Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter on Why GM Cut the Final 2021 Allocations

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Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter on Why GM Cut the Final 2021 Allocations

Photo Credit: CarsfromHoff / Instagram


At the beginning of June, Chevrolet announced that it was cutting allocations for the final 2021 Corvette order cycle while also committing to build all those cars for customers whose orders were at Order Status 3000 or above. This announcement followed on the heels of the Corvette Assembly Plant being closed during three of the previous four weeks due to a parts shortage. For members of the Corvette Team, it seemed like deja vu from 2020 all over again.

According to Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, that’s exactly the situation they were trying to avoid.

Tadge spoke with our friends at MuscleCarsandTrucks.com and got the scoop directly:

“We learned our lesson last year,” said Juechter to MC&T. “We didn’t predict a pandemic, and we actually promised to build cars and then the pandemic shut us down entirely. We had to go back to customers and dealers and say ‘I’m sorry’. It was 11,000 customers that we had to go back and say okay, we’ll put you at the front of the line for 2021. This year even though things are constrained, we haven’t had to do that. Every car we’ve committed to build, we expect to build. There’s still ups and downs, and we’re fighting through it, but that’s why we don’t want to overcommit. But of all the cars we received and committed to build, we’re still on track to build them.”

For the inaugural year of the C8 Corvette, the 2020 model year was already a sell-out before the first car was ever on the assembly line. Production of the 2020 model year was impacted by both a 5-week UAW strike which pushed back the start of the model year from December 2019 to early February 2020, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. While Chevrolet tried to meet expectations to those who had placed an order, moving 11K customers to the following year wasn’t an ideal situation. For 2021, the team was much more cautious in its approach as customers who have had their orders accepted for production should still see their cars built during the 2021 model year.

Unfortunately, there are still those impacted by the decision to cut the final allocations but the team is hoping that the 2022 model year will provide a reset back to a regular production schedule. Tadge told Muscle Cars & Trucks that had the world been different the last two years, GM could have likely sold three times as many Corvettes. That would have been fantastic way to kick off the start of the C8 generation, but as everyone knows now, selling the car and building the car are two different things.


Source:
musclecarsandtrucks.com

Related:
Following Plant Closures, GM Cancels the Final Allocation Cycle for 2021 Corvette Orders
STUDY: The 2021 Corvette Ran on a Six-Day Supply in May
Chevrolet Corvette Drops to 2nd Place on Fastest-Selling New Cars for May

 



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31 COMMENTS

  1. I remember a Astronaut saying the Space Shuttle is built by parts from the 3000 lowest bidders. The Corvette is the same I guess no one in GM actually makes sure that the company awarded the contract for the Widget can really make it. No parts no cars. I have always defended GM to all of the Import lovers but they really dropped the ball on the Vette.

  2. And then you have the dealers jacking the price because GM is unable to deliver. I understand the concept of supply and demand, but this is on the shoulders of GM and some of the dealers are taking advantage of the situation. I have seen C8s on dealers’ websites for 170k plus. Unacceptable.

  3. HAVE ANY OF YOU HEARD ABOUT COVID VIRUS AND BUSINESS SHUTTING DOWN BECAUSE OF IT ? THINK THAT MIGHT BE THE PROBLEM HERE ??? ANYONE ??

  4. GM cancels 2021 allocations so they can begin building 2022 models. Which just happen to have a big $$$$ increase. Hmmm…. Who’s really buying this nonsense! Me thinks GM is lathering on some Shelby snake oil!

  5. I was one of the 11,000 2020 orders pushed to a 2021. After see the headlines of 2020 Corvettes arriving in the Middle East, I canceled my order. Maybe take care of your customers home before shipping elsewhere?

  6. If anyone believes that any plant in China shut down due to covid health protection I have a 1967 big tank hemi to sell you. Really the only one ever made it was Zoras personal car.

  7. Don’t believe a thing that fleabag says. He’s the cover gm’s ass bitch and that’s all he is. Just like is rant on all the defective C7 wheels. It’s all the customers fault. This guy is disgusting.

  8. It seems strange that a company the size of GM would use its “chief engineer” to deliver such a lame response. But then I realize that Mary Barra has absolutely no creditability among the GM current and potential customers so I guess Tadge is as good and any other pigeon to provide more unpopular news.

  9. IS GM THE ONLY CAR COMPANY THAT HAD TO SHUT DOWN FACTORIES BECAUSE OF SUPPLY CHAIN PROBLEM ?
    YOU THINK THEY HIRED AND TRAINED A SECOND SHIFT AT THE CORVETTE FACTORY TO MAKE AND SELL LESS CORVETTES ?
    YOU THINK THEY MADE A RIGHT HAND DRIVE VERSION TO SELL LESS CORVETTES ?

    THEY COULD HAVE MADE AND SOLD 40,000 CORVETTES EVERY YEAR, AND MADE MORE MONEY.

  10. GM/Chevrolet hit the C8 out of the park and set a distance record to boot with the Grand Slam. The company won a huge number of awards for the 2020 and the Corvette is not slowing down from those achievements. No one could believe the base price although a majority of the buyers opted for LT2/3’s and Z51. A strike; Covid-19 and resultant parts problems hit GM Time and again. I know that Tadge must represent his employer; that’s his job. Given the achievements of the Corvette, its team and its build line, all the complaints have not been tempered by frustrated potential customers. Supply and demand definitely operated right from the start with the C8 and circumstances with production have continued to cause this trend to continue. Those who wanted the car badly enough stepped up and paid the extra currency.

  11. The level of ignorance shown by some of these comments is a real embarrassment to Corvette Nation. Case in point: TW’s comment that “there’s no shortage of pickup trucks.” In fact, there is a HUGE shortage of pickup trucks. Example: Ford’s Kansas City KS assembly plant — the largest in North America with an output of 500,000 trucks/year — has been shut down for the last 2 months due to chip shortages & won’t resume production until after July 4…maybe. Dealers & customers are STARVING for trucks; their loss far outweighs the C8’s situation.

    And please quit dissing Mary Barra, who made the multi-million dollar expansion of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant and the development of the C8 possible. She’s one of the savviest CEOs in the business. Just ask Warren Buffet (unless you don’t know who he is, either).

  12. No, Here in Texas there are plenty of trucks for sale, all makes & price range. They make the most profit on pickups & SUV’s, they are not going to give that up. I’ve had my C8 order in since last year, we still don’t have a definite delivery date, in any other business this would be unacceptable. You can’t hide poor management.

  13. @ TW It depends on the market and the demand. I’m on the East Coast and there are hardly any Chevrolet 4WD Silverado’s available. My local dealer, which usually has 200+ “new” vehicles in stock only has 14 right now, and only 1 of them is a Silverado with a $60K+ sticker.

  14. I was excited when I heard GM was resurrecting the Blazer. I figured after making the terrible decision to stop making the Cruise they would make the Blazer in that shutting down American plant. But no south of the border. Who’s made that decision I won’t be buying one of them. Maybe a Ford bronco

  15. @ George C. — Totally with you — pickup trucks, Mary, etc. Some folks here have never taken a business course, or even read that WSJ.
    And yeah, I checked the biggest Chevy dealers’ web sites for Dallas and Austin. There are some Silverados, but fewer than a dozen Colorados in such areas. That’s in a state where, according to one of my Texan Navy buddies, the pickup is really the only vehicle that anyone drives — no sedans, no SUVs, only pickups. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but there’s some truth to it I think.

  16. Alex Ford I have paid my deposit for a new C8, but I refuse to be ripped off by paying extreme prices for something like a car with a sticker price of half that. Could I do it? Yes. Will I do it? No way. There are suckers born every day, but I am not one of them. It just recently came out that Chevrolet is going to start cutting allocations for numbers of days on the lot a car sits at their dealerships, so they know this is a problem.

  17. AFTER THE AMERICAN USED THEIR MONEY TO BAIL GM OUT OF GOING BANKRUPT THIS IS THE THANKS WE GET BUY SELL THEIR CAR TO US FOR OVER STICKER !!!! THANKS GM !!!

  18. I hear all of you shooting down G M .Well I am here to say that it is all in the Dealer that you put your MONEY with. I have to say that the Dealer that I used was and still the most HONIST that I could find. They would not ask what Down Payment do you want to put down They would sell you a car and when it came in they will make it a very special Day for YOU.So I say find this Dealer that will sell YOU the car you want and they will sell it to you and not mark up the SRP and give you the treatment YOU Deserve for being that Customer who stands by his Dealership along with the Salesperson that treats you like a special Friend that they are.I ordered my C8 and got it in 8 Months and was treated like I was #1 and not who are you yhanks to my Central OHIO Dealership that I will always go to for anything I want or need.

  19. Wow, sure hope GM gets it’s shit together. Really a Bronco??? One of the ugliest suv’s out there.

  20. Put a deposit on a C-8 Sept 2019
    Still haven’t seen the car ! They claim all that was mentioned plus the car was special order lots of extras . Dealer sitting on my substantial deposit for years ! I want my money back with basic interest at least
    The owner of the dealership is driving one
    Go figure??

  21. The entire process for building, buying and taking delivery of a new Corvette ……. is broken! Blame it on whomever you’d like. The fact is the process doesn’t work! Go online and build one; pick your 3 Dealers and then learn what really happens. It’s a joke!

  22. I put my name on the list in Nov 2019 and a deposit of $3000 with this one Houston dealer. I am still waiting for my name on the list to come up to even order the car. Not real happy with this dealer.

Comments are closed.