2021 Corvette Production Delays
Back in April, we learned that the convertible version of the Chevrolet Corvette C8 won't see the light of day in 2020. With the plant at Bowling Green closed off due to the coronavirus pandemic, Chevrolet decided to skip the drop-top for the 2020 model year, delaying it for 2021. But now it seems that the Convertible might see an even longer delay, as the coupe model itself is also missing out on a big part of the 2021 model year. Chevy says that it will begin taking orders for the 2021 Corvette in late May, but we still don't know when production will restart. May 18 is the latest target for that, but it could change depending on how the pandemic evolves.
The 2020 Corvette was originally scheduled to enter production in the fall of 2019 and roll off the assembly line until summer 2020. But things didn't go as planned. Not only Chevy had to delay production due to some development issues, but it also had to cope with a labor strike. Production was pushed back to the winter, and it lasted only a few months as the COVID-19 pandemic forced GM to shut down the plant on March 20.
This resulted in less than 2,700 Corvettes being built for the 2020 model year, a run that's far off the nameplate's recent production output of around 20,000 units per year. Production for a single model year has never been so low, except for 1955, when 700 cars were made, and 1953, the Corvette's first year on the market with around 300 built. The 2020 Corvette is basically a limited-run launch edition.
The fact that the Corvette C8 has some issues with panel gaps doesn't help either. Chevy will now have to fix those errors and push production back even further. It's safe to say that Chevy won't build too many examples for 2021, either. Sure, production might exceed 5000 units in this case, but it's still lower than expected. And orders will keep piling up, bringing in more problems for both Chevrolet and its customers. With demand exceeding production, we could see, as it happened in the past, ludicrous prices at dealers or buyers that will be looking to speculate newly bought cars and sell them for way more than sticker price.
Source: Ciprian Florea - Top Speed
Posted 11/20/20