[RUMOR] Is Velocity Yellow on the Way Out for the 2016 Corvette?

It’s about this time of year that we starting digging around to see what the Corvette team may have in store for Corvette enthusiasts for the 2016 Corvette Stingray and Z06. The Corvette Museum’s Bash Event is just over a month a way and that’s when we find out all the changes that will be coming on the next model year Corvette.

This year, the chatter seems to be at an all time low which means either that the team has clammed up or there just won’t be many significant changes to the C7s Corvettes as they enter the third year of production.

But that doesn’t mean changes aren’t afoot. Today’s Constraint Report has a key color that’s only available on 10% of the orders during the target production week of April 13th.

We’ve seen this previously as GM winds down the use of an exterior color during the last month or two of the model year before it’s officially retired. With Velocity Yellow now constrained at 10% of available orders, will it be the next color to be retired?

Last year at the 2014 North American International Auto Show, we spoke with exterior design manager Kirk Bennion who at the time confirmed the color changes on the 2015 Corvette as Shark Gray and a new shade of Yellow. We reported that fact only to find out at the Bash a couple months later that Yellow was staying as is and the new color introduced for the 2015 MY was Daytona Sunrise Orange Metallic.

At the time, a color change to yellow didn’t make much sense in 2015 as Corvette Racing’s C7.Rs were introduced at the same time as the Corvette Z06 – both wearing Velocity Yellow.

And when Daytona Sunrise Orange Metallic was officially revealed, Corvette Product Manager Harlan Charles made a remark to me at the Bash where he said “surprised you with the Orange?” which I took as the orange color change might have come around faster than initially planned.

As a color, Velocity Yellow has been featured on Corvettes since the 2006 model year. It replaced Millennium Yellow which rolled out in 2000. Prior to 2000, a Competition Yellow graced the C4 Corvettes for the last four years of C4 production (1993-96).

So while Velocity Yellow may be on its way out, and this of course is just speculation at this time, will it be replaced by the slightly brighter shade of yellow that Kirk Bennion described at the 2014 NAIAS interview?

We don’t know what’s in the future for Corvette colors but in the present, we are now showing Velocity Yellow on constraints and with about two months left in planned 2015 model year production, this might be the last opportunity to score the color on a new 2015 Corvette Stingray or Z06.

Hat tip to Corvette Conti

Related:
Corvette to Feature Two New Colors for 2015
[PIC] 2015 Corvette Z06 in Daytona Sunrise Orange
[PICS] The 2015 Corvette Z06 Revealed at NAIAS