Rob Loszewski
Last week, we posted that the Bowling Green Corvette Assembly Plant would be shut down this week due to supplier issues, and would re-open this coming Monday, October, 19th.
According to our sources, an employee of one of the main parts suppliers for the 2020 Corvette tested positive for COVID-19.
As a result, that supplier had to shut down for two weeks, thus halting production of that part vital for 2020 Corvette production.
I don’t normally post editorials here at the Corvette Action Center, but I felt it necessary to mention this given some of the negative remarks I’ve read lately over social media toward GM and the 2020 Corvette in general. Here’s one example:
“Once again. it stops and another GM story…this going to go down in history as the worst start up of any car…. and maybe the end of GM. [Anyone] out there , Maybe Mr. Tesla could buy the brand and make it correctly …..like An American sports car… pathetic. People are buying these to resell them, whats that say.
I have seen videos of fires, accidents, Vettes running into traffic and hear stories of all sorts of problems with electrical. It’s not even on the road for a year. and they keep stopping. Why don’t they [let] some else else do this. Redegins the car,,,my opinion , make it correctly and then release these another day/ Sometimes if you can’t do something correctly, you should call it a day. They will be collectable for the wrong reasons.
It is hard to imagine all the time an money that was put into this to have it turn out a complete mess. How sad. I love Corvettes, grew up with them in 1963- fr ward. Drove many, faced a few and loved them all…..the car had a meaning, a look, a feeling to drive. That has all been lost. I look like Ferrari that mg ht be a kit car from the 1970s. A car that has no place in the life of 2020. Gm failure. I feel sorry for the people who actually makes them…..”
Regardless of what some people may think, the COVID-19 pandemic is real, and it’s serious. We’ve been dealing with it now since March and unless you live under a rock, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand how the seriousness of the situation could trickle down to automotive manufacturing. Not just as it relates to the Corvette.
If you really want an idea of how this pandemic has affected and continues to affect the automotive industry, I invite you to read: Auto Sector Amid COVID-19.
2020 Corvette Production – Truth in Reality
The recall notices that have come out recently have NOT been a result of the design or the engineering of the 2020 Corvette. They’ve been a result of supplier issues for parts coming into the Bowling Green Corvette Assembly plant.
If there’s a UAW strike and the workers refuse to show up for work, production is halted. You can’t build a car without workers.
Todd Haylett, facilities manager, has his temperature measured by George Sylvester, manufacturing engineering manager, at the General Motors assembly plant in Spring Hill on May 11. Photo: Courtesy of GM
If a main supplier has an employee that tests positive for COVID-19, that supplier has to shut down and all of its employees quarantine for two weeks.
If you don’t have a part for car production, you can’t build the car.
Is it frustrating as hell to the customers that have been waiting for their 2020 Corvette for a year now? Hell yes. Is it GM’s fault or a result of poor design and engineering of the Corvette? Absolutely not.
Some of the armchair quarterbacks out there should consider applying for a job at GM so that they can contribute their vast wealth of knowledge and experience in automotive design, engineering and manufacturing, rather than just sitting there and talking smack about something they know little to nothing about.
I’ll step off my soapbox now…
Chime in with your thoughts in the forums!
