Joe, you have an amazing amount of information on this forum, but this is a bit out of context. First of all, the plant produces zero C7s at this point. Second, first year production capacity has almost always been reduced as they ramp up.

Your numbers are based upon a theoretical capability of the plant. It depends upon how many shifts they run and at what capacity they are running the lines during those shifts.

The theoretical capacity is offset by how many vehicles are being ordered by their dealers.

GM has stated that the C7 line speed will be 18/hr. I stated that GM has the capability to adjust their output(by slowing down the line speed and/or reducing days worked) to meet the orders generated by their dealers. GM also has the flexibility to work overtime if sales are going great guns.

Of course, there will be a ramp up during the first couple of weeks, but GM will have the plant up to speed very quickly, barring any unforeseen quality problems, of a greater magnitude than expected and planned for.

Much of the planning and employee training for the C7 was done by running the C7 down the existing C6 line, before the plant was shut down for retooling. When the C7's new line starts up on the very first day of production, it will not be the first C7 the plant has built.

The assembly of the C7 is not that different from the C5 and C6. At 18/hr line speed, a worker has approximately 3 minutes to perform his task. His task is not that difficult to learn.

The area of the plant that is new to Bowling Green is the fab area where they will be building the aluminum space frame. That area of the plant has been operational for some time and those employees are already up to speed.

The C5 was a completely new animal and they did have some slow starts, but they did produce almost 10,000 1997 C5's in five months. Then the 1998 racked up 31,084 in 12 months.

The C6(even though 80% of the parts were new for the C6) was not a radical departure from the C5. In 2004, Bowling green started producing the 2005 C6 and somehow managed to get 37,372 of them out the door. The C7 is not a radical departure from the C6.

Photo of C7 being built at Bowling Green on existing C6 line.

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/...psb3a6882c.jpg

:ack: Thanks Dan, That's an image I could really do without (now if it were the secretaries skirts OTH...). :rock:

Cliff I was strictly referring to the dealers run by women only! LOL
I guess I should have said......oh never mind!

past monthly sales reports show that Corvette sales during the winter(December, January and February)don't drastically slow down vs spring and summer.

If there are a bunch of C7's sitting on the dealer's lots this coming winter, it won't be because of the weather, but because no one wants the car.

I'm sure you're correct Joe. IMO it's the combination of things that may cause slow early sales after the initial orders are filled. I guess it also depends on how quickly and how many are being produced by let's say Thanksgiving, if units become unsold on dealers lots early it could be a long winter.

that's easy; it's called "allocations"

My closest Chevrolet dealer has one Corvette allocation per year (during a normal year); and I doubt they even get that lowely "1" for model year 2014. Many local dealers won't be able to order a 2014 C7 Corvette.

Thanks for the information Joe. You always amaze me with your info. You must have friends in low places :thumbs:

Only idiots pay over sticker for a car, especially the 1st year of a GM car.

@ Mike, you are correct! The owners of the Acura dealer that I work for also own a Chevy store and they were allocated four units. I know three are sold at MSRP, this makes perfect sense for a dealer getting so few or as you say if any.

I have seven Chevrolet dealers within 35 mile radius of my home. Every one of them sells Corvettes, but most of them don't sell that many. One dealer, 4 miles from my home is a top 50 Corvette dealer. Even if he gets all the C7's allocated to my rural southwestern Missouri location(he has all of his first allocations pre-sold), finding a C7 won't be that long a drive. 2.5 hours to Tulsa, 3 hours to St. Louis, 3 hours to Kansas City. Short drives to buy a new C7 if I can't find one at the seven dealers close by me.

Good friend purchased/ordered his new 2010 GS during the winter. Went to Bowling Green for the buyers tour of the plant while his car was on the line. Then several weeks later he went back for pick it up at the museum(RC8 option)with his enclosed trailer to bring it home(425 miles). Straight from the museum floor into his trailer, and then straight from his trailer into his huge garage that allowed him to back his trailer into. When the weather got good, he then drove it for the first time.

He didn't let mother nature dictate when he would buy his Corvette.

Kind of flies in the face of those that believe low allocations to a dealer means the dealer will be getting 5-10K over MSRP for their C7's.

This is so true. The other thing that is comical is that the members of CF represent a sizable block of buying power that could easily be used to influence purchase price and it does to some degree later in the production cycle, but there are simply too many "got to have its" to reign in this asset at the release of a new body style.

And a credit to Chevrolet. Lots of buyers are happy to pay MSRP and I am happy for anyone who thinks they got what they paid for. I may not agree with their buying habits, but if they think they got a deal, who am I to complain.

Any idiot can finance a Corvette and creative dealer financing can cover huge marrkups over MSRP too. And I am sure people pay cash too, I see people dropping 5-10-15K at a craps table in an hour or two, at least in this case they get a cool car to pound around in for their premium.

I MAY buy a new one, but certainly not this year. I got a new C5 Z51 vert stickered at 54K for $45000 on the only new one I bought and that would be my goal for a C7. I dont need it, dont want one very bad obviously and prefer to wait for second and maybe even third year production when it may be possible to avoid any disastrous early production flaws and to catch a bored dealer off his guard on the last day of the month and save a bunch of money. But as mentioned, I am not a hardcore, got to have it, vette club president etc....

for those who buy early at top dollar and make appearances, love and care for their cars, go to shows, take the SO out for a cruise saturday night, I think they will get a good return on their purchase.

Smart people just wait out the greedy dealers.

It's 2013, the internet basically answers anyone's and everyone's questions! Hell people buy their drugs/household goods etc. online, you'd think we'd all do our homework before dropping 60k. MSRP is a gift for dealers, especially for a car that will be so readily available very quickly!

:thumbs:

@ never-enough, dealers are not greedy, they are businesses.

Right on the money, agree 100%!

Sounds like they will be collecting dust!

Word!