- the detroit free press reported today, citing "people familiar with gm's production plans," that the start of production for the 2020 mid-engine chevy corvette is going to be delayed.
- the paper said the united auto workers' strike against general motors, now in its fourth week, is the reason.
- however, a general motors spokesman told c/d that it is "too early to speculate on potential production timing impacts" of the strike on "any of our vehicles," including the corvette.
the united auto workers' strike against general motors is affecting a high-profile product, the long-awaited mid-engine chevrolet corvette. citing inside information from unnamed sources, the detroit free press said today that production is going to be delayed because of the strike.
general motors, through a spokesman, reiterated to c/d that corvette production is scheduled to begin later this year, with corvette convertible production starting toward the end of the first quarter of 2020 and said: "it's too early to speculate on potential production timing impacts on any of our vehicles due to the uaw work stoppage."
the bowling green, kentucky, assembly plant where the corvette is built had been scheduled to start production of the 2020 corvette in late 2019 but must complete existing orders for the c7 corvette before retooling the plant to start on the new model. the paper quoted an unnamed source familiar with bowling green operations as saying, "i know for a fact that this strike is directly going to affect the start of regular production" for the new model.
uaw workers went out on strike at 11:59 p.m. on september 15. although the two sides have made attempts, talks have "taken a turn for the worse" in the past few days, the uaw said in a statement quoted by the new york times.