Tweet
Introductory note, that this thread has been majorly changed since it was written two months ago based on updated information.
CAUTION: If you are wanting to get a 2020, and if you have not already done so, you need IMO to get a deposit in for one now. Already we have one of our five forum dealership vendors sold out for their entire year’s allocation, another one getting very close to that, and other top allocation dealers who are writing as many as 75 new C8 orders (getting deposits) even in a single day.
Also, my apologies for the length of this thread, but it helps one person to avoid 2020 ME orders problems (possibility even the failure to get one at all)..., that is why I wrote it.
******
I wrote this thread because based on some past history, compounded now with BGA’s reduced production capacity, I would not be surprised if thousands of 2020 mid engine, C8 orders were not able to be built during the entire production year.
How could this be, especially since it is strongly believed the ME will not be a limited production model?
First, a little recounting of our Corvette history… The first year of the Stingray (2014), BGA had a maximum overtime capacity of producing 37,250 Corvettes. They produced a touch more than that, e.g. 37,288 units. However, 1,150 pre-sold, 2014 customers who placed their orders during 2013 and early 2014 were super disappointed, as GM was not able to build them their 2014 Corvette. These 1,150 Stingrays were later produced for those customers as 2015’s.
Current BGA ability, including max overtime, had been reduced to just 33,000 Corvettes/year, e.g., a 12% reduction in annual Corvette production capacity. (Source: BGA Plant Manager, Kai Spande); however on April 25th, Mary Barra announced that BGA is going to two shifts per day, hiring 400 additional workers to increase BGA capacity.
While GM has not yet shared official numbers, at least 40,000 C8’s will be made during the first twelve months, maybe approaching 50K. However, in spite of that, I still believe that the entire 2020 model year will be sold out with thousands unable to get their Stingray until the following year.
Also, we do not yet have a clue as to when the 2020 Stingray production year will end — not that changing to the 2021 model year would make a difference if supply can not equal demand.
So with all the above, it is, IMO, highly likely that there will not be enough 2020 ME’s to go around to all who want to buy it next year.
So is there anything one can do now to help insure their best chance of getting their 2020 Corvette?
1) First, recognize if you are ME interested, that there is a high probability that GM will initially limit sales only to high volume/high allocation dealers, i.e., GM has always “increase allocation rewarded” those dealers who generate for them the greatest Corvette profits. Or looking at this from the reverse perspective, if you would wait until the reveal, then go to your small, Corvette-selling dealer (with consequent low allocations for the ME), and ask to be on their priority list for the car, they you will be told, by honest dealers, “we only sell a few Corvettes a year, and don’t expect more than a few ME’s next year, if that, and already we have six on our internal, prioritized ME waiting list. —way more than we expect to get in the first model year.” The dishonest ones will lie, tell you they can easily get you one, yet by the end of the 2020 production cycle, you would be now angrily waiting without your getting your 2020 mid engine.
2) What is the biggest reason to not wait? Within 45 days of the reveal of a new generation Corvette, the list of those who have called their dealership and said, “I want one, put me on our new Corvette ordering list,” results in a tripling of that list as compared to the day before that reveal.
Most reputable dealers have a fully refundable deposit guarantee (and will do so any time before they actually match their specific allocation for that week’s consensus with your actual order).
3) Please note the below information provided by Keith [email protected] Scope out top volume dealers; and, I suggest that you consider starting to talk with them right now. However, first, do detailed due diligent research. Do not just call and talk with a salesperson who picks up the phone (who might have started his/her “career” yesterday), accepting their word that “not to worry, we can take care of you.” Talk for example with those who have bought from that dealership recently; and, do internet research in advance (of course not just reading dealership reviews, but reviews of individual salespersons). Also seek out and converse with local Corvette owners in your area.
As one specific example, Mike [email protected] Chevrolet currently has a ME ordering priority list of a little over 200 pre-orders already. He not only has each order in its own folder, time and date stamped, but with his personally selling over 300 Corvettes every year, and his allocation being the same result more, what has one to lose. And, every deposit of his is fully refundable. Criswell’s 2020 Stingray allocation is 600 C8’s.
As another example, contact MacMulkin Chevrolet who is the nation’s second largest dealer, as is another outstanding dealership, Kerbeck Corvette who is the # 1 dealer in the country in sales every year. They too will have massive ME allocation, and are right now taking contact information for those whom they would later contact when they have more specific information.
As will the other of the top year Corvette dealers, Kerbeck, though their allocation could easily be over 100 per month.
Or contact our newest vendor, Uftring in Illinois, for they also, as of my writing this, have 2020 Stingray allocations still needing a customer (but IMO that will end within weeks). They ship nationwide through courtesy delivery programs, also with NCM Museum Delivery, that is another way to buy from them and get your car other than directly at their dealership
Our fifth MECF supporting vendor, Suburban Chevrolet, is long sold out of their entire 2020 C8 allocations (has a waiting list).
Or, alternatively, if you want to buy local, find another dealer near you who not only typically has many Corvettes on their lot, sells a large amount annually and who consequently has a significant, actual, annual allocation. Or, post a thread on this forum, such as, I live in Kansas, want to buy local, anyone have great purchasing experiences for a Corvette from a dealer within 100 miles?” Note please, we have separate threads on National Corvette Museum (NCM) Museum Delivery program and the courtesy delivery program.
What follows is a second, specific caution relating to working with dealers who either had insufficient C7 allocation and/or were not truthful with perspective buyers, and please note that this can and will definitely happen again for the first year of the C8.
During the 2014 year and for the 2015 Z06, when I was the Exec Moderator on another forum, I was contacted by 200 members asking for my help. All had already placed their deposit down with a dealer, had been, to put it bluntly, lied to by their dealers (“sure I can get you your 2014 Stingray, no problem”) — with their consequently not getting their car. I helped them, mid-year transition to a dealer who had allocation. Of course, I never received a referral fee or anything in return -- other than the intense satisfaction of helping them get their Corvette in a timely manner. But if ME demand is proportionally higher, exacerbated by reduced BGA production capacity, mid-year-waiting, and then transferring your order to another dealer, might not be a 2020 option.
There will be two exceptions to the above thesis.
1) We recognize that those who get desperate and choose to pay $10,000 to $25,000+ over list, always manage to get theirs; and,
2) That there are those few lucky ones who walk into a dealer just the right moment, seconds after a customer’s brand new car has arrived at the dealership, but with that customer has not been able to get financing and/or insurance, or had to back out of their purchase due to their just losing their job, divorce, unexpected business financing needs, serious illness, or similar.
Lastly should you wish, please read this related thread which has more “before ordering your Corvette” info:
https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...-your-corvette
Please do something now, do not be late to getting in line to order 2020 Corvette mid engine, later kicking yourself in the butt for waiting too long.
http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2018/...ugh-june-30th/
CAUTION: If you are wanting to get a 2020, and if you have not already done so, you need IMO to get a deposit in for one now. Already we have one of our five forum dealership vendors sold out for their entire year’s allocation, another one getting very close to that, and other top allocation dealers who are writing as many as 75 new C8 orders (getting deposits) even in a single day.
Also, my apologies for the length of this thread, but it helps one person to avoid 2020 ME orders problems (possibility even the failure to get one at all)..., that is why I wrote it.
******
I wrote this thread because based on some past history, compounded now with BGA’s reduced production capacity, I would not be surprised if thousands of 2020 mid engine, C8 orders were not able to be built during the entire production year.
How could this be, especially since it is strongly believed the ME will not be a limited production model?
First, a little recounting of our Corvette history… The first year of the Stingray (2014), BGA had a maximum overtime capacity of producing 37,250 Corvettes. They produced a touch more than that, e.g. 37,288 units. However, 1,150 pre-sold, 2014 customers who placed their orders during 2013 and early 2014 were super disappointed, as GM was not able to build them their 2014 Corvette. These 1,150 Stingrays were later produced for those customers as 2015’s.
Current BGA ability, including max overtime, had been reduced to just 33,000 Corvettes/year, e.g., a 12% reduction in annual Corvette production capacity. (Source: BGA Plant Manager, Kai Spande); however on April 25th, Mary Barra announced that BGA is going to two shifts per day, hiring 400 additional workers to increase BGA capacity.
While GM has not yet shared official numbers, at least 40,000 C8’s will be made during the first twelve months, maybe approaching 50K. However, in spite of that, I still believe that the entire 2020 model year will be sold out with thousands unable to get their Stingray until the following year.
Also, we do not yet have a clue as to when the 2020 Stingray production year will end — not that changing to the 2021 model year would make a difference if supply can not equal demand.
So with all the above, it is, IMO, highly likely that there will not be enough 2020 ME’s to go around to all who want to buy it next year.
So is there anything one can do now to help insure their best chance of getting their 2020 Corvette?
1) First, recognize if you are ME interested, that there is a high probability that GM will initially limit sales only to high volume/high allocation dealers, i.e., GM has always “increase allocation rewarded” those dealers who generate for them the greatest Corvette profits. Or looking at this from the reverse perspective, if you would wait until the reveal, then go to your small, Corvette-selling dealer (with consequent low allocations for the ME), and ask to be on their priority list for the car, they you will be told, by honest dealers, “we only sell a few Corvettes a year, and don’t expect more than a few ME’s next year, if that, and already we have six on our internal, prioritized ME waiting list. —way more than we expect to get in the first model year.” The dishonest ones will lie, tell you they can easily get you one, yet by the end of the 2020 production cycle, you would be now angrily waiting without your getting your 2020 mid engine.
2) What is the biggest reason to not wait? Within 45 days of the reveal of a new generation Corvette, the list of those who have called their dealership and said, “I want one, put me on our new Corvette ordering list,” results in a tripling of that list as compared to the day before that reveal.
Most reputable dealers have a fully refundable deposit guarantee (and will do so any time before they actually match their specific allocation for that week’s consensus with your actual order).
3) Please note the below information provided by Keith [email protected] Scope out top volume dealers; and, I suggest that you consider starting to talk with them right now. However, first, do detailed due diligent research. Do not just call and talk with a salesperson who picks up the phone (who might have started his/her “career” yesterday), accepting their word that “not to worry, we can take care of you.” Talk for example with those who have bought from that dealership recently; and, do internet research in advance (of course not just reading dealership reviews, but reviews of individual salespersons). Also seek out and converse with local Corvette owners in your area.
As one specific example, Mike [email protected] Chevrolet currently has a ME ordering priority list of a little over 200 pre-orders already. He not only has each order in its own folder, time and date stamped, but with his personally selling over 300 Corvettes every year, and his allocation being the same result more, what has one to lose. And, every deposit of his is fully refundable. Criswell’s 2020 Stingray allocation is 600 C8’s.
As another example, contact MacMulkin Chevrolet who is the nation’s second largest dealer, as is another outstanding dealership, Kerbeck Corvette who is the # 1 dealer in the country in sales every year. They too will have massive ME allocation, and are right now taking contact information for those whom they would later contact when they have more specific information.
As will the other of the top year Corvette dealers, Kerbeck, though their allocation could easily be over 100 per month.
Or contact our newest vendor, Uftring in Illinois, for they also, as of my writing this, have 2020 Stingray allocations still needing a customer (but IMO that will end within weeks). They ship nationwide through courtesy delivery programs, also with NCM Museum Delivery, that is another way to buy from them and get your car other than directly at their dealership
Our fifth MECF supporting vendor, Suburban Chevrolet, is long sold out of their entire 2020 C8 allocations (has a waiting list).
Or, alternatively, if you want to buy local, find another dealer near you who not only typically has many Corvettes on their lot, sells a large amount annually and who consequently has a significant, actual, annual allocation. Or, post a thread on this forum, such as, I live in Kansas, want to buy local, anyone have great purchasing experiences for a Corvette from a dealer within 100 miles?” Note please, we have separate threads on National Corvette Museum (NCM) Museum Delivery program and the courtesy delivery program.
What follows is a second, specific caution relating to working with dealers who either had insufficient C7 allocation and/or were not truthful with perspective buyers, and please note that this can and will definitely happen again for the first year of the C8.
During the 2014 year and for the 2015 Z06, when I was the Exec Moderator on another forum, I was contacted by 200 members asking for my help. All had already placed their deposit down with a dealer, had been, to put it bluntly, lied to by their dealers (“sure I can get you your 2014 Stingray, no problem”) — with their consequently not getting their car. I helped them, mid-year transition to a dealer who had allocation. Of course, I never received a referral fee or anything in return -- other than the intense satisfaction of helping them get their Corvette in a timely manner. But if ME demand is proportionally higher, exacerbated by reduced BGA production capacity, mid-year-waiting, and then transferring your order to another dealer, might not be a 2020 option.
There will be two exceptions to the above thesis.
1) We recognize that those who get desperate and choose to pay $10,000 to $25,000+ over list, always manage to get theirs; and,
2) That there are those few lucky ones who walk into a dealer just the right moment, seconds after a customer’s brand new car has arrived at the dealership, but with that customer has not been able to get financing and/or insurance, or had to back out of their purchase due to their just losing their job, divorce, unexpected business financing needs, serious illness, or similar.
Lastly should you wish, please read this related thread which has more “before ordering your Corvette” info:
https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...-your-corvette
Please do something now, do not be late to getting in line to order 2020 Corvette mid engine, later kicking yourself in the butt for waiting too long.
http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2018/...ugh-june-30th/
Comment