General Motors unveiled the 2025 Corvette ZR1 last July, pulling the sheets on a twin-turbocharged monster making over 1,000 horsepower and promising some very juicy performance stats. While Corvette fans are likely eager to see this thing finally roll out, it’s looking like the C8 ZR1 launch isn’t exactly going as planned, at least not from a production standpoint. In fact, GM Authority has learned that GM will be unable to build the full 2025 Corvette ZR1 production volume.
The trouble began shortly after order books opened. GM accepted a total of 310 orders for the 2025 Corvette ZR1, but due to supply constraints on the carbon fiber aero package, every one of these orders was immediately put on hold. Although C8 ZR1 production technically began the week of April 2nd, fewer than 70 units (GM Authority estimates around 65) have been assembled so far.
With the 2026-model-year transition scheduled for Monday, August 4th, GM is running out of time to complete the remaining 245 units. Making matters worse is a scheduled two-week summer shutdown at the GM Bowling Green facility, set to kick off around July 4th. Following the summer shutdown, production won’t resume until July 14th, leaving just 15 working days to complete the remaining 2025 ZR1 volume.
To that end, GM informed dealers late last week that it will be unable to fulfill all current 2025 Corvette ZR1 orders. Units remaining in the system at status 3000 or below (meaning “order accepted”, but not yet in production) will need to be resubmitted as 2026 model year vehicles.
For customers, this will result in higher costs. As GM Authority covered recently, MSRP for the 2026 Corvette ZR1 is $7,200 more expensive than the MSRP for the 2025 ZR1, including a $100 bump for the destination freight charge.
As a reminder, the C8 Corvette ZR1 cradles the twin-turbocharged 5.5L V8 LT7 gasoline engine, which is rated at 1,064 horsepower and 828 pound-feet of torque, sending it through the quarter mile in less than 10 seconds at roughly 150 mph. Top speed is rated at 233 mph.
Comments
Come on now get real then get better at proof reading before publishing. This corvette is not capable of 215 mph in a quarter mile!! Also there are verified drag strip times and 0-60s numbers available so why be so lazy and not use them.
Apologies for the typo. Quarter mile trap speed is roughly 150 mph, not 215 mph. The post has been updated.
Orders, what orders? GM has taken down its Order Guides, apparently to promote empty showrooms, so to the best of my knowledge, dealers can’t order ANYTHING.
For GM, I remember the order books always close around the end of May so the plant may build and close out the orders for the current model year. Depending on model, the order books for the next model year open up about 2 months later. Manufacturing can then begin to compile orders for when the next model year. So you are correct, at this point in time for most GM models in the USA, the order books are currently closed, but will reopen soon enough at the dealer level. As for the online guides at the various brand websites, it always takes them a while to insert the next model year. They would much rather you buy from existing inventory at this point to help clear out current finished production.
#$%^& amazing..who the hell is in charge of “parts inventory” or as they say “just in time production”??? You’ve had 5yrs to fix production and yet you’re still on constraint?? Who’s the President of NA operations? How about the VP of manufacturing?? OR BETTER YET — WHERE THE FK IS MARY??? Not everyone can afford a Vette—so you think you would produce every order you get. And as a point of reference, my standard order S/R took 5 months and there was nothing “special” on it for options.
Can’t get the needed carbon fiber parts, year after year. What a joke!
Here we go again, folks! It never ceases to amaze me how you can have two separate entities working to gether, engineering/assembly and suppliers/marketing within the corporation and one group has no idea what the other group is doing! Engineering and assembly prepares the vehicle and test the product preparing it for assembly, then marketing and suppliers are gearing up for the final assembly product. Seems pretty basic I’d say, it’s been done this way for many, many years but the last few years, GM seems to falling into a huge pit, where, in the C8’s case, the end product seems ready to go, it’s been road tested and redied for production however, once again, those marketing mavens and those “impossible to work with” suppliers have put the brakes on the Mighty ZR1 being built in the numbers they planned on building in 2025. If it were not so pathetic, it might be considered almost funny…but sadly this is a serious problem that once again seems destined to create some very bad feelings for those potential ZR1 customers with (lots of) cash in hand.
Maybe someday GM will get it’s act together, but it won’t be in 2025, maybe in 2026, who knows, it’s a sad state of affairs but to be expected I guess considering the amazing group of Engineers GM has at their disposal and the dismal group of marketing idiots who can’t seem to be able to control their suppliers abilities to deliver the necessary parts that are being asked for and I’m sure paid reasonably well to produce in an “on time delivery basis”. Why?
Why can’t GM control every aspect of their company, it isn’t rocket science, many other manufactures don’t seem to have this problem, at least on the level that GM has been trying to control. Oh well, more than likely the Mighty ZR1X will set some amazing times while being driven at “The Ring” in Germany, and if they do set a record or two (which I hope occurs) it’ll all be for not cause the average (wanting to be) C8 ZR1 owner will have to wait till next year, pay a higher price (probably not a major concern among the hopeful owners) and in the mean time they’ll just have to relax until someone “throws the switch” allowing the production to start up at the Bowling Green Corvette assembly plant on the 2026 ZR1 and ZR1X. Unbelievable incompetence on so many levels. Oh well…so what else is new GM? Sheesh!
As a long time Corvette owner who supports the product and believes GM can and does build the best damn sports cars in the world for the money, I find things like this latest concern awfully irritating, it just doesn’t have to be this way for GM…or, does it? Hummm.
SAME Leadership…SAME Problems…year after year..when will they wake up..tell her to take her podium and go home!
While I’m in agreement with some of your statements, your saying that “the dismal group of marketing idiots who can’t seem to be able to control their suppliers abilities to deliver the necessary parts”. Parts suppliers do not work with Marketing – they initially interact with Engineers and Procurement and then, after being selected, work with Manufacturing to ensure their parts are delivered on a timely basis. If the suppliers consistently fail to deliver on time, they should be replaced!
Naught
It’s always a carbon parts supplier issue with the Corvette. A few years ago it was trying to get enough carbon wheels from the supplier in Australia. Then later on it was with carbon aero bits from other suppliers. And here we are again with another carbon parts supply issue. It just never ends. And it’s not like we need multiple tens of thousands of parts here. We are just talking about building a few hundred vehicles to close out the year and GM can’t even do that.
If the dealer expects the customer to pay the ’26 $7,200 increase cost and they can’t cover the cost themselves, they should take their business elsewhere to another dealer who is willing to work with the customer because it is not the customer’s fault they have to fool with this inconvenience if they are wanting the ’25 model year and not ’26.
How is this not fixed yet? GM did an amazing job of engineering the highest performance American production car ever and did not have the foresight to know that buyers will want to option carbon fiber aero, wheels, and interiors? How can GM not hold suppliers accountable or find new suppliers? I waited an extra year for my Z06 order to get carbon wheels, exposed aero, and the full carbon interior. At these price points, many buyers will not just take what you can build. Adding $25K in carbon options has to be a nice profit center for GM?
This issue has been going on for years with Corvette. Someone needs to “get reallocated into the workforce” for not solving a simple supply issue. GM should be building as many of these halo cars as they have real buyers for. I can’t wait to get one, but I will wait until all of the carbon parts are available. If they don’t become available, I will not buy a ZR1/ZR1x.
I wonder if tariffs have anything to do with it. IE, suppliers are unwilling to source raw materials from china/absorb the costs and are scrambling to re-source? Just a thought.
They should have gone the AMG GT 4-Door way (but in this 2-door car) and offer the top version first then the lesser ones