President Donald Trump‘s proposed 25-percent import tariffs on Mexico and Canada are scheduled to kick in on Tuesday, March 4th. Unless they’re delayed at the eleventh hour like they were last time for both Canada and Mexico, such tariffs could impact car prices across North America, including for “America’s Sports Car,” the Chevy Corvette.
Every Chevy Corvette has been built at the GM Bowling Green assembly plant since 1981. Further, the engines for all four C8 variants (Stingray, E-Ray, Z06, ZR1) are made in the USA, as well. However, even a car as uniquely American as the star-spangled Corvette has many parts that come from Canada and Mexico.
| Model | U.S. / Canada | Mexico | South Korea | China | Final Assembly | Engine | Transmission / Drive Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Chevy Corvette E-Ray | 41 percent | 32 percent | - | - | USA | USA | USA |
| 2025 Chevy Corvette Stingray | 40 percent | 31 percent | - | - | USA | USA | USA/Canada |
| 2025 Chevy Corvette Z06 | 41 percent | 32 percent | - | - | USA | USA | USA |
According to GM, the C8 gets 41 percent of its parts from the U.S. and Canada and 32 percent from Mexico for the E-Ray and Z06 variants. The mix is slightly different for the Stingray: 40 percent from the U.S. and Canada and 31 percent from Mexico. It’s unclear where the rest of the parts are sourced, but we know they’re not from China or Korea.
Because of those parts shipped in from Canada and Mexico, potential tariffs could add up and impact the cost of building the Vette. As is always the risk with tariffs, the extra cost to the manufacturer could be passed on to the buyer.
We know the 8-speed automatic transmission in the Stingray (RPO M1L) comes from GM’s St. Catharines plant in Ontario. However, despite all Corvette variants using 8-speed DCT automatic transmissions with similar basic architecture, they all have unique RPO codes (MLH for E-Ray, M1M for Z06, M1K for ZR1). The St. Catharines plant only builds transmissions for the Stingray and not for the other Corvette variants.
Although the original plan was 25-percent tariffs on all goods coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, with the exception of Canadian energy sources subject to a 10-percent tariff, those numbers are subject to change. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said over the weekend that it’s a “fluid situation,” and it’s ultimately President Trump’s decision to determine whether to stick to 25 percent or set them at a different rate.
Comments
Maybe make them in the USA instead??
exactly..thats what this is all about. EVERY CEO of USA business is at fault for building or obtaining production over seas. No one to fault but themselves
Neither Canada nor Mexico are overseas from the US. I knew the American education system was failing, but still.
You think 7 decades of manufacturing cooperation can be undone in a few months?
From Canada here, c8 owner. You say the extra cost COULD be passed on to the consumer. They will be passed to consumers. No doubt.
Was thinking of another c8, not now. Going Porsche.
Also my corvette club was planning a trip stateside this summer. Not any longer.
Bill, stay where you are. The USA doesn’t need your little club road trip.
Apple is back in the USA. Invidia is the USA. Taiwan Superconductor Manuf. Corp. is building chips in the USA. The next gen Hybrid Civic is being built in the USA. Sounds like this is a GM problem, not a USA problem.
Many of the parts come from overseas. You can look it up on KOGOD. Nothing to wave the flag about.
Matt, we obviously have something USA wants or there wouldn’t be talk of 51st state. Good luck comrade!
I hope your job isn’t in tourisn, because the American tourism industry is in for a lot of pain because of that attitude.
Bill. Doesn’t matter as you’ll be an American in our 51st state very soon! Get ready for some freedom!!
Tangled thorns. 51st state that’s funny. We must have what USA wants. Good luck to all you puppets
Canadians don’t want freedom or they would vote different
You guys ran away from Afghanistan. Goid luck conquering us.
Don’t be too hasty or make judgements too quickly. What’s going on now is strategy tactics to help find ways to keep our country alive by increasing production of domestic products. Nobody is mad at Canada but we must keep more of our dollars here in the U.S. if we are to survive. Please understand that our country has been miss-managed for decades and we have no choice but to take drastic measures to put our country back on a path to prosperity. It’s going to be a long hard road back from a 36T dollar debt and we need your help. Please don’t give up on us.
Wait till the prices get resolved, Mr USA, and then see if you like it.
But then, GM got greedy and built too many C8s so the discounts on unsold models will offset price increases.
Bought a C8 at the end of 2024 and got a discount then ! Things have come a long way from selling my bought new 1970 C3 for what I paid for it after 5 years of year round driving.
Don’t worry, I’m not coming into your swamp.
I can’t believe the hate that has sprung up on this site. We in Canada are not your enemy and never have been . We also buy a lot of GM vehicles. I myself have had at least 15 GM trucks. Both countries have their positives and we have been friends and allies for a long time. Now we have a US leader spewing divisive , nasty “facts” at a friend. I don’t believe that most Americans feel this way and treat their buddies like this. I am sure I will get lots of hateful crap over this but Canada is with you not against you.
The US has a trade surplus with Canada except for energy, and because of tariffs we’re happy to stop sending electricity and oil and uranium south. That will increase the US trade surplus except when tariffs bite and Canadians stop buying American (we’re your biggest customer in the world… I’m pro-Trump except in this case.
The US has twice as much oil than any other country on the planet, the US is smarter than you. We’re using your oil up first. We have plenty of electricity. And you can keep your f****** batteries.
Do not try to rationalize with m.a.g.a. zombies! Better luck trying to teach your dog to write.
Looks like the moves are already on to produce more of what we need here in the US. If it works, it will mean more jobs here, less dependence on foreign goods, bigger tax base and more of our money staying at home. But it’s not going to happen tomorrow. Let’s give this a chance before we pass judgement.
You cannot priduce what you need. The YS doesn’t even oriduce enough electricity for domestic costumers without impirting frim Canada. There is no way you can start refining aluminum there because it is so electricity intensive. Trump will be long out of office before you can build the generating capacity for that. You also cannot produce tte potash you need for farming. Nor the heavy crude you need for asphalt and tar.
Now here is a great idea! Lets start building an all American Parts Corvette. I promise you guys I will fly an American flag from the Antenna the day I take delivery!🇺🇸
So let me get this straight… You tried to stick your finger in every country across the world for the last 50 years, got yourselves in a lot of trouble, borrowed so much money that you now have $1 trillion in interest payments each year, and it’s everyone else’s fault? Classic drunk antics, attacking your sober friend to pay off gambling debts. Good riddance, the world (mostly Russia) will be happy to see you suffer.
Wait until Canada imposes 25% on every watt of power going into Upper New York state and Michigan (1.5 million businesses and homes), not to mention the uranium, heavy crude oil and most importantly the liquified and natural gas that 70% of Americans rely on. If I was Danielle Smith I’d have been in talks with the B.C. premier a while ago to build a pipeline to the pacific coast and our oil would be going to China. Trump is a good businessman and knows the “Art of the Deal”. This is his first mistake since being sworn in. Canada will now explore and invest billions in alternative partners in Europe and Asia. Sorry, but the US can’t be trusted anymore.
Trump is a failed businessman, multiple bankruptcies, abd he didn’t write The Art of the Deal.
So the question here might just be “can GM build the C8 Corvette with all American made the parts” if it wanted to? The answer is, absolutely YES! GM pretty much did this back in the day when everything from C1’s to C3’s were pretty much “American Made”. But when the C4 arrived on the scene and it had some unique “parts” (mostly electrical) that required the “bean counters” to kinda re-group and go looking for these specially made parts outside the USA. Then came the C5 Corvette, a beauty in design, but GM was seriously considering possibly stopping production of the Mighty Corvette due to a really stupid, messy way that GM had managed to get itself into all sorts of financial trouble, and again, if the Mighty Corvette was to be kept in production, more parts (electrical and mechanical) were going to have to be given out to Canada and Mexico to produce and deliver to Bowling Green. The more that Corvette saw that it had to “compete” with foreign sports cars with the C6, C7 and of course the C8, it was obvious that GM was going to have to go looking for more outside the USA help, again not that foreigners parts were better engineered, or better designers or craftsmen but that GM could save a few bucks here and there trying to keep the Corvette assembly lines working and the sports car world, happy when each new and more complicated model of Corvette came along.
But all is not perfect, we’ve seen the C8 assembly lines stopped or periods of time, and you can bet your bottom dollar that some of this was due to some form of a “Parts Supplier” screw up, either in delivery or in production or a labor problem or a host of other problems that GM now had no control over because these businesses that made these “foreign made parts” had a different set of standards than the USA manufactures might have had years ago.
After working for GM damn near 40 years I have seen so many problems coming and going over the years and many times, it had to do with parts suppliers, and out of those parts suppliers businesses, those made in foreign countries would usually while being delivered to our assembly plants, be the cause of some major assembly line downtime. It took us longer to contact those foreign suppliers and and even longer to get whatever their problem was, fixed and the correctly made parts once again on it’s way to our sssembly facilities! We all knew why GM went with thse foreign parts suppliers at the time, it was strictly a cost saving move but in the long run, it was actually costing us here in The USA even more money having to put up with some substandard parts suppliers problems which we at the assembly plants had no choice but to make good with the parts that were sent to us and if things didn’t go together right, guess who got chewed out for any assembly line downtime…yep, not the suppliers, oh hell no, it was the assembly plants that had to take the brunt of the problem!
So what’s my point? When most if not just about all of our major and minor parts were made in the good old USA (boy am I going back a long way) if there was a problem with a certain parts supplier we could take care of it almost right away and with less downtime. However nowadays…it’s a different world indeed and although the “bean counters” pretty much still run the business (pathetic) it would be so much easier to have most every part made for most every GM vehicle “Made In The USA, and damn the added cost, GM could make up the added cost by building a better product and having less warranty problems and eventually making more future customers happy with their GM products. Sadly we’ve all got a better chance of the sun not coming up in the East and settling in the West tomorrow than for GM to ever again consider building their vehicles with 90% or more Amreican made parts.
Rick……I never had an issue with my work trucks until GM started buying from Mexico and Canada. It was the little stuff like cam and crank shaft timers. They would crack and malfunction at the worst times. Fortunately the computer would switch over to a closed loop system and the engine would crank, but start burning fuel like an alcoholic drinking Vodka that just fell off the wagon.
Actually, the Canadian made Silverado has the fewest defects of the three countries. People woukd check VINs to try to get one made in Canada.