n8dogg

When planning to produce the most controversial sports car of all time, production capacity would surely be a topic of discussion. What if this new, mid-engine, Corvette sees a demand like we've never seen before? $439M invested in the Bowling Green, KY, Corvette plant in 2015 says we are serious. Interviews with plant managers and GM employees revealed that production capacity is (or was?) around 150 cars per day. The mid-engine, C8, Corvette was released and reached a demand that exceeded that of several generations prior. At the same time the world was shook with a pandemic that caused life to virtually cease to exist. When life resumed there were (and still are) supply chain issues. Fast forward 3 years, and GM is introducing a new Z06 model, and announced a future hybrid variant. Demand is still high and plant production capacity remains unchanged.

My questions are:
- Did GM overlook production capacity when planning the future of the C8 and its variations?
- How much of a role has supply chain issues played in preventing increased production capacity?
- If production capacity is restricted beyond GM's control, what does that mean for the future of the Corvette brand?

Zymurgy

No, GM did NOT overlook production capacity. They added a 2nd shift at great expense to Bowling Green Assembly Plant to increase capacity. Planned capacity is around 186 per day. Because of supply chain issues, they cannot add another shift, even if they wanted to. The supply chain has problems keeping the factory running as is. You need to realize that COVID is NOT over, especially in places like China where they have huge number of citizens locked down - shutting down suppliers.

AzDave47

Corvette is not the only model that has supply restrictions. Have you driven by any new car dealer and looked at their lots? Even Toyota, Honda, Ford, Lexus and Mrecedes has supplier problems. A good number of Porsches, Bentleys and Audis are 12,000' down in the Atlantic. Hundai lost a ship off the Carolinas with 000's of cars/SUVs.

n8dogg

This was my thought as well, even if a 2nd shift were added, and/or increased the floor plan of the plant, labor and parts restrictions would get in the way.

z51vett

Hey they could build about 170 a day C7s so the numbers for 2 shifts at 185 is a joke just saying.

Amoreloba

About 95%, no parts, no cars.
The other 5% is “what do we do with a 3rd shift when demand finally dies down?”

n8dogg

That's what I was thinking too. Or, is 150 in 1 shift impressive?

53,000 Corvettes were produced for the 1979 model year. The plant was working 2 shifts per day, including Saturdays. That's 312 working days and 170 produced per day.

185 per day, with Saturdays off, is 260 working days and 48,100 produced. I think current production is around 1/2 of that.

BlaznZ06

Yep my Benz AMG GT is sitting at the factory waiting for a part.

Zymurgy

They made a very deliberate decision to slow the assembly line speed for the C8 versus the C7. Unlike the high output C7 years, the plant has not worked overtime or Saturdays because the supply chain just won't support it.

Zymurgy

They don't have 260 working days. There's the July shutdown (2 weeks), plus 16 paid Holidays. That cuts the number of work days down to 234. C8 production has been limited by the UAW strike and numerous part shortage caused shutdowns.

BigButtLover

I agree. I don’t think they overlooked capacity. However, I do think that they underestimated demand. I think they thought the car would be popular, but I dont think they they thought this car would be the grand slam that it is. We’re 4 years in and still sold out for the next year and beyond. In their defence, who could have predicted that? It’s an amazing vehicle.

Zymurgy

How much of the current demand/supply imbalance is due to the greatly reduced plant output due to parts shortages? If they had been able to build twice as many, would we still be seeing this imbalance?

FlyinLow

Even if supply chain was working, the plant only has capacity for around 45,000 cars per year. They can't work three shifts as you have to allow break times, plus certain maintenance, cleaning, so impossible to have three 8 hour shifts. You also have to plan for the demand to soften, which it will eventually. If they had been able to produce 45,000 per year starting with the 2020 model year the demand would already be softer.

Shoal07

This is like the 50th post on this topic. How can anyone think this is a GM problem by now is beyond me. Get out of your basement and look around. Shortages are real.

BigButtLover

A lot of the imbalance is due to parts, I agree. It would be interesting to see if they would still be sold out if parts were readily available. I think they would.

faninc

How could they not realize after the success of the C7 and the long awaited (many decades) mid engine Corvette finally being approved and produced, at $60k price point no less, that this car would not be a wild success?

Fast Dawg

I live near a Chevy/GMC/Ford dealership that is huge because it services large, mostly rural, counties. Their lots stayed full of inventory pre-Covid - at least a couple of hundred vehicles - mostly trucks. Now when I go there for service I can usually count on both hands the number of vehicles on their lots - except for their used car "Superstore." That Superstore is keeping food on the sales folk's tables.

AzDave47

Most new car lots could be better used for autocrossing.

Walter Raulerson

I wonder how many buyers are brokers and such that order as many as they can and sell them back to dealers or to anybody with the money

Dcrets

You are mistaken about the possibility of working three shifts. Before I retired GM Arlington was working three shifts and many Saturdays and Sundays. We still got maintenance done. I know it doesn't seem possible but breaks are reaaranged and it works out. We were the only plant building the big suv's and they were selling as fast as we could build them. The two week shut down was almost always eliminated. If GM sees the demand and thinks it will continue they will find a way.