Resurrecting an old thread. The old paint ovens were 40’ long, cooking the paint and underlying SMC panels at 275 degrees F. This was neither the best for the paint, nor especially for the panels, which as we know are made up of plastics, resins, and some other materials which do not like high heat. The new paint ovens are three times the length, and consequently can slow cure the paint and the underlying SMC @ 165 degrees F — resulting in what we have seen this last twelves months, much better overall paint quality and equally important, less panel waviness (which the high heat of the older ovens notoriously caused, especially on the darker color paints).
The Board of Directors of the National Corvette Museum took a tour of the complete new paint shop last Spring, and when they came back, they confirmed that the huge new building was 100% dedicated just to paint. No extra space inside of it for an alleged second assembly line.
Additionally, the large new “manifold building” (its name) which connects the new paint shop and the main, older assembly plant was also verified by them to be strictly for unloading tractor trailer trucks and for storage of incoming parts/components — again no room for an assembly line. Meanwhile, immediately after the old paint shop was taken out of service, they environmentally cleaned it, sealed up part of it up for at least a two years as empty, unused industrial space — which by Kentucky law ,qualifies as a tax reduction abatement. And starting two months ago, the Powertrain Build Center started its expansion (probably completed by now), for as we read, BGA is now assembling the LTA Cadillac TT, DOHC, 32V V8 motors for the CT6 Cadillacs. What we do not know, is how much bigger the PBC now is.
Put all this together, there is no room for a second assembly line within BGA at this time.. So either the C7 FE production is ending, or they are planning on building them both, nose-to-tail, on the single assembly line along with the ME.
While that co-production might have been a possibility, in my person opinion, that is not going to happen, i.e., the C7’s FE run ends at the end of the 2019 model year. This is very different to what I was thinking and different from a written document found in the press in 2016 (still available know) — at which time running the C7 and the C8 at the same time was the plan.
Why do I think the C7 run is over at the end of the model year? The number of unsold C7’s sitting at dealerships continues to grow. I have heard from several Canadians that they have visited their dealers and seen the same year old Corvettes still sit there month after month, with new ones not selling much at all, in short their saying that there are more unsold Corvettes there recently than they have seen for the entire C7 generation.
Lastly, and this is the nail that cinched the coffin, again in my personal opinion, as to why C7 production is ending sometime in the next eight months, is that even during the months of July, August, and September of this year (two clearly peak summer months), the number of new Corvettes made exceeded the number of Corvette sold/delivered to customers by 20%. If C7’s can not be sold in an amount near production (no overtime during these those three summer months), and even with, at least in the U.S., GM assisting in the pricing reduction of the unsold C7’s, what is going to happen to Corvette overproduction compared to delivered customer orders, during the winter months that Canada and half of the U.S. is now facing through at least March, e.g., more and more produced but unsold units. And as more and more becoming aware of next year’s ME, might some decide to at least wait and see the new mid engine before choosing to buy the last year of the C7’s run? I personally know two friends who just ordered new GS’s, yet know of four folks who were going to order a 2019 but since decided to at least see the ME before buying a new Corvette.
Again, just my opinion, and how I am reading the tea leaves from known facts — with BTW, the production vs. customer deliveries of new Corvettes numbers the past summer months coming directly from GM.
