GM, like most auto plants in the nation, is just getting started ramping up production in their facilities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is a little bit of a rocky start.
The company’s Bowling Green, Kentucky facility, which produces the iconic Corvette, is experiencing some parts shortages, preventing it from reaching full production capacity, so it will not be able to fulfill all orders for its 2020 model, according to the blog gmauthority.com.
To keep customers happy, GM is offering affected customers a 2021 model year vehicle instead, information that was confirmed by Kevin Kelly, a GM spokesman who spoke with The Detroit Free Press.
“We’ve had an enormous demand for this vehicle and we had that work stoppage and we have suppliers trying to come up to speed too,” Kelly told the Free Press. “The plant is still coming up from Covid. We still haven’t brought up the second shift yet, so we’re still ramping up.”
According to the Free Press, the Bowling Green plant is producing between 60 and 90 vehicles a day, about half of what it normally produces.
GM plans to extend the production of the 2020 Corvette into the fall in order to fulfill as many orders as possible. It had intended to begin taking orders for the 2021 Corvette in June, but it will now begin accepting 2021 orders in July. The 2021 model is expected to remain largely the same as the 2020 model year vehicle.
The Kentucky plant employs, at full capacity, approximately 1,445 people on two shifts for production and maintenance and three shifts in the painting department. It produces both the Corvette vehicles and the engines that power them.
