The ordering nightmare for the new Corvette ZR1 continues.
The C8 ZR1 era has hardly started, and already the automaker has had multiple issues in building the newest American supercar. The issues first started when GM opened ordering but offered zero availability of its carbon fiber aero package which resulted in all ZR1 orders getting pulled back and then eventually pushed back to 3000 status. Now the biggest problem isn’t with the car…it’s the calendar.
Last week we posted that Chevy is running out of time to build all the 2025 Corvette ZR1 orders that had been accepted back in April. A total of 310 ZR1 orders are showing in the order system and they started building them the week of April 28th. However, since assembly started, to date only 65 have been completed and time is running out to complete them all before the model year changeover happens on Monday, August 4th.
Complicating the build timing is a two-week summer closure for the plant surrounding the 4th of July holiday. Following Friday’s production, plant operations won’t return until Monday, July 14th. When the plant’s workers do return, there will be just 15 days left to build the remaining cars.
With time running out, GM emailed dealers with outstanding ZR1 orders late Friday to let them know they cannot commit to building all 310 Corvette ZR1s in the order system. Any 2025 ZR1 order that is still at 3000 Status or less will need to be resubmitted as a 2026 model year order. Unfortunately for those buyers, the new 2026 models come with a higher MSRP and destination charges. The 2026 pricing that was revealed on Friday shows the 2026 ZR1 priced at $7200 higher than the 2025s based on the higher MSRP and the destination charge going up by another $100 to $1,995.
Looking over Roger Kiel’s excellent C8 Corvette Production Tracker, we see that the cadence for ZR1 production is still in its “ramp up” with the plant building at 2-3 ZR1s daily. If that tempo continues when the plant reopens, we are looking at just around 100 ZR1s built for the 2025 model year.
Of course, these 2025 customers that just had their orders kicked back to them are now in limbo with how to proceed. GM has had just one order cycle for the 2026 model year and the ZR1 wasn’t allocated during this first go-around. It appears that these jilted customers will have to wait until the next order cycle and that’s only if ZR1 allocations are granted.
Some are saying (only those who already got a 2025 lol) that this decision will make the 2025 ZR1 a very rare bird and therefore more valuable than the 2026s. Sorry, we don’t prescribe to that theory at all as we believe people will eventually want the new interior, especially with the three-screen layout and new center IP. Maybe in 25 years might they be valued higher, but even then I doubt they will be worth more that the 2026 with the revised interior.
We are also seeing about buyers asking for price protection on their ZR1 orders and that reminded us of how GM got into a similar pickle with the 2021 Corvettes which had an immediate price increase instituted during the middle of the 2021 model year. GM promised price protection on all orders 1100 or higher, and it ended up being a nightmare as the new prices were charged and dealers were supposed to rebate the difference. We remember the confusion that was experienced by both customers and dealers for the remainder of the model year due to having price protection. However, because we are rolling into a new model year, we don’t believe GM will offer similar price protection to the ZR1.
If you are one of those who had an existing 2025 ZR1 order which has since been bounced to 2026, we are hoping for the best on your orders. Dealers will now have to juggle their lists once again and we remind those to be patient with their dealers through this process as they are probably as much as in the dark about the resubmission process as you are.
Source:
Chevrolet.com
Related:
Chevy is Running Out of Time to Build All 310 Launch Edition 2025 ZR1s Before the End of the Model Year
[VIDEO] First 2025 Corvette ZR1 Hits the Dyno and the Numbers are Crazy!
Corvette Prices are Going Up as Chevrolet has Released 2026 Model Year Pricing
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I would suspect that some ZR1 customers are OK with this, since they’ll get the new interior with their 2025 ZR1.
What a joke typical GM !!! DONT FORGET TO LET YOUR DEALERS TO CHARGE OVER STICKER TOO !!!!
Ha ha! Loving my Z06 M7 more and more!!! But I do have tears for the folks getting screwed by the order process.
The way some people complain about the old C8 interior makes you think it made those cars undriveable. The interior change was actually pretty superficial. The problem with the “wall” was not solved with an open grab handle that is just as intrusive. Is the interior configuration really a deal breaker when a customer is offered the chance to buy a C8 ZR1? New or old interior, I wouldn’t care a whit.
The price increase for a 2026 of course is unwelcome. But in this exclusive market segment, that’s also not really a deal breaker. Another year of interest in a CD helps soften the blow…
Will potential buyers drop out of the several years-long waiting lines at the dealership? Hope so. Then I can get my fantastic C8 ZR1 sooner.
There are 6 months left in 2025. Why is GM in such a rush to get cars out. Guess it’s all about price increases and getting the depreciation cycle going sooner on all the other models.
This was always going to happen. ZR1 was always rumored to be a 2026 thing, and GM was speeding when they debuted it for 2025. Same way that ZR1X will never be a thing before 2027. GM has been OPUD so long that they don’t know how to actually meet demand. They could have had zero press releases about the ZR1 and kept everything a complete secret until the allocations mysteriously dropped for dealerships. And they still couldn’t have kept up with supplying their own allocations.
I still have my eye out for 2028, but even with money in hand, and asking to be in line–now–I have extreme doubts about grabbing an allocation.
I am really close to dropping my number #2 on the list for the C8 ZR1 because I am losing my patience in the way Chevrolet has handled this. I know, some of you guys will be very happy about that. But I am pretty happy with my C7 ZR1…and C6 Z06. This mismanagement does not breed confidence.
Price protection? If you are a buyer who had 3,000 status on your 2025 ZR-1, you are owed a lot more than that, including a 2025 ZR-1, and all the additional appreciation, uniqueness the 2025 will have. You’ve also got a lawsuit in your favor if you don’t get the 2025 with the wall of buttons interior and smaller, lighter brakes, and unicorn appeal.
Seriously, GM can’t contract with multiple carbon fiber parts suppliers? I’m sure there are many happy to be on stand by should a contracted supplier stumble. If original supplier fails to deliver on contracted supply? You replace them with the new supplier that can. Why is GM putting up with this? Makes them look really bad.
Now if they were rolling this car out, and advancing the status of these cars, knowing they couldn’t fulfill the orders, that’s a whole other level of deceptive business practice behaviour.
Never over promise and under deliver. Those orders where promised to build. And the promise needs to fulfilled
Sounds like no vacation and over time coming.
If you have that much demand, why would you not run a second or third shift to meet the demand. GM has no common sense how to make money.
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