chevrolet announced it has paused production of its corvette sports car for the week of december 13 to repair damages caused by a fire that broke out at its bowling green, kentucky, assembly plant on saturday.
the fire was caused by one of several tornadoes that swept through six states in the u.s. south and midwest over the weekend. the storms have been responsible for killing over 90 people and in some cases, leveling entire towns. the fire "has caused damage to the facility, including the roof and an employee entrance," gm said in a statement to automotive news. "the small number of employees that were onsite are all safe. maintaining a safe work environment for plant employees is our top priority."
a flyover of the facility performed by channel 5 news nashville and published to facebook on saturday shows what looks to be significant damage to ncm motorsports park, the road course adjacent to the assembly plant. in one instance we can see what looks to be a storage facility for newly built c8s that's had its roof entirely ripped off.
the plant will be idled the entire week, with first and second shifts canceled so teams can bring the facility back up to standard. production is expected to restart on december 20, though gm has yet to confirm whether that's actually the case.
this isn't the first time we've seen c8 production stopped. the factory has paused several times in the past due to covid-19-related concerns and supply shortages.
from: road & track