Corvette Assembly Plant Reduces Production to One Shift Amid Supply Chain Issues

By
Keith Cornett
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9
11428

Corvette Assembly Plant Reduces Production to One Shift Amid Supply Chain Issues

Photo Credit: Keith Cornett


After a long run in being able to operate without disruption, the Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green is once again being forced to limit the production of the C8 Corvette Stingray due to supply chain issues.

The parts supply issues began showing up in the final daily tallies of Corvettes produced last week with only 68 cars produced on Wednesday, October 20th and 0 Corvettes produced on Friday, October 22nd. This week, the assembly plant has only been operating during the first shift while the second shift has been temporarily halted.

We reached out to the assembly plant and received this statement from Rachel Bagshaw, BGAP Communications:

We can confirm that Bowling Green Assembly is not running second shift production this week October 25 or next week November 1 due to a temporary parts supply issue. Although we are not providing specifics regarding the material shortage, we can say it is not related to the global semiconductor chip issue.

Importantly, GM’s supply chain, manufacturing and engineering teams are working closely with our supply base to mitigate any further impact on production. We expect the plant to resume normal operations on Monday, November 8.

The Corvette Assembly Plant, like other GM facilities, has been operating under very thin time constraints with some parts arriving “just in time” for them to be used in production. Although Rachel tells us the current issue isn’t related to semiconductor chips, it looks like we might be seeing an impact from that perspective in the next few weeks.

We came across this thread on the Corvette Forum by member John58 confirming the two-week shut down for the 2nd shift and also saying that BGAP may run out of ECM’s for both the heated seats and heated steering wheels sometime in mid-November. He adds that impacted cars will be shipped to dealers to avoid production and delivery delays and customers will have those ECMs retrofitted by their dealers once the parts are available. He says this will be outlined in an upcoming service bulletin:

Mid-November…still very fluid of the actual timing of the parts shortages, GM BGA will run out of ECM’s for both the heated seats and heated steering wheel.

GM BGA will continue production at the Two Shift / 180 Vehicles per day rate during these parts shortages and will have these vehicles that have been impacted shipped to the dealers for retrofitting the required missing ECM’s, this will avoid the reduction in production and allow the customer to receive their vehicles with least amount of impact to their schedule build dates.

CorvetteBlogger reached out to several GM sources and while they refused to confirm any future speculation of parts shortages, we were told that conditions on the ground are changing minute by minute. It’s very possible that Corvette production could still be spared by any future disruptions so don’t go all gloom and doom on Chevy just yet!

The last time the assembly plant was completely shuttered was at the end of May and the first week of June. Since then the plant has enjoyed 22 weeks of uninterrupted production of the C8 Corvette.

So far, just over 5,500 Corvettes have been produced for the 2022 model year which started in early September.


Source:
CorvetteForum.com

Related:
[VIDEO] 2022 Corvette Allocation and Ordering Update for September
General Motors to Idle Most US Assembly Plants Due to Chip Shortage
The Corvette Assembly Plant Has Reopened Today After Two-Week Shutdown

 



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9 COMMENTS

  1. Things will get very interesting at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant in the next few weeks with this shortage. Especially after the introduction of the Z06 and the continued demand for the standard C8.

  6. Hear that key-clicking sound? It’s GM management once again anxiously logging on to Corvetteblogger to search the comments for Kevin Williams’ pep talks/ words of wisdom. Man, that guy always has something upbeat and inspiring to say!

  9. Not to worry, folks…

    GM has made absolutely sure that EVERY YouTube auto “influencer” got their 2022 C8s ahead of every paying customer in exchange for positive reviews!!!

    But seriously. This supply excuse is getting old. Maybe import-heavy products might be in a pickle, but Tesla of all companies don’t seem to have any issues with their products, neither does Honda, BMW, MB, Toyota, etc. A colleague of mine just picked up his 2022 Supra GR…some five weeks after he placed his order.

    GM needs to solve the problem, plain and simple. Or people are going to walk away. Not fair to the customers wanting to buy nor is it fair to the dealers trying to complete a sale.

    The nice shiny curvy new FPC screamer won’t sell if the manufacturer can’t even keep up on the more “basic” offerings. Change my Mind.

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