C7’s Inventory Shrinking

[John]

Only 7,045 left! Thanks to einventorynow.com*, we have learned that the number of unsold 2019 C7’s is down to 7,045, with another month elapsing bringing second, progressive month’s reduction of 1,000 unsold units on dealer lots. That current equates to a 98 day supply of unsold C7’s!



This figure does not count unsold 2018’s. However, this is now a very small number, currently estimated at approximately just 200 units.

With around 1,900 units per month being produced at BGA, with the upcoming two week around-July 4th typical summer shutdown and the expected around two month, fall BGA conversion from C7 to C8 production (rumored to occur in October and November by one automedia), that means 10 weeks of non-production of C7 before a single C8 is produced — ergo a further erosion of roughly 4,750 C7’s being purchased during those two BGA shut down periods. The typical time before one generation’s production ends and next generations’ Corvettes start arriving at dealers is four months or much longer (Source: Mike Furman).

Leaving, if all the assumptions are true and hold true, that the number of unsold C7’s by the start of C8 production would be down to just under 2,500 units — a very manageable 35 days supply. With the excepted C8 price increase, and with it becoming official in just one month that there will be no more manual transmission Corvettes made and well as no more software convertibles either being made, those two groups of C7’s should sell out especially pretty quickly after 7.18.19.

This is the last chance to order your C7 manual coupe is just around the corner, as both C7 convertible orders and all ZR1 orders being shut down already

Thus, it is looking now that General Motors has the unsold supply of C7’s darn well figured out as it transitions to C8 production by the end of this year.


*Thank you very much einventorynow..com: http://www.einventorynow.com/13.html

[JB]

Last year 18k c7 s sold...

7000 units left...

with two week production left...

5 months of sales after the production shuts down shortly...

sounds like delivery will begin in september.october.

just a guess on my part.

[John]

If I might be candid, C7 production is not ending until August (maybe later than that), then there is an estimated 6-10 weeks of a BGA total plant shut down to convert to the C8 build process, then the slow ramp up (took several months for the C7’s ramp up), then a probable one month QCH of all cars on BGA property before the first one is shipped.

If anyone is emotionally counting on a C8 being delivered this year, sorry but you will be disappointed. Mine could be built the first week of production and I am expecting its arrival on Valentine’s Day.

[C8Driving]

Good news.

[Milliwatt Rob]

I have torn and conflicted emotions. One side of me says I hope the resale value of a Z51 2LT C7 roadster stays high in a market not swamped with C7 cars looking for owners.

The other side says I hope the bottom drops out of the market, so I have a good excuse for holding onto a car that I am perfectly satisfied with.

[meyerweb]

I got a mailer from a Chevy dealer in Virginia Beach a couple of weeks ago saying they had more than 200 C7s in stock. I don't remember the exact number, but it was in the low 200s.

More recently I saw an ad from a nearby dealer advertising new C7s from $43,xxx! That's certainly an LT1 couple, and they may only have one at that price, but still pretty amazing.

[Boomer]

I got a mailer from a Chevy dealer in Virginia Beach a couple of weeks ago

Got that one too. Wonder how they knew I owned a Corvette. Don't think I'll be springing for one of those 7,045. Just put mine in storage for a coupla months while I'm outta town. Like Milliwatt, I may have my C7 for a while. For me it depends on how the C8 goes.

[ZORA 69]

Somehow/ Someway, I feel we will be seeing these C8s as early as late November. And, per the previous post of 43K for a base C7, something ain't right there.

[John]

The reveal of the C7 was 1.13.13. The first customer car was delivered on 9.20.13 — nine months and one week later.

If that same timeline were to hold true, the first customer C8 would be delivered on April 25th. I totally doubt that it would take that long, but for all who think that GM was slow-motioning the delivery of the first C7’s after its reveal, that was 100% not the case; in fact GM was doing everything then it could possibly do to deliver the first customer C7 as soon as possible.

Having worked in the auto industry, candidly it is close to a miracle that 5,000 brand new parts can be made into a functional vehicle, let alone a Corvette caliper sports car. And that takes months and months and months and months of time.

We are not going to see the first C8 in customer hands until calendar year 2020.

[MikeC8]

Thanks John and that’s the way it is 6/21/19. Facts are facts. I’m prepared to wait until GM gets it right the first time. Got my C7 on 10/4/13 and the ordering and the wait was exciting for sure.

The call and text of the car being unloaded was priceless. The first car delivered to the dealership. They wanted to keep it another day. I said NO WAY please get it into service ASAP. The drive and the anticipation over to the dealership was amazing. Heck I traded in my car 3 months earlier so that was taken care of. Now just a quick inspection and complete the paperwork ( MSRP - GM card cash back )
Now off into the sunset I went. The first drive home was truly amazing.

Went to a car show ( first Friday of the month event ) that evening with a big turnout.
Talk about a car turning heads . That lasted for over a year ...no really over a year.

[Milliwatt Rob]

So lets assume that the first deliveries can be expected in late April, but somehow GM gets its act together and cars start showing up at dealers in January or February.

For those of us in icebox northern climates, what are you going to do with your shiny new C8 on summer tires, when it is minus 10F outside, the roads are covered in snow, sand, salt and corrosives, and you have to drive your car from the dealer to your garage, where it is going to sit until Easter anyway?

For you warm climate folks, it makes a difference, I guess. But up here, we don't put our Corvettes on the road until Easter.

[MikeC8]

So lets assume that the first deliveries can be expected in late April, but somehow GM gets its act together and cars start showing up at dealers in January or February.

For those of us in icebox northern climates, what are you going to do with your shiny new C8 on summer tires, when it is minus 10F outside, the roads are covered in snow, sand, salt and corrosives, and you have to drive your car from the dealer to your garage, where it is going to sit until Easter anyway?

For you warm climate folks, it makes a difference, I guess. But up here, we don't put our Corvettes on the road until Easter.

Plus those tire sidewalls will crack in those temperatures. I know that was a problem a few years ago with summer only tires. GM replaced a lot of those tires if my memory serves me right.

[John]

There were some replaced due to cracked tires, primarily due to a bunch of new C7’s sitting for five days in the CSX rail-yard in Toledo, OH, while waiting to be boarded on a train for further transport, with the weather being between 0-10 F degrees every one of those six or seven days. Also, there was one of a person who parked his car with its warm tires in -20 degrees F, and when it then melted into the ice, then the ice re-froze overnight, and that C7 had cracks on all four tires.

At the same time, putting this cracked tire issue into perspective, I asked Mike Furman, who has sold over 1,750 C7’s, “how many of your customers have had a cracked tire,” his response was “not one tire that I know of.”

Guessing further that the C8, as it has the new Michelin PS4S tires, that Michelin (who paid part or all of the cracked tire replacements) has probably modified the new tire to further reduce tire cracking susceptibility except under severe weather circumstances.