Zhuskers1

RE: Carbon Fiber Roof Constraint Strategy/Solution

If a customer has ordered C2M Dual Carbon Fiber Dual Roof Package which includes (C2Z) visible carbon fiber roof panel with body color surround and (CC3) transparent roof panel, why are you making him change their order OR RISK being passed over? Why don't you build and ship the car with the transparent roof panel and then ship the carbon fiber to the dealer when available?

Most of these customers are loyal long term customers you put deposits down 10 to 14 months ago, and now you are telling them they could miss their build date? The customer did not create this problem.

This is a much more customer oriented solution. You may even get a customer who only ordered only a Carbon Fiber Roof Panel to upgrade to a dual room option, which is more $$$$ for Chevy.

Thank you for hearing me out and I hope an influential dealer or person passes this along to the appropriate person at the Corvette Team.

0WildVettes

They don't need to pass this along. GM isn't stupid. They are well aware of everything that is going on, including all these forum posts. I think it is probably very unlikely you'll get any response.

-CM-

It seems like a reasonable solution to me.

Sin City

The answer: bureaucracy and paper work.

Glen e

very reasonable, and because these select people are the hard core enthusiasts and supporters of the brand, internal policies should be modified to get it done..

Kappa

Seems pretty inefficient and expensive to have to build extra tops for cars that weren't ordered with them.

The % of people that will wait for the exact car they ordered is probably much higher than those threatening to cancel if their car isn't out first.

JoesC5

If they don't have CF roofs available from the supplier, GM sure isn't going to shut the plant down while they wait for the slow boat to arrive or send the cars outside to their parking lot(or to Nashville) with no top on them.

Glenmcp

Or, we never did it like that before.

LisasZR1

I don't think that's what he's saying. I think he's saying that buyers that opted for ONLY the CF option may be willing to pay for the dual roof if it gets their car out quicker with the transparent roof on it and the CF roof comes along after the fact. Ditto for those that ordered the dual roof.

I, however, see my car stuck at 3000 with no movement and have to wonder if it's because of the CF Roof and dash. The dealer says those constraints only affect new orders and not orders already submitted. I'm not sure he knows what he's talking about on that. Is that true?

Regardless, I'm taking museum delivery for the first time and I'm willing to patiently wait for my car to be exactly what I ordered when I get up there to bring it home!

Zhuskers1

If a customer has ordered C2M Dual Carbon Fiber Dual Roof Package which includes (C2Z) visible carbon fiber roof panel with body color surround and (CC3) transparent roof panel, why are you making him change their order OR RISK being passed over? Why don't you build and ship the car with the transparent roof panel and then ship the carbon fiber to the dealer when available?

This is a win - win. If the customer has already committed to buy both roofs, why would you not do this? It is a minor logistics issue for the corvette team and a win for the client.

It gets another car delivered, Chevy gets the $$$ and the client has the car.

Someone please pass this along.

adamsocb

While I am hoping they find a way to do this on the roof, I sincerely doubt it can happen. It would wreak havoc with the automated "just-in-time" and "Kan-ban" systems at the plant. I suspect the software systems that run the plant won't allow production to start on a car until every part on the build sheet (Kan-ban) is accounted for and available. To build cars without all of the parts would mean every C2Z, would have to be handled manually, overriding the systems. This would likely create all sorts of violations to the process automation rules and the QA/QC requirements. These rules are sacred in modern manufacturing and the main reason quality is now so high on things like cars. While it might seem simple to us I just don’t see GM violating these rules to get the cars built a few weeks earlier. They can just limit the production to build cars with the options/parts they have; there are plenty of buyers out there who could care less about the exposed CF roof.

My order is still at 1100 waiting for both the C2Z and AE4 (Competition Seats), so even if the roof issue is worked out I will likely still be waiting for the seats.

yellowray

Just like big government, big companies lack the ability to think or adapt quickly. Mine is at 1200, ordered on 6-25.

Chicago1

Because it makes sense to do that..SO they won't lol lots of big corporations have a lot of waste like that.

billyskis

All that is good stuff and true… you shouldn’t been able to place the order if there was a constraint on C2Z and FAY. When I placed my order and wanted AE4 (Competition Seats), and wasn’t able to do that. There shouldn’t be a holdup if they used their system correctly. Soooooo, we the “Stuck on 3000” club didn’t cause the problem and GM should be more customer friendly and fix it.

Jay_Davis

Same this happened early on with the C6, you couldn't get the dual roof option. However, I ordered just the painted roof to match the car and they allowed people to order the transparent roof later through the parts department at a discount that just about matched what it would have cost if it had been bought with the car.

musclecar6

Vette startups always have these issues. Goes with the territory. Whining probably won't expedite matters.

Zhuskers1

Bingo!! That solution would work just fine!

dollarbill

That is exactly what I did in 2005. It worked well and I was on the road enjoying my C6 coupe all the while.

In 2008, I wanted the 3LZ interior on my Z06. I ended up waiting almost 3 months for that interior. I did get a call and was offered a 2LZ interior with a nearly immediate build date at a reduced price. I elected to wait for the 3LZ since I really wanted that new interior. I don't know why sold orders and the decisions on those are not handled in a similar manner. Let the customer decide. My 2c

Starman

You are not going to tell me since the early 1900's when GM started that something like this hasn't come up before and got fixed in very quick amount of time.

I bet if I had a whole lot of $$$$$$money and a whole lot of influence in the community I could get my car corrected and delivered in short order.

But I'm just a little guy with only $75, 000.00 and no influence.

lt4obsesses

Some very good points here. The real situation is here is the supplier/maker of the carbon roofs. I can't imagine they didn't think the exposed top wouldn't be popular. Then add to that the base roof is carbon as well, that's alot of lids folks. The supplier should have done their logistical homework a little better if you ask me.

I also understand the idea of getting the transparent roof now and the carbon roof when it is ready. However, if I look at this from a manufacturing stand point, there's alot of costly risk here. First, I'm sure that the roof panels are painted along with the body panels from the particular car, so that they are painted with the same batch of paint. If they didn't do this, you might have roofs that were just a tad off from the rest of the car by using different batch mixes. Then they would have to repaint them all under warranty until they got the exact match, maybe even have to paint the whole car.

So in the end, you would still wind up being without your car for at least a little while, if it needed to be matched later on. I personally would just rather wait it out and have no worries about it from the start, then to have to send the car off to the paint shop later.

Just my $.02