Sales of 'Vettes, XLRs slowing, but still ahead of other GMs

[Rob]

Sales of 'Vettes, XLRs slowing, but still ahead of other GMs

By AMEERAH CETAWAYO, The Bowling Green Daily News, acetawayo@bgdailynews.com
Saturday, September 15, 2007 12:14 AM CDT

Shipments of General Motors' Corvette and Cadillac XLR brands slumped over the course of the year as the auto industry as a whole faced a downturn, but Bowling Green Assembly Plant officials remain optimistic.

The plant, located at 600 Corvette Drive off Louisville Road, recently rolled over into its next model year, according to Andrea Hales, business communications integrator for the plant.

“We rollover into the next model year usually through June and July,” Hales said. “We have a standard shutdown period of two weeks every July across the corporation. Each plant can differ in who may work during that shutdown period ... We typically don't have a lot of activity during that two-week period.”

Last month, the plant produced 3,676 Corvettes and 142 XLRs (2008 models), according to U.S. Passenger Production figures from General Motors.

A total of 40,561 '07 Corvettes were built at the plant, while 1,505 '07 XLRs were built, with 25,276 Corvettes and 1,015 XLRs built this year alone. But deliveries for the Corvette were down 3.8 percent in August, and down 7.4 percent in January through August.

The Cadillac XLR also saw fewer deliveries - a 21.2 percent decrease this August from the same time a year ago. From January to August, deliveries were down 41.9 percent.

Hales said both the Corvette and XLR are high-end products that still boast more promising numbers than most GM products. The Corvette is in the high-performance sports car segment of GM, Hales said, and “that segment is down about 10 percent for the year, not down nearly as much as for the Corvette. So it's still a good story for the Corvette.”

Also, she said, it's important to remember that the Cadillac XLR is a low-volume, high-end product, and both products garnered numerous quality awards from several sources.

“Our mission is to just competitively produce the highest quality vehicle in our market segment, by using our greatest resource, which is our people working together,” said Steve Grilli, quality manager for the assembly plant.

Grilli credits a hands-on approach for the continued success of Bowling Green's GM products.

“Our vision is to have small teams engaged in setting up operations and be responsible for the quality work that they do in their areas,” he said.

“Quality creates customer enthusiasm and creates enthusiasm among the employees. We're out there producing a highly competitive vehicle, and that's why we share the results of the awards that we take."

[tonyrugg]

Think there might be some rebates on Vettes in 08?

[Hib Halverson]

Corvette production from 1/1 to 9/2 was 28,348
XLR, from 1/1 to 9/2 was 2432

Keep in mind that production numbers are not the same as sales.

As gas prices once again creep higher (oil was topped 80 bucks a barrel this week) and the economy continues to soften a bit, my guess is Corvette prices will also "be soft". Now's a good time to buy. After the first of the year might even be better.