We’re rolling into a milestone moment for CorvSport. Our exclusive Bargain Hunting series—launched on 9/06/2024 and spanning everything from sub-$10K Corvettes to stretching $35,000 for C6 Z06 thrills and hunting down C8 Z06 value—hits its 20th episode today. This chapter narrows the focus to the eighth generation, spotlighting the top five C8 Stingray bargains, while pushing deeper than ever into pricing behavior, depreciation, and what real-world data is telling us right now.
Digging Deeper Into The C8 Stingray Market
This marks our fourth dedicated eighth-generation installment, and the most expanded yet. We’re charting C8 Stingray progress and depreciation from 12/31/2024 to today, asking the big question: are the bargains actually improving? New to this report is a sharper lens from our in-house used-car dealer—pairing wholesale reality with used-Corvette retail asking prices—to see where the market truly stands and whether today’s numbers confirm, or challenge, expectations. We’ll look at the difference between wholesale MMR data and the retail asking price. Is it oddly over- or under-retail? If so, why?
The Mid-Engine Marvel, Quantified
GM’s decision to move the engine behind the driver remains the boldest Corvette pivot in history, validating a vision championed decades ago by Zora Arkus-Duntov. The payoff is undeniable. Even a base Stingray equipped with Z51 delivers 495 horsepower from the 6.2L LT2 V8 and storms to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, performance that continues to anchor demand and prop up values across the used market.
Production Volume And Market Gravity
From 2020 through 2025, a total of 194,969 C8s rolled out of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant. Output surged from 20,368 units in 2020 to a high-water mark of 53,785 in 2023, encompassing Stingray, Z06, and E-Ray variants. That volume officially pushes total C8 production past the C7, a critical context point when evaluating supply, saturation, and why pricing hasn’t fallen off a cliff.
Methodology And Market Lens
Every car in today’s analysis follows a strict filter: clean title only, no salvage, rebuilt, or manufacturer buyback branding, and vehicles presented in solid condition with no damage concerns. This keeps the data honest and ensures we’re tracking real, comparable market value—not noise from distressed or compromised examples.
Wholesale vs Retail And The Autotrader Lens
Guiding us through the numbers is CorvSport’s resident authority—a retired used-car dealership owner with 17 years of hands-on buying, selling, and operational experience. He’s lived in dealer-only auction lanes, managed thousands of retail transactions, and brings unfiltered observations on photo quality, ad copy, and overall vehicle marketing. For retail visibility, we curate nationwide listings from Autotrader, which has evolved from a convenience-store magazine into one of the most recognized automotive marketplaces in the country, featuring over 3 million listings and millions of monthly visitors.
MSRP Pressure, Then-And-Now Data, And The Question Ahead
The MSRP story looms large. The 2020 Corvette Stingray 1LT Coupe debuted at $59,995, including a $1,095 destination charge. For 2026, that base climbs to $72,495, now carrying a $2,495 destination charge—a 20.8% increase across seven model years. We’re comparing that trajectory against used retail pricing while layering in wholesale intelligence from MMR, the estimated dealer-only auction value based on trim, miles, condition, and recent sales.
Add to that our expanded side-by-side snapshot—top five Stingray bargains from 12/31/2024 to 4/22/2025 to 10/16/2025 to today, complete with exact year, trim, miles—and the picture sharpens. With a single scroll, you can view pricing trends. Some used retail prices have risen since late 2024, a counterintuitive twist that circles back to MSRP inflation and the staying power of this revolutionary generation. The final question before diving into today’s top five: Will the latest bargains finally show meaningful retail price erosion, or does the C8 continue to defy gravity?
Episode 20: The Top Five C8 Stingray Bargains
#5 — 2020 C8 Stingray 1LT Coupe
58,100 Miles
- Asking Price: $52,400
- MMR Wholesale: $46,600
- Title Status: Clean
- Number Of Owners: 3
- Number Of Accidents: 0
- Offered By: Private Seller
- In-House Dealer Insights: Right from the beginning of the ad copy, this private seller gets credit for straightforward disclosure of some minor blemishes, and with 10 photos, the shopper won’t be wanting for more, although in today’s auction climate, most sellers are well over 50 photos (which can be overkill–I used to include around 20).
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#4 — 2020 C8 Stingray 1LT Coupe
43,415 Miles
- Asking Price: $51,700
- MMR Wholesale: $48,800
- Title Status: Clean
- Number Of Owners: 2
- Number Of Accidents: 0
- Offered By: Dealer
- In-House Dealer Insights: Assuming this dealer paid around MMR, these are some tight margins to work with. I’d presume this may have been a trade-in and that the dealer is in the unit for less than $48k. They aren’t hitting any marketing home runs, but do at least have 5 photos and a fairly descriptive ad. With these low miles, I’d be a player if I were kicking tires in the C8 market.
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#3 — 2020 C8 Stingray 2LT Coupe
89,779 Miles
- Asking Price: $51,498
- MMR Wholesale: $43,400
- Title Status: Clean
- Number Of Owners: 4
- Number Of Accidents: 1
- Offered By: Dealer
- In-House Dealer Insights: This dealer scores high marks for their listing, with detailed ad copy and 26 photos. But the expanded photos are blurry, so we can chalk this up to an Autotrader glitch, given it’s happening across multiple listings. The MMR took a $12,500 hit for 89k miles.
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#2 — 2021 C8 Stingray 1LT Coupe
117,829 Miles
- Asking Price: $50,995
- MMR Wholesale: $39,500
- Title Status: Clean
- Number Of Owners: 2
- Number Of Accidents: 0
- Offered By: Dealer
- In-House Dealer Insights: First, look at that gap between MMR wholesale and the dealer’s asking price! There was a $15,740 MMR hit for the high miles. The next thing that jumps out is that this well-known Corvette dealer has only 5 photos uploaded, and they, too, become blurry when you expand them. For the purposes of these insights, I am not leaving the AutoTrader platform to obtain better pictures.
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#1 — 2020 C8 Stingray 2LT Coupe
83,213 Miles
- Asking Price: $50,509
- MMR Wholesale: $44,500
- Title Status: Clean
- Number Of Owners: 3
- Number Of Accidents: 1
- Offered By: Dealer
- In-House Dealer Insights: The dealer has some good margin to work with if they paid close to Manheim’s estimated wholesale price. However, a big strike for a stock photo with no additional photos added to the listing. Again, the seller should not force the shopper off the primary platform they’ve chosen.
*No other pictures were uploaded to AutoTrader
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
Side by Side Illustrations: C8 Stingray Market Then & Now
Fifth Cheapest
- $56,817 [2020 Coupe 1LT w/30k miles] 12/31/2024
- $56,500 [2023 Coupe 1LT w/32k miles] 4/22/2025
- $56,000 [2020 Coupe 1LT w/36k miles] 10/16/2025
- $52,400 [2020 Coupe 1LT w/58k miles] 2/16/2026
Fourth Cheapest
- $55,977 [2021 Coupe 1LT w/43k miles] 12/31/2024
- $55,990 [2021 Coupe 3LT w/55k miles] 4/22/2025
- $55,495 [2020 Coupe 1LT w/19k miles] 10/16/2025
- $51,700 [2020 Coupe 1LT w/43k miles] 2/16/2026
Third Cheapest
- $55,688 [2021 Coupe 2LT w/72k miles] 12/31/2024
- $55,850 [2021 Coupe 1LT w/103k miles] 4/22/2025
- $54,995 [2021 Coupe 1LT w/42k miles] 10/16/2025
- $51,498 [2020 Coupe 2LT w/89k miles] 2/16/2026
Second Cheapest
- $54,999 [2021 Coupe 1LT w/35k miles] 12/31/2024
- $55,074 [2020 Coupe 2LT w/58k miles] 4/22/2025
- $54,991 [2021 Coupe 1LT w/60k miles] 10/16/2025
- $50,995 [2021 Coupe 1LT w/117k miles] 2/16/2026
The Top Bargains
- $49,777 [2020 Coupe 2LT w/56k miles] 12/31/2024
- $41,000 [2020 Coupe 3LT w/21k miles] 4/22/2025
- $53,955 [2020 Coupe 1LT w/59k miles] 10/16/2025
- $50,509 [2020 Coupe 2LT w/83k miles] 2/12/2026
The CorvSport Takeaway
The side-by-side tells a story that answers nearly every question we posed at the top. The fifth-cheapest slot slid from $56,817 at the end of 2024 to $52,400 by mid-February 2026—a meaningful drop, but not a collapse. The fourth-cheapest fell from $55,977 to $51,700. The third-cheapest moved from $55,688 to $51,498. And the second-cheapest example dipped from $54,999 to $50,995. Across the board, we’re seeing roughly a $4,000–$5,000 compression in the lower end of the C8 Stingray market over 14 months. That’s depreciation, yes—but it’s controlled, steady, and far from dramatic freefall territory.
Trending Down: High-Mileage Gravity At Work
The sharpest pricing softness aligns almost perfectly with higher mileage. By February 2026, the second-cheapest car was a 2021 1LT with 117,829 miles at $50,995, while the third-cheapest sat at $51,498 for a 2020 2LT with 89k miles, and the fifth-cheapest was a 58k-mile 2020 at $52,400. The pattern is clear: once mileage creeps past 80,000—and certainly beyond 100,000—the market applies real pressure. That 117k-mile unit breaking into the low $50s is a major milestone for the generation. It confirms buyers still want clean titles, but they demand a discount when the odometer climbs into six figures. Mileage, not model year, is driving the steepest drops.
Trending Up And The Wild Card Swing
The most dramatic move in the entire chart remains the April 22, 2025 anomaly: $41,000 for a 2020 3LT with just 21k miles. That outlier undercut everything before and after it. By October 2025, the top bargain rebounded to $53,955, and today sits at $50,509 for a higher-mileage 2020 2LT with 83k miles. In other words, the brief plunge into the low $40s did not stick. That answers one of our core questions—are prices collapsing? The data says no. Outside of that single shock listing, the floor for clean C8 Stingrays has largely stabilized in the low $50K range, even as miles climb. Categories with moderate mileage (30k–60k) are holding firmer than expected, reinforcing the idea that demand for the mid-engine platform remains strong.
Wholesale Gaps, MSRP Pressure, And What Comes Next
None of the retail asking prices dipped below wholesale MMR. That’s logical. Dealers rarely advertise below the auction-based value. The widest gap? The 2021 1LT with 117,829 miles, asking $50,995 against an MMR of $39,500. That’s an $11,495 spread. Is the dealer greedy—or buried in the unit? Given the mileage, reconditioning costs, transport, and auction fees, it’s entirely possible he owns that car at a higher number than today’s MMR reflects. Wholesale markets can soften faster than retail sellers are willing—or able—to react.
Now fold in the bigger macro force: a 20.8% MSRP increase from $59,995 in 2020 to $72,495 in 2026. That nearly 21% climb acts as a price floor stabilizer. Even with used examples hovering in the low-to-mid $50s, buyers are still tens of thousands below new-car pricing. That spread helps level out depreciation. Clean C8s are drifting downward—but gradually. So the final question lingers: when will clean Stingrays consistently dip into the $40s? Will it take the arrival of a ninth generation to reset the curve? Or does the revolutionary eighth-gen continue to defy expectations a little longer?
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