What’s Happening Within BGA Right Now?

[John]

We do not have any information about what is happening in regards to the potential, future, next generation Corvette within BGA at this time. However, the Powertrain Build Center (PBC) within the Plant is now being expanded for more engine assembly. Whether that is because of what we learned about Cadillac engines being assembled with PBC or other reasons is not known.

We first learned about the future expansion of the PBC from jagamajajaran (thank you Jag) about four months ago, but we just now learned from others that that expansion is currently underway. How fortunate that while some of GM’s engine plants are being downsized, that BGA’s engine build area is significantly growing.

The area being used for the PBC expansion, the area being gobbled up for that construction, is what used to be the old paint shop. Some have been thinking that that old paint shop square footage would have been the ideal location for a second assembly line, especially as the old paint shop‘s 250,000 square foot area was, purely coincidentally, identically the same 250,000 square footage as was Cadillac XLR’s 2003-2009 assembly area. However, the above confirmed significant PBC massive expansion, precludes the old paint shop being used for an extra assembly line.



The past 1 1/2 years we unfortunately have not been allowed into the entire BGA area that we used to visit on public tours, and additionally now the last six months also been excluded from the separate-entrance PBC; however, in the meanwhile, Bowling Green assembly continues to refine, change and improve its production efficiencies and capabilities for current, and maybe for future operations.

For those wanting to video visit within BGA, showing its current operations within the plant since the fall, 2017 thirteen (13) week closure, we do have this excellent video compiled by jagamajajaran.

However and completely separately, it needs to be again stated that right now we have zero knowledge of anything occurring within BGA that is directly related to a potential, upcoming, next generation Corvette.

As to when BGA will be open for public tours, we do not yet have any factual information.

[meyerweb]

I seem to recall reading that a Cadillac engine was going to be built in the PBC alongside the Corvette's. Yeah, here we go:

https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2018...ng-greens-pbc/

The Performance Build Center inside the Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green will soon be producing a new hand-built V8 engine, but don’t go thinking that it’s for the next generation Mid-Engine C8 Corvette just yet.

This week Cadillac announced their CT6 V-Sport Sedan which will feature the brand’s first-ever twin-turbo V8 engine. The engine will come with two different power options: a 550 horsepower version with 627 lb-ft of torque and an optional 500 horsepower V8 with 553 lb-ft of torque for non V-Sport models. At the heart of the design is a “hot V” configuration which transposes the conventional layout of the cylinder heads’ intake and exhaust system and sees the turbochargers mounted at the top of the engine within the valley between the heads. The “hot V” design is said to virtually eliminate turbo lag and reduce the engine’s size for better packaging.

The rumors about the mid-engine C8 Corvette over the last few months have included various engine options that specify a 4.2 liter V8 as well as the LT1 6.2 liter naturally aspirated engine found in the current Stingrays and Grand Sports. A third engine, sized at 5.5 liters and producing as much as 850 hp was also listed in a market analysis document from IHS Markit (and discussed at the Corvette Forum) which details manufacturer engine production through 2024.

Further “evidence” that this new engine from Cadillac will be shared with the C8 program is the fact that they will be hand assembled at the Performance Build Center in Bowling Green, with the number of hand-built engines estimated to be around 3,000 per year. However, this contradicts the IHS Markit study which listed the 4.2 liter twin turbo as being assembled at the Tonawanda Powertrain Plant outside of Buffalo.

One of the biggest reasons to doubt that this particular engine will find its way to the C8 are those CAD drawings which were posted on the Corvette Forum late last year. The CAD drawings seem to contradict a hot V configuration as well with images that show an naturally aspirated 6.2 liter and a twin-turbo design where the turbos are located low and outside of the engine block.

The new engines from Cadillac are said to be a “brand-exclusive” but that doesn’t mean that a motor from this new “family” could be made available for the ME Corvette. Make the changes required for performance and packaging into a mid-engine configuration and there’s your “exclusive” 4.2 liter engine for the Corvette.

I do want to sound off though on one of the “features” of the new Cadillac engine that I absolutely despise: Start/Stop Technology. Tadge has surveyed an audience a time or two while I’ve been in attendance and nobody wants that on a Corvette. There is something disconcerting about sitting at a red light and the car just shuts off leaving the occupants in an unnatural silence. Tadge never said never (so there is still a chance as engineers rarely have the final say when it comes to MPG ratings), but I think he knows how Corvette owners feel about Start/Stop Technology.

[John]

Thank you meyerweb for adding cogent information into this thread. We also learned that BGA hired extra workers to exclusively build Cadillac engines withi PBC. I believe I read that six engine assembly specialists were specifically employed for that purpose.

[Plasboy]

Shure will be something to see when it opens up! I was hoping it would be open by the bash but don’t think that is realistic.

[C8Driving]

Thanks jagamajajaran for your video. That is all we are going to see of the inside of the plant for a long time I am thinking. I think I have watched the video about four times, or is it five. It is reassuring news that GM is investing more money in the plant at this time, expanding the PBC. It was also reassuring to see on that official public GM document earlier this month, that GM is going to add employees to BGA.

Puts the paranoia to sleep that was elsewhere expressed by some, the doom and gloom of bad things happening at the plant because it is only 27% utilized. IMO, that was rubbish. We knew it was nonsense because GM has already invested in just the last three years $900,000,000 into BGA.

[MidEngine]

The PBC is now being expanded. That is old but really good news. With some GM engine plants now or soon being downsized, the engine built area within the Corvette plant is being made larger. That is great news for our Corvettes even if the Blackwing motors being assembled in Bowling Green are now for Cadillacs.

Most think that the current Cadillac Blackwing 4.2L motor in one of its versions will go into future Corvette ME’s.