GM: Corvette Production Being Cut to Reduce Supply

Not since the mid-Nineties has production of the Corvette been slowed due to oversupply, but now it appears that GM will halt production of the iconic sports car next month to lessen supplies during this so-called automotive downturn. Often billed as “recession-proof”, Corvette’s production will be cut by an estimated 20-30 cars per day and layoffs will effect up to 9% of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant’s workforce.

Automotive News has confirmed with GM that production of the Corvette will be halted the week of October 6th and when assembly resumes on October 13th, the assembly line will be slowed from 18.5 to 15 Corvettes per hour. The slower production will result in roughly 20-30 Corvettes per day being eliminated from the supply while the one week shutdown will remove an estimated 700 Corvettes from supply.

Eldon Renaud, President of the UAW Local 2164 in Bowling Green said up to 75 people of the 800 hourly workforce could be laid off. “We’ve weathered a lot of downturns but I think this one has finally lasted long enough and people are concerned enough about the economy that it’s probably having a minor effect.”

Through the first eight months of 2008, Corvette sales fell 8.5% to 21,066. While we saw a 47.4% rebound in August sales when the 2008 Corvette was included in GM’s employee pricing incentive program, GM Spokesperson Sharib Basel says “you can’t count on incentives holding down inventories through the balance of the year.”

Source:
Automotive News via Autoblog

Related:
August 2008 Corvette Sales

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