2019 Corvette Dealer Playbook Each year, Chevrolet releases a great visual guide for the latest Corvette for sale....
CORVETTE RESEARCH
Free Corvette Dealer Playbooks
The Corvette Playbook is the guide Chevy wrote for its own salespeople: every model, trim, package and option of the year, the features and the arguments for them, the competitors and how to answer them. We have the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions, which cover the last of the front-engine Stingray, the Grand Sport, the Z06, the ZR1 and the C8, free to read. This page explains what a playbook is, what each edition covers and what to use for the years the playbooks do not reach.
Quick Nav: Overview · What’s Inside · The Four Editions · Other Documents · C7 · C8 · FAQs
The Basics
What a Playbook Is: Chevrolet’s internal sales guide for the Corvette, issued to dealers for each model year: the lineup, the standard and optional equipment, the packages, the feature stories and talking points, the competitive comparisons and the frequently asked questions a salesperson was expected to answer
Years We Have: 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020
Before 2017: Chevrolet’s dealer order guides and sales albums, which did the same job in a drier form; our RPO and order-guide pages have them for every year from 1953
After 2020: We post later playbooks as we obtain them; until then the order guides and sales brochures on the year pages cover the lineup
Why Read One: It is the only factory document that explains why a feature exists and whom it was for, which the order guide never does; it settles what was standard, what was optional and what was in which package in a given year
Related Research: The RPO codes and order guides, the sales brochures, the owner’s manuals, the year pages for 2017–2020
The Overview
The sales brochure was written for the buyer and the order guide for the order desk; the playbook was written for the salesperson, and it is the most candid of the three. It tells the dealer what the Corvette is competing against (the Porsche 911 and Cayman, the Audi R8, the Nissan GT-R and the domestic muscle cars of the moment), what to say when a customer brings them up, which packages to steer toward and what each piece of equipment was actually for. For anyone trying to understand a late-C7 or early-C8 Corvette as the factory saw it, it is the best single document of its year.
The four editions we have span a turning point. The 2017 and 2018 playbooks cover the front-engine C7 at its fullest, with the Stingray, the Grand Sport and the Z06 and the 1LT, 2LT and 3LT trims, the Z51 and Z07 packages and the Carbon 65 Edition; the 2019 edition adds the 755-horsepower ZR1, the fastest front-engine Corvette, and marks the last year a Corvette was sold with a manual gearbox; the 2020 edition introduces the mid-engine Stingray, its 495-horsepower LT2, the eight-speed dual-clutch and the trims and packages of a completely new car, with the arguments Chevrolet wanted dealers to make for the move.
Each playbook is linked from the table below and from its year page. For 1953 to 2016 and for 2021 on, where we do not have a playbook, the table says so and points to the order guide for that year, which lists the same equipment without the sales argument; the brochures and the owner’s manuals are the other two factory documents and have index pages of their own.
What Is in a Corvette Playbook
A playbook is organized the way a sale is organized, from the lineup to the close. The sections are consistent across the four editions we have.
The lineup and the trims
The first pages set out the models of the year (Stingray, Grand Sport, Z06 and, for 2019, ZR1; for 2020 the Stingray alone in coupe and convertible) with the engine, the gearbox, the standard equipment and the price position of each, and the trim walk through 1LT, 2LT and 3LT, which is the clearest explanation anywhere of what each trim added: the 2LT’s head-up display, Bose audio and heated and ventilated seats, the 3LT’s Napa leather and suede, the Competition Sport seats as an option.
The packages and the options
Then the packages, with what they were for: Z51 as the track package on a Stingray (the dry-sump oiling, the electronic limited-slip, the larger brakes and the cooling), Z07 on the Z06 and ZR1 (the carbon-ceramic brakes, the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and the aero), the Magnetic Ride Control, the Performance Exhaust, the Front Lift on the C8. The playbook explains the combinations the order guide only permits, and why a Z06 with the eight-speed automatic was quicker than one with the seven-speed manual.
The feature stories
The longest section walks through the car system by system, with the talking points: the LT1’s direct injection and cylinder deactivation, the LT4’s supercharger, the ZR1’s LT5 and its 95-mm throttle body, the C8’s dry-sump LT2 and the dual-clutch’s launch control; the Driver Mode Selector and Performance Traction Management; the Performance Data Recorder; the aluminum frame and, on the C8, the mid-engine layout’s weight distribution and the reasons the front-engine car had reached its limit. These are the factory’s own words for its engineering, written to be repeated.
The competition
The competitive pages set the rival cars’ horsepower, acceleration, price and equipment against the Corvette’s and give the answers to the objections, price per horsepower above all. Read now, they are a snapshot of where Chevrolet thought the car stood in each year, and the 2020 edition’s case for a mid-engine Corvette against the Porsches is the most direct the company has made.
What to use for the other years
The playbook as a document is recent; Chevrolet’s earlier dealer material was the order guide (the equipment, codes and prices, which we have for every year on the RPO and order-guide pages), the sales album or dealer data book (the showroom binder, with the colors, the trims and the features, from the 1950s through the 1990s) and the product-information or press kit. The brochures carry the sales argument for those years, and our year pages for 1953 to 2016 assemble all three.
MORE: RPO CODES & ORDER GUIDES, EVERY YEAR / SALES BROCHURES, EVERY YEAR / OWNER’S MANUALS, EVERY YEAR
The new 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport combines a lightweight architecture, a track-honed aerodynamics package, Michelin tires and a naturally aspirated engine to deliver exceptional performance. Inside, the Grand Sport Collector Edition features a unique Tension Blue full leather and suede-wrapped interior, a three-dimensional representation of an original Grand Sport race car is embossed in the headrests and that shape is also used on an instrument panel plaque that carries a unique build sequence number.
The Four Playbooks We Have
Each edition with the models it covers and what changed that year; every one links to its post and to the year page, where the brochure, the order guide and the owner’s manual sit beside it.
MORE: C7 PLAYBOOKS / C8 PLAYBOOKS
| YEAR | MODELS COVERED | WHAT WAS NEW | READ IT | YEAR PAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Stingray, Grand Sport, Z06; coupe and convertible; 1LT–3LT | The Grand Sport returns on the Z06’s wide body with the LT1; the Z06 gains the hood vent and cooling updates; Z51, Z07 and the Heritage packages | 2017 Playbook | 2017 |
| 2018 | Stingray, Grand Sport, Z06; Carbon 65 Edition | The Carbon 65 Edition for the 65th anniversary (650 cars); the ZR1 revealed late in the year for 2019; new colors and the 1LT–3LT walk | 2018 Playbook | 2018 |
| 2019 | Stingray, Grand Sport, Z06, ZR1 | The ZR1 with the 755-hp LT5, 212 mph and the ZTK track package; the last front-engine Corvette and the last manual gearbox | 2019 Playbook | 2019 |
| 2020 | Stingray coupe and convertible; 1LT–3LT; Z51 | The mid-engine C8: 495-hp LT2, 8-speed dual-clutch, 2.9 s to 60, the retractable hardtop convertible and the Front Lift; the competitive case against the 911 and the Cayman | 2020 Playbook | 2020 |
The Other Factory Documents
For the years the playbooks do not reach, these carry the lineup, the equipment and the sales argument: the order guides and RPO codes for every year, the brochures and the owner’s manuals.
Corvette RPO Codes & Order Guides, All Years — the equipment, codes and prices for every year since 1953
Free Corvette Sales Brochures — the showroom brochure for every year
Free Corvette Owner’s Manuals — the owner’s manual for every year
Corvette Specs & Performance — the factory figures and the tests for every year
C7 Corvette Playbooks, 2017–2019
Three playbooks for the last three years of the front-engine Corvette: 2017 with the returning Grand Sport, 2018 with the Carbon 65 Edition and 2019 with the 755-horsepower ZR1. For 2014, 2015 and 2016 the order guides and brochures on the year pages carry the lineup.
MORE: THE C7 HUB / C7 PLAYBOOKS / C7 ORDER GUIDES / ALL C7 PLAYBOOKS
| YEAR | THE PLAYBOOK | THAT YEAR | MORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | The seventh generation and the Stingray name back after 37 years: an aluminum frame built at Bowling Green, a… | Year page |
| 2015 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | The Z06 came back with 650 supercharged horsepower, a convertible body and an eight-speed automatic, the… | Year page |
| 2016 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | The C7’s peak year: 40,689 cars, 14,275 of them Z06s, the Z06 C7.R Edition in Corvette Racing Yellow or Black… | Year page |
| 2017 | 2017 Corvette Playbook | Grand Sport returns on the Z06 body; Z06 cooling updates; Stingray, Grand Sport and Z06 in three trims | Year page |
| 2018 | 2018 Corvette Playbook | Carbon 65 Edition; the ZR1 revealed for 2019; Stingray and Grand Sport carry over | Year page |
| 2019 | 2019 Corvette Playbook | 755-hp ZR1, 212 mph; the last front-engine Corvette; the final year of a manual gearbox | Year page |
C7 Corvette Playbooks, 2017–2019: the pages
The playbooks we have, one post per edition.
C8 Corvette Playbooks, 2020–Present
The 2020 playbook is the mid-engine car’s introduction, written for a salesforce that had sold front-engine Corvettes for 67 years. Later editions are posted as we obtain them; for 2021 on, the order guides and the in-depth guides on the year pages cover the Z06, E-Ray, ZR1, ZR1X and the 2027 lineup.
MORE: THE C8 HUB / C8 PLAYBOOKS / C8 ORDER GUIDES / ALL C8 PLAYBOOKS
| YEAR | THE PLAYBOOK | THAT YEAR | MORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2020 Corvette Playbook | Mid-engine Stingray, 495 hp, 2.9 s to 60, 8-speed dual-clutch; the Launch Edition | Year page |
| 2021 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | The second mid-engine Stingray: 26,216 cars, 42 percent of them convertibles, built around six weeks of chip… | Year page |
| 2022 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | The third C8 and the shortest model year: eight months, 25,831 cars, nearly half of them convertibles | Year page |
| 2023 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | The Z06 arrives — 670 naturally aspirated horsepower at 8,600 rpm, 3.6 inches wider, 6,413 built — in the… | Year page |
| 2024 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | Three Corvettes for the first time: the E-Ray arrives — the first hybrid and the first all-wheel-drive… | Year page |
| 2025 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | Four Corvettes: the ZR1 returns with 1,064 turbocharged horsepower, 233 mph and a split rear window above the… | Year page |
| 2026 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | Five Corvettes and a new cockpit: the ZR1X arrives — the ZR1’s twin-turbo LT7 plus the E-Ray’s electric front… | Year page |
| 2027 | No playbook for this year; see the order guide | Six Corvettes and a new engine: the 6.7-liter, 535-horsepower LS6 replaces the LT2 in the Stingray and in the… | Year page |
C8 Corvette Playbooks, 2020–Present: the pages
The playbooks we have, one post per edition.
FAQs
What is a Corvette dealer playbook?
Chevrolet’s internal sales guide for the Corvette, issued to dealers for each model year. It sets out the lineup, the trims, the packages and options, the feature stories and talking points, the competitive comparisons and the answers to common questions, written so a salesperson could explain and sell the car. It is not the brochure (written for the customer) or the order guide (the equipment and price list).
Which Corvette playbooks are available here?
The 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions, free to read, one post each, linked from the table above and from their year pages. They cover the last three years of the C7 (Stingray, Grand Sport, Z06 and the 2019 ZR1) and the first year of the mid-engine C8.
Is there a playbook for my year?
If your car is a 2017 to 2020, yes. For earlier years, Chevrolet’s dealer documents were the order guide and the sales album or data book rather than a playbook; the RPO and order-guide page has the order guide for every year since 1953, and the year pages assemble the brochure, the order guide and the owner’s manual. For 2021 on, we post playbooks as we obtain them.
How is a playbook different from an order guide?
The order guide lists what could be ordered: every RPO code, its price and the combinations allowed. The playbook explains what each of those things was for, which trim or package to recommend and how the car compared with its rivals. Use the order guide to check what a car has; use the playbook to understand why.
What does the 2020 playbook say about the mid-engine move?
It makes the case Chevrolet made at the launch: the front-engine car had reached the limit of the traction its layout allowed, the mid-engine layout puts the weight over the driven wheels and gives the Stingray a 2.9-second 0–60 with the 495-horsepower LT2 and the eight-speed dual-clutch, and the cabin, the retractable hardtop and the Front Lift answer the objections a sports-car buyer raises. Read the post for the document itself.
Can I download the playbooks?
They are posted to read on the site; each post presents the edition in full. We do not sell or redistribute Chevrolet’s documents, and the copyright is General Motors’.
Where do I find the equipment and prices for a 2017–2020 car?
On the RPO and order-guide page for the codes and prices, on the year page for the full picture, and in the playbook for what each item was for. The specs page has the factory figures and the tests for each of the four years.
