GM Built More 2014 Corvette Stingrays than 2012 and 2013 combined

General Motors recently offered up a breakdown of sales figures for the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and with 37,288 units built for the first model year of the C7, 2014 was one of the best model years for Corvette production in the past few decades – with more Corvettes built for 2014 than were built for 2012, 2013 and most of 2011 combined.

Even though there were skeptics early on, it became apparent shortly after the introduction of the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray that this new American sports car was a big hit. The sales numbers for the new Stingray have been strong since the first full month of availability late in 2013 and when compared to the same month one year earlier (when only the 2013 C6 Corvette was available), the new C7 has routinely outsold the C6 by more than 200%.

2014 Corvette Production Compared to the Past
General Motors built 37,288 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray coupes and convertibles for sale both in the US and in select markets around the world. This isn’t a record, but it is the 14th best production year for the Corvette ever and it is also the 4th best since the early years of the C4 models. GM built and sold 39,729 Corvettes for 1985 and in the past 29 years since then, only the 2005 and 2007 model years saw more new Corvettes built with 37,372 for the 2005 Corvette and 40,561 built for the 2007 Corvette.

Production of the Chevrolet Corvette have hit record lows over the past half-decade or so. After 2008 saw 35,310 new Corvettes built and sold, the numbers dropped to just 16,956 in 2009, 12,194 in 2010 and 13,596 in 2011. Production bottomed out in 2012 with 11,647 Corvettes built and while they rose for the final year of the C6 – GM built just 13,466 Corvettes in 2013. If you add up the production totals from 2011, 2012 and 2013, you get 38,709 units built across those three years…meaning that GM built just 1,421 more Corvettes in the final three years of the C6 era than the number of C7 Corvette Stingrays built for 2014.

Corvette Production Isn’t Like Higher Volume Models
General Motors has been criticized in the past for overproducing vehicles simply to boast of having high production volumes – which left the company struggling to pay to build vehicles that people aren’t going to buy for anywhere near the intended MSRP. That isn’t how things work for the Corvette. Due to the painstaking production process and the high level of customization among new Corvette Stingray coupes and convertibles, the vast majority of new Corvettes being built are already spoken for before they are fully assembled. Sure, there are some Corvettes built strictly for dealership stock, but production values of the Corvette are more or less the same as sales numbers – unlike similar figures for the likes of the Chevrolet Silverado or Cruze. Sources indicate that the Bowling Green facility is currently operating at or near its production capacity and depending on what exactly you want in your brand new custom ordered Corvette – you could be waiting months to take delivery if you ordered today.

2015 Corvette Galleries:
The Debut of the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
The First Images of the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible
The debut of the C7R Chevrolet Corvette race car

The Corvette is Dominating the Sports Car Sales World
The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is not the fastest or quickest car in the world, but dollar for dollar it is nearly impossible to find a sports car that offers the Stingray’s performance for a similar price. There are plenty of cars that can compete in a race, but they do so for a much higher price. This is one of the reasons why General Motors has built nearly three times as many Corvettes for 2014 as they did for any of the previous years. This is also why the new Stingray has been selling more units each month than Porsche sells cars. As I reported earlier this month, GM sold more Stingrays in July than Porsche sold cars in general.

The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is already the bestselling premium sports car in America, trailing only the likes of the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger. The addition of the new Z06 and the 8-speed automatic transmission across the entire lineup should continue to improve sales through 2015.

Source: Corvette Blogger