It looks like people are going to have to wait a little bit longer to get their C8 Corvette due to the ongoing UAW strike.
We’re heading into our fourth week of strike action after the United Auto Workers union walked off the job on September 16th. This has caused production to grind to a near standstill at most GM facilities in America along with many of GM’s suppliers.
Workers are starting to feel the pinch as strike pay doesn’t nearly make up for the loss of an actual paycheque. Sadly, GM and UAW seem to be far apart on issues such as temporary workers and profit-sharing, with no end to the strike in sight.
It’s probably not a huge surprise, but with most of their staff on picket lines, GM is having trouble keeping to their schedule for the upcoming 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. This means that production won’t begin later this year as planned and deliveries likely won’t arrive early next year, either.
Two sources within GM told the Detroit Free Press that production plans at Bowling Green Assembly plant in Kentucky have definitely been negatively affected by the strike. In fact, C7 production is still ongoing as GM is still fulfilling orders from earlier this year. Without their full staff, however, GM’s non-union workers are not able to produce C7s fast enough to get orders completed in time for the plant to be overhauled for production of the C8.
GM responded to Freep to deny the report. According to a GM spokesperson, "Chevrolet Corvette Stingray production begins in late 2019 and convertible production follows in late first-quarter 2020. It’s too early to speculate on production timing impacts on any of our vehicles due to the UAW work stoppage."
However, those GM sources disagree and state that production has already been negatively affected. It will be difficult for GM to get the C8 Corvette out on time, and with the strike still with no end in sight, it’s hard to say just when C8 production will actually begin.