Production of the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette will begin unusually early, leading to a short 2018 model year.
Based on a report from the Bowling Green Daily News, production of the 2018 Chevrolet Corvette will end on the week of January 22nd. Chevrolet is making way for 2019 production to begin on January 29th. This is an unusually early start time for the new model year production, leading to an even shorter production run for the 2018 Corvette. Corvette production ended back in July and with the scheduled start date of November 6th, with the 2018 model year had an unusually long summer downtime. When coupled with the early end of 2018 production – this model year is going to be considerably lower in numbers than the average year.
Why the early start?
General Motors won’t comment on future production plans, but provided that the newspaper report is accurate, there must be some reason why 2019 model year production is beginning to soon. The 2018 Corvette is a fantastic sports car, and sales have been steady, but there must be something special about the 2019 model year to start production so early.
The most popular rumor is that the 2019 model year will introduce one – if not two – new packages. It has long been expected that Chevrolet will roll out a C7 Corvette ZR-1 with greater performance capabilities than the current Z06. Of course, there are also the ongoing mid-engine Corvette rumors. With more sightings of this mysterious mid-ship supercar around Metro Detroit, that new model seems more likely than ever.
Needless to say, the C7 Corvette ZR-1, or the long-awaited mid-engine Corvette would each be more than enough of a reason to introduce the 2019 model year so early. If nothing else, it seems highly unlikely that GM would start 2019 production so early if there weren’t any big changes coming. The change might be the ZR-1, it might be the mid-engine supercar and it might be something else – but an early start to 2019 production almost guarantees something exciting from Chevrolet.
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