The stupidity of SUMMER TIRES as the ONLY OEM option on Corvette C7 Stingay in WINTER

Among blunders that came from +General Motors  and +Tadge Juechter , equipping Corvette C7 Stingray with summer tires for late Fall and Winter release has to be right on the top of the list of stupidity.

Why were the summer tires chosen for new Corvette?  The answer: to gain better handling characteristics and road handling grip needed for marketing purposes.  Without the softer (in the right temperatures only) and stickier compound, the new Corvette would be exactly in the same place where the previous generation was, running on ALL SEASON Goodyear runflats.  There would be very little in handling and braking otherwise, something that +General Motors marketing team would hate to see happen.  The performance of the heavier car, running on the same size tires as the previous generation could be actually worse.

So... in order to maintain the deception, all new Corvettes use the new Michelin SUMMER TIRES.  Yes, the tires perform very well, just like they would on any other car, including the previous generation of Corvette. 

However, there is a problem here, the summer tires are actually worse than their all season counterparts when temperatures dip below 35 degrees, the softer compound is very susceptible to hardening at lower temperatures.  The result?  Accelerated wear of tires, inferior and actually dangerous changes in handling and braking and of course, a possibility of cracking.  The cracking is even more likely for cars that are stored in a warm garage and then taken out to be driven in cold winter temperatures.  The rubber expands in warm temperatures, the opposite happens in the cold temperatures, including the tire pressure dropping due to the laws of physics.

There is no doubt that General Motors push to sell these new cars overshadowed the concern for safety of the car buyers.  If GM had any integrity, these cars would be sold as a trailer delivery only for anyone buying these cars in the areas experiencing winter temperatures, requiring the buyers to sign a disclosure acknowledging the liability they assume.

What happens instead?  Apparently smarter dealers do not allow any driving time on their dime but  there are plenty of idiots proudly advertising driving these cars in the snow.  

Given some time, there may be a lawyer or two jumping on the bandwagon of liability lawsuits to deal with this issue.