Bowling Green Upgrade

[ddgermann]

Here is an interesting article on the C8 and C7 production along with the ZR1.

Bowling Green nearly doubling in size indicates to me it’s likely both generations will be in production simultaneously. They say the shutdown was to install a new paint system... must be a huge one if that’s all there is going on.

http://www.corvetteonline.com/news/latest-2019-corvette-zr1-and-2020-mid-engine-c8-news/

Some alleged C8 body panel shots too.

Enjoy the drama.

 

[Riley P]

Pretty cool, but calling the C7 an "aging platform" is a bit premature.

 

[Zora]

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.

 

[Rruuff Day]

An interesting post. If indeed 2019 is the final production year for the C7, they theoretically would run the 2019 production into next summer I would think. Would that not mean that we likely won't see a C8 delivery until late fall? Thx John. Whatever happens, this will be an interesting couple years coming up.

 

[Zora]

Reembering that the C7 was first customer delivered to Rick Hendrick on Sept. 19, 2013, and the very next one went, to the first regular customer on September 20th (coindentally a person friend of mine who lucked out), we could expect a similar time frame for the first customer ME deliveries. But, more conjecture, for might it not be possible for GM to decide to stop producing C7’s at the end of March (which currently is the last production date listed in GM dealers’ computers for the 2019), and if so, perhaps start to deliver ME’s even before summer officially were to end?

And how long will be the mandatory quality control hold be — for when have Corvettes ever changed this month from one generation to the next? Might the mandatory QC hold be longer than the two weeks we have gotten used to the last five production years, even be a month or more. For we all remember the bobble for the very first Stingray manufactured, with one batch even needing to go to Detroit for Roush Engineering to repair them, the other batch repaired somewhere near Nashville.

Way too many unknowns IMO for us to know anything for sure, just all of us thinking out loud right now.

However, most importantly, someone whispered that all is going well on the ME’s testing and development, going right according to GM’s schedule (whatever that schedule is or means LOL).

 

[rockitman]

I read that the C7 will be gone for good when the C8 (2020) is in production. Apparently only room for one new car on the assembly line.

 

[Riley P]

Aaaah nuts. I was hoping they would have both going while people transitioned to the idea of mid engine. However, my hope is that if they only make one, then it would remain affordable for the average folks who are unable to shell out a 100K. I’m sure most people share this fear and GM is well aware of it.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Reembering that the C7 was first customer delivered to Rick Hendrick on Sept. 19, 2013, and the very next one went, to the first regular customer on September 20th (coindentally a person friend of mine who lucked out), we could expect a similar time frame for the first customer ME deliveries. But, more conjecture, for might it not be possible for GM to decide to stop producing C7’s at the end of March (which currently is the last production date listed in GM dealers’ computers for the 2019), and if so, perhaps start to deliver ME’s even before summer officially were to end?

And how long will be the mandatory quality control hold be — for when have Corvettes ever changed this month from one generation to the next? Might the mandatory QC hold be longer than the two weeks we have gotten used to the last five production years, even be a month or more. For we all remember the bobble for the very first Stingray manufactured, with one batch even needing to go to Detroit for Roush Engineering to repair them, the other batch repaired somewhere near Nashville.

Way too many unknowns IMO for us to know anything for sure, just all of us thinking out loud right now.

However, most importantly, someone whispered that all is going well on the ME’s testing and development, going right according to GM’s schedule (whatever that schedule is or means LOL).

Some good points. If March was the final production date, I would have thought the dealers would have already been informed of this and they would be both advertising and adjusting stock orders accordingly. Not sure how that works.... Unless they are getting amazing deals on a car that will be discontinued in March, would they still be filling the lots with cars as well as the carry overs they have? With C7 sales dropping off over the last couple years the way it has, I think I'd be trying to pretty much clear the lots of C7's. The more they have, the more they have to store, pay floorplan interest on and the more they take a chance on them getting damaged. Again... will be interesting...

 

[Zora]

Just did a complete thread on how badly C7 sales are dropping off. I will place it in the C7 section shortly. Sad (we still have a crush on our C7) and progressively further decline in C7 sales. And even more precipitously for Canadian sales than in that thread.