Contrary to what Motor Trend magazine reported and Executive Vice President and President, GM The Americas announced at the official 2021 Suburban and Tahoe reveal a couple days ago, the 2020 Corvette model year IS NOT SOLD OUT.
It amazes me how the automotive media will take a comment from someone, and whore it out without taking the time to research all the facts. Considering that TEN Publishing, the publisher of Motor Trend magazine, announced three days ago that they are discontinuing 19 automotive magazines, I’m not surprised that Motor Trend is whoring the streets for click-bait.
There are Chevrolet dealerships out there that still have open allocation for 2020 orders. As of this writing, GM has NOT sent official word to Chevrolet dealerships to stop taking 2020 Corvette orders, and start taking 2021 Corvette orders.
The 2020 Corvette production timeline *was* negatively impacted by the UAW strike and as a result, official production will not start until the first week of February. However, GM has made no official announcement to its dealers when 2020 Corvette production will officially end.
GM’s plan has been to build 40,000 Corvettes for the 2020 model year. I’ve read comments from some “experts” online that the UAW strike has severely impacted GM’s plan to the point that the 40,000 number won’t be met. As we reported last month, once 2020 Corvette production ramps up at the Bowling Green Corvette Assembly Plant, the plan is to build 250 Corvettes per day. Doing some rough calculations starting with February and assuming the plant will be producing 2020 Corvettes on a 6-day work schedule, approximately 38,000 Corvettes could potentially be built by the end of July.
There is absolutely nothing stopping GM from extending the 2020 Corvette model year into August to reach that 40,000 mark.
This isn’t the first time a GM representative has announced that the 2020 Corvette model year is sold out. On July 29th, GM Design Chief, Michael Simcoe told the media that 2020 C8 Corvette orders were either full, or close to being sold out. The car was officially unveiled just two weeks earlier.
MacMulkin Chevrolet of Nashua, NH is the second largest Corvette dealer in the world and has PLENTY of allocation left for the 2020 Corvette model year. If you want to place an order for a 2020 Corvette and don’t want to wait till 2021, contact their Corvette Team with the model and options you’re looking for and they’ll be happy to help you out.
It’s unfortunate that some GM reps make announcements like this without taking all of the factors into consideration. When your dealership network still has plenty of open allocation, and you prematurely state that a model year is sold out, potential customers could decide not to place an order because they don’t want to wait until the next model year. GM is usually very particular about what they say to the automotive media. It seems to me that a few people in Detroit need to be more careful with what they say before potentially shooting themselves in the foot.
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