VIDEO: Take a Deep Dive Into the C8 Corvette Production Process at Bowling Green
C8 Corvette production is a fascinating, complicated process that involves countless moving parts – no pun intended.
The eighth generation Corvette was a massive success from the day it debuted, and has remained in low supply and high demand since the mid-engine machine launched for the 2020 model year. However, that doesn’t mean that GM’s Bowling Green, Kentucky plant isn’t churning out as many examples as ever-changing supply chain constraints allow. As it turns out, the C8 Corvette production process at the historic plant is also quite fascinating, as the folks behind the YouTube channel Savage Geese recently discovered.
For many, having a part in designing, engineering, and building the Corvette is a truly special privilege, as our video-making duo quickly discovers during their tour. Many Bowling Green workers spent their entire lives dreaming of one day having a hand in making America’s sports car, which just speaks to the iconic model’s enduring legacy and widespread appeal.
From there, we get a rather in-depth look at the C8 Corvette production process, which is interesting in that GM had to completely retool the Bowling Green plant for the mid-engine machine. The automaker took a “no expenses-spared” approach to redoing the plant from the ground up to prepare it for C8 production – the type of thing that you rarely see these days when it comes to sports cars, as those types of vehicles are typically built in smaller quantities and aren’t volume sellers by any means.
Ultimately, it takes around a day and a half to build a new Corvette, with around 200 finished units rolling out of Bowling Green each day, at the moment. However, that facility is also an assembly plant – not a manufacturing one – though the aluminum substructure of the C8 is welded together from various sub-assemblies. Otherwise, parts are simply shipped to the plant, then put together by a number of workers and automated machines.
However, make no mistake – this is a complicated process from start to finish, and one that requires a tremendous amount of planning before the first piece is assembled. It all starts with the design and engineering process, and there are many moving parts between that and final assembly that have to go right for it all to work. Luckily, GM has quite a bit of experience doing precisely that, and as such, has seemingly perfected the C8 Corvette assembly process.
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