Production of the 2020 Corvette Convertible is scheduled to begin on July 13th, according to a new report.
The Bowling Green Assembly plant in Kentucky, which builds both the C8 Corvette Coupe and Corvette Convertible, will return to work the week of May 26th. The plant will focus on building the 2020 Corvette Coupe models for the remainder of May, all of June and the first week of July before the 2020 Corvette Convertible enters production on July 13th. GM has not built any 2020 Corvette Convertible models so far due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the automaker to close the Bowling Green plant in early March.
This intel comes from Corvette Forum poster “Corvette Ed”, who works at Fairway Motors, a Chevrolet dealership located in Hazleton, PA. Corvette Blogger has spoken to Corvette Ed on various Corvette-related matters in the past and found his information to be credible.
GM is currently facing a large backlog of 2020 Corvette Coupe and Corvette Convertible orders. The automaker was forced to push the start of production from December 2019 until early February due to the 40-day UAW strike and only managed to build 2,700 examples of the sports car before the plant shut back down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, 2021 model year Corvette production will not begin until November of this year. The 2021 model year vehicles were originally scheduled to enter production on the first week of September, so these extra two months of production will allow GM to make up for the two-month COVID-19 shutdown.
The 2020 Corvette Convertible is mechanically identical to the fixed-roof model – save for the new two-piece foldable hardtop roof. The folding hardtop makes for a quieter, more-secure cabin compared to the soft top roofs previous Corvette convertible models used. The folding hardtop can be activated at speeds up to 30 mph and fully retracts in just 16 seconds. The Corvette Convertible is powered by the same 6.2L LT2 V8 engine as the fixed-roof model, which is good for 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque.
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Comments
This is the 2020 Chevrolet C8 Corvette to buy with it’s first ever retractable hard top; but the only issue with the C8 Corvette Convertible is that you can’t see the mid-engine as someone will need to come out with a translucent body panel that would allow people to do so.
I really believe some aftermarket performance engineering firm will likely design such a piece, but it’s not likely to be cheap – probably somewhere in the area of 8 to 10 grand, due to low production rates, But, who knows, maybe if enough C8 fans ask GM for one, they may offer one, as an option, in a few years.
They say the marching orders for GM Design Staff was to create a vehicle to appeal to eight-year old boys. I’d say they succeeded wildly. The theory is that in order to sell Corvettes in 2045, GM must capture the affection of kids today. It’s a sound theory I’d say. My love for GM was bourne out of my childhood and although they build little today that interests me (my tastes are more sophisticated now) that internal flame remains.
Corvette logger.com reported yesterday that the Convertible has been pushed to July 20th rather than the 13th….
I had a model of new 2020 corvette as a kid and really is a dream car for me and alot of my generation.I even had a Corvette restorer next door and got to see all the 60 models restored but want the new model.
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By the time the C8 convertible starts reaching the dealers, in any decent numbers, it’ll be late August, early September. a little too late to enjoy if for this summer, unless one lives in the deep South, SoCal, AZ or NM. I think I would just as soon wait for a 2021 model, ordering in January, when car sales are traditionally slow, and ask for delivery sometime in mid to late April, when the weather begins to warm up. That time would allow GM to work out any issues that may develop on the new convertible.
Does anybody, have any idea, how may 2020 Convertibles are going to be built before they switch over to the 2021?
My order is in Event 3000 of production phase. I don’t have any idea when it will be in production though. Can someone offer any info?
There will be approximately 20k C8 2020 Corvettes produced, including Coupes and Convertibles. Of those, there will be approximately 17% total Convertibles or about 3400. Less than 6% will be Blade Silver. And, as many of us know, they are discontinuing that color for 2021.
If nothing else goes wrong, and that’s a BIG if, my C8 2020 Blade Silver Convertible is scheduled to be built on August 31st. (TPW) I’m feeling like the kid I was, waiting for Christmas morning back in 1968, expecting to see that Schwinn Stingray Bicycle next to our Christmas tree. I’ve got C8 2020 Vision, Baby!