GM spending $131 million to upgrade Corvette plant

General Motors spending $131 million to upgrade Corvette plant

The Bowling Green assembly plant will build the current Chevrolet Corvette for the 2012 and 2013 model years.

By DALE JEWETT on 5/04/2011

General Motors is spending $131 million on its Bowling Green, Ky., assembly plant to prepare it to build the next-generation Corvette.

The plant will spend the money on manufacturing equipment, specialized tooling and plant updates, said Mark Reuss, GM's president of North America.

The plant will add about 250 jobs, which will boost its workforce by about 50 percent, to about 750 workers.

The Bowling Green plant will continue to build the current-generation car, known as the C6, for the 2012 and 2013 model years. The next-generation Corvette, known as the C7, is expected to debut for the 2014 model year.

GM spent about $39 million on the plant when it changed over to the C6 Corvette in 2005--about one-third the amount it is spending for the changeover to the C7.

Reuss did not disclose any details on the new Corvette.

"Each generation of the Corvette must improve on the last, and I can tell you that the next-generation Corvette will thrill sports-car drivers," he said.

The Bowling Green plant has built the fiberglass-bodied Corvette since 1981, when production was moved from St. Louis, Mo. In 2010, the plant built 15,791 cars.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011050 ... /110509943

May 3, 2011, 9:20 AM ET.

General Motors Gives Corvette A Pricey Upgrade.

By Sharon Terlep

Despite relatively low sales volume, speedy Corvette sports cars like these racing models play an important role in boosting General Motors’ image.Much has changed at General Motors Co. in recent years. The auto maker’s Corvette infatuation isn’t one of them.

GM on Wednesday plans to announce it will spend $100 million to upgrade a Bowling Green, Ky., factory that builds the iconic Chevy, according to people familiar with the situation.

The investment comes as the U.S. auto industry scrambles to meet demand for practical, gas-sipping cars amid soaring fuel prices. But GM isn’t backing off the Corvette, another small sign the auto maker’s penny-pitching days are behind it.

The improvements are to be completed in time to build the next generation of Corvettes, not expected until around 2013. They cement Corvette’s place in GM’s lineup – never really in doubt — and secure Bowling Green’s status as the only town to lay claim to the roadster GM started making in the 1950s.

GM expects to sell 15,000 to 20,000 Corvettes this year, less than one percent of the company’s U.S. sales.

But the Corvette has never been about volume for GM. Rather, the line has the among the highest price tags in GM’s lineup – the 2011 ZR1 is the only GM vehicle that sells for more than $100,000 – and is one of the few high-end, Detroit-made cars that competes seriously with its European rivals. At the Bowling Green plant, which employs about 500, some of the work is done by hand rather than machine and customers often pay a few hundred dollars extra to come and watch their car roll off the line.

Meanwhile, not just the factory is getting a refresh. Separately, GM says it will update the Corvette for the 2012 model year. Changes to the new models include a racing-style spoiler, seats with larger bolsters, an upgraded stereo system (nine speakers up from seven) and new options that include new racing tires and a carbon fiber hood. Many of the enhancements are for the high-performance models, but some apply to base-model Corvettes.

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2011/ ... y-upgrade/

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I keep wishing they would come down in price, so I can own one to take to the track. :D