. Build an suv. I know, purists, will you know that's like heresy, I'm sure, but for some reason, I love the idea of a Corvette suv. I think the yes, well that's an electric and it's a little suv, right, I would want Corvette to make more of a puro
sang or whatever you call the Ferrari. You know, I love the logo, the Corvette logo. They have such a storied history, as he said, like the time with NASA and everything is so cool and fighter pilots and stuff. So it'll be awesome if they make like a Lamborghini Urus competitor, and I think they could easily do that. I also interest Yeah, I also want to ask, like if they will actually split that off in the way that you know some brands have done it, Mercedes with AMG.
Mercedes has done tried that with my Bock and they kind of reverse course a little bit.
Right, split it off, split it off from Chevy.
From yeah exactly, like you know, so when Mercedes like tried to make my bock. It's totally own brand, and it didn't really work. So now they've made it just like a top of the line trim.
So you're saying Chevrolet would make Corvette its own brand.
I don't see why not because but why because Corvette is something more than Chevrolet. It's bigger and I don't want to say better, but it's better, you know. It's like, it shouldn't be the Chevrolet Corvette. It should be just a Corvette.
Corvette stands alone.
I always feel weird when I'm going on Auto Trader and I'm looking for a Corvette. It's so weird that I have to put in the make Chevrolet and then Corvette. I think in the make it should just be Corvette.
I could see that. I've never thought about spinning that off to its own thing. That could be interesting. But the reference points that you just said both kind of failed.
Yeah, well, I guess that's true. True, you're not wrong, So.
Which makes me think it's a difficult thing to do.
Yeah, and I can't remember the last time anyone has has really done that. I don't think there's other than AMG in my bock. I don't think there's really a lot of history in companies taking a model and then spinning it off as a full sub brand. I'll probably get a lot of emails saying like, here's fifteen different examples. By the way, our email address.
Hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net, and we do read and respond to your emails. I don't know have you responded to any of this week?
Matt, Yeah, well i've Okay, I responded to this guy Peter, who's become like my email buddy because he's gotten an amazing new car. I used to have one of these. You know. He got a G five fifty in emerald green, which is exactly the same set that I had. But there are subtle differences between the American and the German version.
You know.
The American version has that cow pusher on the front and the German version doesn't come with that. Yeah, and in the new wheels on the G five fifty are so cool, much cooler than the turbine.
Wheels that I had on the GP Mounta blocks.
No, no, the mono blocks I think are only on the AMG verse.
Okay, okay, I was gonna say, do.
You not like the monoblock wheels AMG's.
Monobiling, not necessarily, not necessarily.
I was in I was in Mercedes Manhattan today in fact, Oh, and I was like salivating over a G sixty three with those monoblock wheels.
Of course, that doesn't surprise me in the least. That makes perfect sense.
I love them. I would have them and just brushed stainless steel. The ones I saw were black. But I think that's a horrible mistake.
Yeah, I saw someone brushed stainless steel the other day. I mean, if you really want to be like the ultimate obnoxious level of everything, which I mean in a way, you might as well go for it.
And I do you know? Yeah, all right, Well it was awesome.
It was awesome.
I'm so psyched about this product launch and your story. Everyone can check it out on Bloomberg dot com. I guess that's all we we have to talk about. What are you driving right now?
Oh, I'm driving a Rivian this week, the second the second generation, second generation Rivian suv.
Yeah, so I don't spoil it. I don't want to spoil it.
Yeah, we won't discuss, but that is in the mix right now. What about you?
I am driving Subaru b r Z with a stick shift and it's got all these w t I pieces on it, and I'll tell you about it. Also, more about next week, because I have my thoughts completely.
And next week we can discuss my recent co purchase with my husband of our new Rolls Royce. Oh yeah, and we'll have Dario franchidion as well.
Do you guys have now a few?
We've got a few.
Ah cool Dario Franchiiti. I wish you could get him in a z R one and get his take on it.
That'd be really fun.
All right, Well, definitely shoot us an email. Hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net is our email address, and thanks so much for listening this week. That's all we have. We'll check back in with you next week. I'm Matt Miller and
I'm Hannah Elliott and this is Hot Pursuit