The mid engine Corvette will not debut next month at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. That much you probably already know. But what you probably don’t know is why.
According to sources familiar with the matter speaking to GM Authority on the basis of anonymity, engineers have uncovered a major electrical issue with the future Corvette during the development process. From what we gather, the vehicle’s electrical system can’t carry the load necessary to support the necessary components.
To address the issue, engineers will need to re-engineer the vehicle’s electrical system. Naturally, changes made to the sports car will also need to be coordinated with suppliers involved in providing GM with the electrical components, as well as any associated equipment. The undertaking will delay the mid-engine Corvette project by six months.
Despite this, GM/Chevrolet should still be able to launch the mid engine Corvette for the 2020 model year, though a 2021 model year launch is not entirely off the table.
Stay tuned to GM Authority for more Corvette news and mid engine Corvette news.
Comments
6 month unveiling delay? Or 6 month production delay? I know both pretty much the same but are we looking at a LA release? Or will they unveil it then have the production date 6 months back?
This and the fact that GM once again is called out by Q! Indirect this time but GM needs to be worried.
Shame on them for fixing the problem before the production release.
dont get me wrong love the idea of mid engine corvette but really .GM is closing plants because of low volume vehicles and they are putting much into this limited production car.Maybe higher production cruzes camaros impala etc built in same plant would keep 1 open and sell more cars would make wall street happier
“GM is closing plants because of low volume vehicles and they are putting much into this limited production car.”
Wrong. Low volume vehicles can command much higher margins that high volume vehicles. Those plants are closed when the required volume cannot be met or (as we’ve seen with slumping sedan sales) when market demand changes to something else.
The Corvette plant was purpose built right from day one to be a low-volume plant for a dedicated product line. With the exception of the XLR, there isn’t any room for multiple, mutually incompatible product lines for 2 completely different market segments under one roof.
By the way, Wall Street is happy the plants are closed, as GM’s stock rose on the announcement. Wall Street also doesn’t care about the working class or the availability of their jobs in the same way that Wall Street cares about corporate earnings projections and market cap.
Wall Street isn’t on your side if you’re worried about keeping a surplus factory open building a product that doesn’t sell as well as it did 15 years ago.
GM is still closing plants and putting American workers and families out of jobs and a stable income. That still hasn’t changed.
Meanwhile the Japanese are huge investors in the U.S. with the top spot in foreign direct investment (FDI) and a lot because of huge investments in AMERICAN auto production. The Japanese see faith in the American worker and auto plants, but GM thinks they need run to China and Mexico to solve their obviously serious problems.
Traitor GM!
You obviously don’t realize that GM still will employ far more Americans than any of those Japanese companies you are calling huge investors. Since I’m Canadian, I’m not happy that jobs are being lost in Canada, but I still realize that even with those jobs gone, GM will still employ more Canadians than many other manufacturers in Canada. This is how modern business works. Why do you think that Apple makes all their phones in China?
Markets do change, but the stock market is for a fast buck. Just because of plant closings making the stock go up, do you understand the reason? See if the stock price still goes up? Only look at the markets before the last recession. If that your reason for going up what happened to auto industry in 2008? Remember the term, bankruptcy? People should understand we are all being played. GM is part of Wall Street, and they care less about their workers, and wait robots will soon take your blue collar job.
During GM’s 2008 bankruptcy government auditors found that the Corvette was GM’s most profitable product. They were told in no uncertain terms to keep the Corvette program going.
To cancel the Corvette now on the brink of a revolutionary new platform would be colossally stupid.
The fact that such a move would be “colossally stupid” is why we all should be just a little bit worried that GM may actually do it.
LOL, touché.
It is good they take the time and get it right than rush it out. Also best to not intro it and have an even longer delay to production.
As for low volume I think what some leave out is the cost to build this car is much less than what it sells for. Low volume works on more expensive cars. As for the Cruze the mark up is not much and you have to make the investment back on volume.
When doing the math you have to use the total math for each model not just same math for all. The numbers are vastly different and they are much different formulas.
So after a decade of putting everything into electric vehicle architecture, all-of-a-sudden, the C8’s electrical architecture is a “big mistake”…
Are we absolutely sure this has nothing to do with the C7 ZR1 getting a thorough spanking at the Nordschliefe by a 911 GT3RS with an atmo 4.0? My conspiracy theory says Jeuchter’s reputation might be on the line and his job depends on getting the C8 to beat the 911.
Who wins or loses in competition, be it LeMans or IMSA depends on rules and competition BOP formulas, and has little to do with production specs or performance. These cars are built by racing teams to series specs.
They may as well do some cosmetic work on the rear end as well, it just looks unfinished. I mean who in the heck wants a squinty rear end. They should never have given up the round tail lights. I am however, very excited by the potential of this car as the last gens were such a leap forward even with an engine in the front. The car could use some prettying up though for sure. They need to learn a bit from ALL the other mid-engine sports cars and bring the design into this millenium.
If they make it look more like existing mid-engine lambos/ferraris, etc. people will say GM has no imagination and its just another mid-engine supercar clone.
I would agree with that to a certain extent but if they want to look like a chevy then why not keep with the positive design aspects of the past such as the tail lights and fluid curves of the past. I think ultimately the car looks more like a half baked NSX or a supra on steroids. This is not a modern design and will most likely not be a hit. Unfortunately it needs to say supercar and it doesn’t. I will hope it is just not finished yet.
Wait until you see the finished product.
Camo wrap, even the vinyl stuff, makes the front and rear ends look very stubby and fat. GM’s camo dept. are very good at what they do.
Like everyone else, obviously glad they’re fixing it pre-production. But I’ve got to wonder how this was allowed to become an issue…electrical loads are electrical loads, whether it’s a front, mid, or rear gas or diesel engine. How did they miss loads and/or undersize wiring or generation capacity??
Or…is there a heretofore unknown electrical element in this car that’s never been produced before now? Otherwise, there should be an electrical engineer looking for new employment.
Regarding Corvette vs Cruze, Impala, et al production…Corvette is a rolling product development lab. Cutting edge “stuff” can be justified on a Corvette because of the sales price, then “trickle down” to other models as practical. Looking backwards, Corvette was the first GM vehicle to offer fuel injection (57), 4 wheel independent suspension (63), 4-wheel disc (65), ABS (86), traction control (92), and many other innovative elements.
I would suspect it’s more nuanced than just simply under sizing a wire, and probably a very fringe case (after all, we have seen cars driving around just fine for awhile). For example, could be a component drawing more current than the planned on, which can be due to higher temps than expected, different airflow than expected, bad supplier part not moving as freely as expected, etc etc. If it was truly just someone goofing on wire gauge it’d be fixed in no time. 6 months to me sounds like it’s fairly complicated and could still even be nailing down root cause.
I like your guess that there may be electrical elements in the car never used before. Mid engine is something I’m sure almost no GM engineers have experience on (Fiero was a long time ago) so there will be challenges, even before new tech gets thrown in.
In any case, like I said below, this is not unusual at all, just brought to the spotlight with every car enthusiast and their brother watching.
Could there be an electric-intensive suspension that might use *significantly* more power during extended, hard core track sessions (which the car has only just recently been exposed to)? I honestly don’t know what such a system might be, but my engineer’s brain won’t let me consider that they blew something as basic adequate awg for cooling fans or similar.
Or…could the front wheels be electronically driven (and regenerative) on the base model?? That would be a coup in the world of (semi) affordable high performance cars.
I would speculate running changes to the vehicle lead to power issues. I am sure things were changed during development and they ran into the limit.
So many of these new cars are using computer power managment systems. Often they manage loads or lack of power since they are limited to 12 volts.
Many models now are starting to go to higher voltage systems now.
This is why today was your battery failed some really crazy things can happen like radios cutting out and even a shut down on the speedometer and AC directing the remaining power to the engine and steering.
I think to remedy the problem Bares should get rid of engineers and hire more people that write code (sarcasm intended)
There’s more than meets the eye here, they could easily have showing this car in the auto show unless they’re not completely happy with this body style. If this Corvette has to wait till late 2019 or 2020, to be available to the General Public then this body style would be out of date. I feel a sense of insecurity here by GM. Come on GM show the world what you can do!
Proof of this? What have you got to offer as proof of this?
You are not going to change styling on a car like this in six months.
6 month delay will lead to the body design being out of date!!?? Huh!? As with most vehicles, the design is going to be on the market for some years with mild tweaks each year but the basics will stay in place. It’s usually considered dated if on market for extended period with no updates during model years.
Shown not showing
Probably from using wire with less copper, in an effort to lessen cost and/or to reduce weight.
Should be using carbon nanotube wiring to keep weight down, lessen electrical losses, and keep wiring safe from possible higher heat in engine compartment.
Buying GM has been my habit.probably 25 new ones. Six months for something like this, and they are closing plants. They forgotten how to produce cars. Maybe Packer, Nash, will join the graveyard. Pontiac, Olds, are there, where is the end? Six months are you kidding, for a product others have made. Hold on to your pocketbook. If it is overpriced it will not sell, even in a low volume. Fools know better. It might look good but being too high it will not sell enough to keep it.
Yep, GM’s going to die now because of a delay in a mid engine supercar’s production.
I thought I saw Cadillac styling clues.
So the company that has stopped everything to focus on electrification can’t even design an electrical system to support a crusty ole’ 6.2 fossil fueled car? Am I understanding this right?
Why is GM even still doing this vanity project? Mid-engined sports cars are icing on the cake for companies with a complete lineup of products. That’s not GM. GM doesn’t even have a cake anymore. They need to be focusing on the basics.
At this juncture, I don’t believe GM is capable of executing a product on this level. Every moon-shot type product they’ve done over the last 35 years has been a flop. They need to be developing competitive pickups and panel bans, not something that they’ll never be able to get right before the ax-yielding accounts strike.
A bit harsh, perhaps, but some truths.
1. I would not be surprised to see this vehicle disappear completely. The window for GM to produce an ultra-high-performance vehicle was well before the 2008 bailout.
2. GM promised more focus on clean energy vehicles, and this high-performance vehicle flies in the face of that commitment.
3. Will buyers pony up $120k+ for a Chevy-badged hyper car?
4. Cadillac is trying to build a performance image, and although it has been very haphazard in my view, this vehicle would seem to fit better in Cadillac’s strategy than Chevy’s.
5. I sincerely believe that GM has great engineers, but inconsistent leadership. But, I am rooting for Mary. Any objective look at her challenges – from tariffs, to plant closings, to offshoring, to electrification – suggests she needs to have her best engineers hard at work on the future…and the future is not high-performance cars, unless they are electric. She will be pillaged by the left/liberals/environmentalist for this vehicle.
6. I would sure love to own one!
This person can’t get out of political nonsense. People that see liberals as bad, elected these flatlanders that are destroying our planet. I bought a ELR back in 14. It was overpriced, and bought few. When a car goes over $100,00 it goes to few people. Even over $75,000. I think that auto should know the market and what people can afford. But liberal basting can only be a stupid remark.
No one has speculated that one or maybe even more planned powertrains were scrapped at the last minute in an effort to reduce costs, and that another seemingly unrelated model’s axing *might* have something to do with this, so I’ll throw that out there.
Are you suggesting some sort of connection to a hand built Cadillac engine? That would be interesting.
good luck to the pioneers who purchase this vehicle in year one. thanks for taking one for the team.
Good job GM Government Motors a real pos I’ll stick to my Nissan crap until I can buy a 63 split window vette and that will be worth more than this pos with 4 tires lmmfao
Seems like the “wheels are falling off” of everything with GM…. Any good news?
Everyone’s on here trying to kill them for actually following the quality process correctly. Every company makes mistakes like this. Engineers arnt perfect, and this is probably a small team where you don’t have many people to catch your mistakes. So instead of just saying send it and running a project to fix it concurrent with launch, they are actually stopping to fix (the correct method in a 6 Sigma/Lean system) to make sure they deliver a quality product. And people here can’t fathom a delay. It’s fine, and actually an encouraging sign as they are doing right by the customer. This happens a lot more often than you think, at every company. You just don’t know it because they arnt high profile builds like a mid engine corvette
Thank you Ryan, Richard and a few others that have a grasp of reality.
I know we have always had a few lingering clueless but anymore since the announced plant closings I have seen an influx of new names here that are just anti GM trolls.
They strike me as paid operatives of MoveOn.org and the other far left anti capital groups.
At the rate it is going GM will survive this just fine but this web site will be in decline as I note so many of the regular posters no longer post.
This was once about true discussion and debate but now it is a free for all of just anti GM sentiment that is not the usual norm. Often it is mixed with political baggage of the far left.
Ryan is correct that opften programs are delayed to make sure things are right. I know some one from GM that his job and group work on this kind of issue al, the time. Often they can cut the delay down sometime not.
Problem are often discover in many odd ways. Often the Vette has had issues
Discovered late due to the covert ways of the cars development. This was the case in 1984 where the lack of road testing to hide the car led to a rough Z51 Suspension.
Also note the 1983 year was skipped due to delays with the Corvette.
Folks this is not unprecedented.
I agree with you scott3, there is a wave of “new names here that are just anti GM trolls” and they obviously need to refresh themselves with the definition of engineering.
I honestly do not believe any of this as I can’t remember ever seeing any hard dates from
GM on the debut of the C8. Who says this is nothing more then a planned engineering change to a wiring harness with active aero hardware provisions now that the hardware has been validated. Maybe that hardware was changed to improve the reaction time, which could draw more current.
Maybe some bandwagon tool heard about this change and was trying to generate negative press about GM. Who would doubt it with the speed those rapids are moving.
I also think it’s funny how many here think they know more about running a multi billion dollar corporation then the ones doing it. From behind the veil of their forum user name.
Thank you, I’ve been saying the same thing. Normal delays that you might never even hear about, now are somehow evidence of GMs iminent demise.
Trolls, how many new GM products have you bought? GM has a problem, and has no foresight. I have bought vettes, and if the technology is so far ahead, where is the price? The average Joe, that buys a car and owes for it. And there’s a limit on how much common people can afford. This delay will only drive up the cost. I like the mid engine vette, if that is what going to be, but will it be only a rich man toy? Only look at Ford mid engine, how many have you seen? Not where I live. I seen where someone saying it would be $140,000, if this is true the future will be dark for the vette. If GM is cutting cars with low volume, where is the breaking point on a car that may not sell like the past vettes. I remember when you could only get a vette until you ordered one. And I see this car the same. How big a deposit will you need?
J.B.
As an new 84 Corvette buyer, the delay to come to market did not help the vehicle. The dash was a nightmare to maintain and costly also. Yes, the Z-51 was rough riding, and you couldn’t hear the radio over the tire noise. The scary thing was the pull of the steering wheel while going through a puddle. Yes it could have been better, but it still drew attention and was fun to drive. I also purchased a new ’63 FI split window which was a new body style and there was no issues with it. I hope that is the case with the new
mid engine as I plan to purchase one.
Really, who cares about this mid-engine Douchette?, GM knock-off most affordable cars and cater to a market that will never buy GM anyways. They’ll have something if a Vette based sedan and CUV is joining the lineup (and an Alpha base Impala for po’ folks) but all this coverage for this POS?, c’om…
With that I’ll add since the Cruze is dead, a CT4 based Chevy Nova!, with available 2.5 n/a, 2.0t, 2.7t, and an SS 5.3 v8…
I was a chevy man for years but gotta say the quality if their products are horrible. The interior and for and finish on a 50k impala or optioned camaro is worse than a 20k Hyundai. Sorry. But true. As for this hole. But lools like a Ferrari 360. From 15 years ago.
They used a existing electrical system and it failed. That’s what gm does. Every knob , button and piece of cheap crap can be found across their product line.
If you buy a 150k corvette from them you need a catscan.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. With Machete Mary gutting the engineering ranks at GM, I would not be surprised to see a lot of other delays in new product launches in coming years.
I think that you will see more of these delays since Machete Mary gutted the engineering ranks at GM.
There is something wrong at GM more than just 6months on the vette. Killing cars, I know it’s a business, but the only car I see GM selling that will get loyalty from past buyers. The question I ask how long will GM last when they do away with plug ins.? There is piece that points to the future, but killing the Volt. Most products they want to sell is SUV’s or crossovers. But where is the future? Get ready look at our climate. Maybe Tesla has a better idea.
Here’s hoping they keep the ZR-1 around another year!!!!!
It’s been long acknowledged that chip costs have dropped to the point where it’s conceivable that it could be cheaper to eliminate dedicated signal wiring and simply have a wiring system where there are embedded chips in all devices. IOW, three wires to operate everything. One power, one ground and one data. I have no idea if this is what they are going for. IOW, chips cost less than copper or whatever style of wire and a massive reduction in connections goes along with it. Somebody is going to do this eventually. In some ways it would make sense in the Corvette since it is a lower volume vehicle.
That means Porsche will remain the leader in “value-priced” mid and rear-engine high performance cars for another 6 months. It’s amazing how smart they now appear for putting engines behind the occupants for so long — despite the many years of head-scratching.
I guess the Corvair and Fiero were missed opportunities, now leaving GM fighting electrical gremlins in their final opportunity to deliver a proper exotic car during the small window before management waives their next ax, making passenger cars extinct. I can almost feel the tension…
With GM gutting their engineering staff, more of these delays should be commonplace in the years ahead.
Chevrolet’s C8 Corvette needs to be bulletproof when it is officially introduced to the world as there can’t be any bugs or issues with the car.. even if they need to push back introduction by a calendar year and build the current C7 Corvette for an additional yea; GM CEO Mary Barra needs to think of the C8 as being the tipping point on deciding whether she stays or is fired.
My theory- The Volt gave it’s life for the front wheels of the new Vette. Call it “performance power management” or some other BS term so it’ll run on electric up to say 15mph in traffic and shut off the V8, and in normal or sport modes it’ll have a few AWD configs depending on conditions and use like the fancy Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren hypercars. I think GM has what it takes to do this successfully and bring tech and parts costs down, eventually.
Should they though?? To me, this seems a bit like a moonshot, raising a finger to the other manufacturers out there. It kind of feels like, just like in current politics where now it only takes a well funded @hole to out shout opposition til they give in, that this was a response to critics calling GM a dinosaur. The thing is, most of those critics don’t know that DOHC are older than pushrods (while taking up more space), direct injection has downsides, and that the nicest of electric drivetrains has to get its power generated and transferred from something somewhere.
While I’m ranting though, the ‘Vette needs a few of its sexy curves back, All of the angles and aircraft stealth look, imho = Cadillac. Geez, rereading that, I feel old, I’m not even 40 yet!
I believe you are in the neighborhood.
Yep. Looks like a Cadillac.
Explanation is highly unlikely and is no doubt done to support sales of the C7 for a longer period of time. GM has a long list of cars with mag shocks, electric steering, AC, automatic transmissions, lights, power seats and high powered stereos. Or are all GM products marginally designed?
GM junk like always cant build a mid engine vehicle look at the first gen Pontiac Fiero , another thermal event waiting to happen, as GM calls it.