Mules in hibernation… plant closings… reveal delays…
 

C8 appears to be ready for take off with an anxious well primed marketing awaiting, yet GM has yet to press the LET’s GO button. High impact reveal venues will quickly pass GM by. Intriguing minds want to know, are we dealing with… GM business climate challenges? Production challenges? Design/quality challenges? Surplus of C7’s on the ground? Planned building of market buzz/hype? Sleeping at the wheel?

You're asking the same questions many of us are, and there has been no confirming answer to any of them. Probably a combination of several of them, but we may never know.

We don't know for sure if the C8 has been delayed because it is not ready or they are having problems. Might be GM is just planning on a reveal for the new year! I still think we are going to get the reveal in January. I say this especially if the C7 ends it's production. The 2019 MY will be a full year long on January 28th. Rumors have put production ending in late March '19. The reveal could still take place at the Detroit Auto show or a worldwide telecast from some location on the Internet. We shall see.....

Can't have a delay when no date was announced.

Just an 'off the wall' kinds' issue..... The rumor was that the BG plant would stop producing 2019 C7's in the March/April time frame and convert for the next generation car. That conversion will not be overnight even with all the prep work that's been going on.

Isn't the UAW's national contract up about that time??? I'm absolutely certain that the timing of the announcement by Mary Barra regarding layoffs and plant closings is all part of their contract negotiations strategy. Does it make sense to announce a revolutionary new product (the ME C8) and then face the potential of a labor driven shutdown??? Wouldn't that be like having a grand opening then shutting down the store before the buyers can act???

Just saying...….

Mary Barra
 

Mary was taking a LOT of heat yesterday from BOTH sides of the political aisle re the plant closings in Ohio, MD, and Michigan. Reporters and pols were after her like wolves on a wounded deer. Takes a lot these days to get a Republican and Democratic Senator to the same press conference to express their complete agreement with each other on anything other than praising a dead President. Great time just before Xmas, to announce plant closings and layoffs. It is not like some of the now discontinued vehicles (in the US) were selling well until just a month or two ago. The optics stink. In Ohio, I understand they are particularly angry because the State gave large tax reduction subsidies to GM (this was apart from the Fed Govt subsidies). Markets down 1500 points (not mostly due to GM) but still, not making people feel happier right now.

Maybe not the best time to roll out a very limited and expensive "toy." And to MOST people, the Corvette is just a vey expensive toy marketed to a very small segment of the population. Next Spring, makes more sense to me.

Yes, no, maybe.

How many times has a Mid-Engine Corvette been squashed by "circumstances" GM has going on at the time? I honestly don't know, but has it not been at least a couple times. The C7 is my first GM product, so I've never really followed any of this. Is there a pattern to it getting close, only to get the kibosh in the final hour?

Of course you can. If GM had an internal date set for launch, and had to push it back, that's a delay. Whether or not they ever announced the original date to the public is irrelevant.

the point is that people, without any basis in fact, are stating a delay. So how can they state a delay when they have zero clue as to what or if the original date was?

This bs delay talk is all because of a certain salesguy who predicted LA for the reveal, and it didn't happen, so to cover himself, he yelled "delay!". That's my .02 on this.

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Here is what makes total sense to me. When it was announced that the BG plant was closed for tours beginning in June of 2018 ( or was it June of 2017?), it was also announced that the plant would reopen for tours in January of 2019. Logically, doesn't that indicate that the ME C8 would be introduced in January of 2019 at the Detroit show?
However, recently GM announced that the BG plant would not open for tours next January, and that the opening date for tours was yet to be determined. That tells me that a 2019 Detroit introduction is no longer happening, which indicates a delay in the introduction and production start up of the ME C8. There you have it!

The heat she took from politicians is already over as I type this (12/9), they're on to some other issue they'll bluster about.

Yep, that story lasted about 5 minutes, as I would have predicted. The Senators and Congressmen involved now have the video footage they need to use for their next campaign commercials. Mission accomplished . . .

Mules in hibernation coupled with BGA plant tour on indefinite hold is not a good sign. Marketing 101 suggests announcing/releasing product when market hype is near or at it's peak. I believe the C8 ME market hype is peaking.

^Yes, IF they were planning to unveil in January, I also think the news of the job cuts/plant closings would delay it. Could be a combination of a lot of things but my gut feeling is next month doesn't seem like the right timing.

It's not even close to peaking. Reading the hype in a forum like this has nothing to do with the real world, and it's easy for those hanging out here routinely to have a distorted view. The real world hype will start with the unveiling.

The vast majority of potential Corvette buyers and owners do not hang out here.