GM appears to have announced that the usual pause in Chevy Corvette production over the holidays will be extended to three weeks, rather than two weeks, for the 2024 Christmas season.
According to a post on Mid Engine Corvette Forum the GM Bowling Green plant in Kentucky will close for the holiday break on Friday, December 13th, 2024 and resume operation on Monday, January 6th, 2025.
News of the extended interlude in Chevy Corvette production is said to have been announced to workers at Bowling Green in an official General Motors message. This appears to be longer than any other temporary production halt at the facility, but it is unclear why GM chose to extend the hiatus by an extra week this year.
Several possible reasons could hypothetically have led to The General’s unusual scheduling decision. One such reason could be to control the production levels of the Chevy Corvette Stingray variant. Another motive could be planned maintenance or improvement to the Vette production line.
Sales of the Chevy Corvette in the U.S. were down year-over-year in Q3 2024, with 7.3 percent fewer units delivered during Q3 2023, amounting to 7,797 vehicles versus 8,409. On the other hand, sales of the car are up 1.1 percent over the first nine months of the year, rising to 25,711 units compared to 25,438 during same period in 2023.
Notably, the 2025 Corvette ZR1, on which GM pulled the sheets back in late July, is incoming sometime next year. Possibly, the extended pause is related to adjustments for regular production of the latest variant of the Bow Tie sports car to join the lineup. The ZR1 is distinguished by its powerplant, the new twin-turbocharged 5.5L V8 LT7 flat-plane crank DOHC engine capable of developing a pavement-searing 1,064 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 828 pound-feet of torque at 6,000 rpm.
Most commentators on the original Mid Engine Corvette Forum post believe a glut of unsold Stingray units is the most likely explanation for the three-week holiday cessation.
Comments
If dealers are selling at ten % off MSRP demand must be slowing, Still a fantastic car for the money.
Lets see now, usually only two common reasons for an extended halt in production of any vehicle, one is parts concerns (lack of, parts failures, ect) or as duly noted in the article, a slowing of the production assembly lines due to too many vehicles at the dealers or just on the prior used listings in anticipation of the next model years line up. So what do I think might be the culprit? Well, it’s not Rocket Science but here in Southern California every Chevy Dealer now has 2024 C8’s in stock, and a few actually have The Mighty Z06
in stock ready for delivery and wonder of all wonders, actually at MSRP and even more amazing a few dealers have a “make us a reasonable offer” (not on the Z06 or ERay of course
not now anyway, perhaps in the not too distant future who knows) sticker attached to the windshield, how about that! Another thought is a ton of used privately owned C8’s (hey it’s been over four years now and some of these used C8’s have been paid off and in some cases the factory warranty is now “null and void” and with some of these C8’s odometers touching in excess of 50 to 60 thousand miles you can see the concerns here, right?
Anyway just my observationon the subject, I’m sure others have opinions too, so lets hear your comments about this timely subject, bring it on.
I would like to know how many Z06 and ZR1 corvettes are planned ?
Why not go back to work after the 2nd week and build Erays and Z06s only
Availability vs demand equals what people will pay , do the math. Less cars mean higher price. The general learned from covid.
are there any other plants with an extended pause ?
Too many on dealer lots, it’s that simple!
When new car demand and prices fall, the ball rolls downhill. C7’s were almost in free fall until, the C8 came along and stabilized market but nothing lasts forever. People coming into the dealership and sales have definitely improved since the election. Time will tell.