Recent Production Numbers

[Rich G.]

This surprised me. Corvette production from the 2007 MY was a bit over 40,000. For the 2010 MY it was a bit over 12,000!

Somebody on CF posted the 2010 numbers and because I have a 2007 and remembered those numbers, I thought the CF guy was off, but what I can find on the web confirms his numbers. Big reduction!

Rich

[Gary B.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

Up unil a month ago it was only about 6700.

[Terry M.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

2009 total was 16,956.

For all the recent production:

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/c6/2009/index.html

[Rich G.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

The guy on CF pointed out that his white ZO6 was one of only 184 in 2010. Instant rare car!

I wonder how many jobs were lost in BG? Clearly a ton were lost through the closing of dealerships, including where I bought my ZO6.

Rich

[Clem Z.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

i wonder how long corvette can survive at that low number of production. the no leasing of corvettes killed the new market and it killed the used market because those leased corvettes were dumped on the market because the leasers could not afford to refinance to keep the corvettes. i heard numbers of 40% of the corvette sale were leases

[Duke W.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

Sports/specialty cars are discretionary purchases, and people are either not buying or substituting more practical vehicles.

Corvette sales dropped to less than half their level earlier in the decade following the financial crisis as people concentrated on improving their balance sheets.

C6 tooling is likely fully amortized, so as long as Corvette revenue exceeds the cost of the components/parts and running the plant, the current model will probably stay in production.

Corvette sales will probably return to previous levels when the unemployment rate falls to five percent, which means - don't hold your breathe.

As the onerous 2016 fuel economy standards approach, GM will have to decide whether to design a new Corvette that gets better fuel economy or keep the current model until its sales drop to a point where the cost of keeping the plant running exceeds revenue.

My guess, given the huge investment that GM will have to make to improve the fuel economy of bread-and-butter models, is that they won't make the investment at current sales volume, so the Corvette will die before the end of the decade.

It reminds me of what happened to Toyota. They had a huge display at the LA auto show this year. As I walked through it I remarked to my buddy: This is a vast wasteland - nothing but boring sedans and trucks.

They used to build some pretty neat and affordable sports and specialty cars (MR2, Supra, Celica), but no more!

Duke

[George J.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

Duke,
I was talking with Ackerson at the end of October and my father and I were telling him how much we were "into" Corvettes, etc. You should have seen how excited he was about the 2012 Corvette. He was like one of us. I left the conversation with the impression that he was very impressed and totally behind the Corvette.

George
31887

[Michael D.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

...I wonder how many jobs were lost in BG?...

Local/state news said no one was laid off, but the plant was closed two weeks out of every month for the final few months of production, essentially running on only half capacity.

[Clem Z.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

Local/state news said no one was laid off, but the plant was closed two weeks out of every month for the final few months of production, essentially running on only half capacity.

it is mostly open the week that there is a event at the NCM so the people coming to the museum can do a factory tour.

[Walter G.]

Re: Recent Production Numbers

There is a lot of discussion/speculation on the future of the C7 on the Corvette Forum. I initiated one of the threads after the November sales numbers of less than 1,000 were announced. Many of the comments are similar to what has been posted here. I agree it will be hard to justify keeping the car in production with such a drop in numbers. The annual price increases, followed by deep discounting, have hurt the resale on both C5/C6 cars so those of us who used to trade up every 3-4 years are hanging on to them. There are no significant styling or performance changes within the generation except for the 'Z' models, which are not the volume leaders. The Grand Sport has seemingly stolen sales from the Z06 with its' similar styling at a lower price. Rumors abound regarding the C7 as a '13-'14 model, but nothing official that I know of...