[Chip]

From Dealer Ken Ficthner:

"Plant start date is 8/11/14

Dealers will begin consensus and know initial allocations in late June 2014.

Dealers can begin submitting order requests within allocations on June 26, 2014.

Final 2014 Stingrays will be produced on 8/8/14"

Ken

 

[FCCCVPMan]

From Dealer Ken Ficthner:

"Plant start date is 8/11/14

Dealers will begin consensus and know initial allocations in late June 2014.

Dealers can begin submitting order requests within allocations on June 26, 2014.

Final 2014 Stingrays will be produced on 8/8/14"

Ken

Hey Chip...

This is defferent info than was on a post earier this month. Is this a change by GM or was the past post incorrect?

Not the Start date of the 2015 but the date you can place a 2015 order in the system.

 

[elegant]

Ken Fichtner is an honest man, and a history of sharing information publicly only after he has been given it by GM. Now that he has posted this in writing, am 100% sure that it is the most updated info out out by GM. Regarding previous posts, they were based on the most accurate information known as that time, and if I remember the posts you are referring to, neither quoted a top dealer like Chip's post above.

I realize you would like your car as soon as possible, but may I please add that even assuming your dealer is the very first one to file their order request, that could mean everything -- if they have large allocation and what you want is not on constraint, or could not mean anything if your dealer has only a small/medium allocation with the "big boys" submitting their orders by the end of that same filing period. If your dealer, for example filed first, but was not a top allocation dealer, it is not unusual for GM, when there are competing order requests, to prioritize those orders submitted by top selling/top allocation dealers. Again, GM decides which orders it chooses first, which fall to the second week of 2015 production, etc., and that may also have nothing to do with relative allocation, but everything to do with GM deciding, as an example, that they really want the new 2015 PDR's out there in customers hands as many and as soon as possible, or that they want as many of the new Shark Gray colored cars out there on the street, in customers hands as soon as possible. So, if my order were going against yours, and I ordered a VY car from the second largest dealer and you ordered a Shark Gray car from a medium allocation dealer, your order could quickly move ahead of mine, especially since you also ordered the PDR and I did not.

Let me please give a personal example of how this worked for me (but could have just as easily worked against me) when I ordered my 2006 Z06 from the largest allocation dealer Kerbeck. Dave told me I was # 56 on his Z06 priority list. We both expected I would not get it until late November or December, 2005 . I ended up getting mine the #1 (first) NCM Museum Delivery C6 Z06 in September. How did I pass by 55 others ahead of me in line (when all of them were also Kerbeck customers)? I ordered painted silver wheels, and the others all other either the polished aluminum wheels or some other wheel. However, GM rejected, for lack of quality, the new wheel supplier's polishing and send the first two batches of polished wheels back to the supplier for re-polishing.

Sorry, but this whole ordering/receiving process is a very, very, very inexact one, with all of us subject to so many factors totally out of our control -- and with potential supplier issues always a possibility, GM is too often subject to factors out of their control. I have had my deposit in for my 2015 Z06 since last June 1st, so I know how horrible waiting is, and know my Z06, even though priority # 2 at MacMulkin (2nd largest dealer) may not arrive until literally a full year from now. Waiting sucks -- no two ways about or around it. And the fact that the whole process is inexact, not under our or our dealer 's control, makes it even harder.

 

[mjw930]

John,

What you described is one of the major reasons I'm considering ordering a late production 2014 (June delivery) instead of rolling the dice on a first run 2015. I've waited this long but once I decide to pull the trigger I'm not sure how I would handle getting bounced around in the new MY shuffle.

Great info and insight.

I didn't do a search but have you seen anywhere the date the dealers are supposed to get the order info for 2015's? You know, colors, options MSRP, etc?

 

[elegant]

John, What you described is one of the major reasons I'm considering ordering a late production 2014 (June delivery) instead of rolling the dice on a first run 2015. I've waited this long but once I decide to pull the trigger I'm not sure how I would handle getting bounced around in the new MY shuffle. Great info and insight. I didn't do a search but have you seen anywhere the date the dealers are supposed to get the order info for 2015's? You know, colors, options MSRP, etc?

Definitive info on 2015's is 35 days from today! Of course that will NOT include pricing, but will include colors and options. I will post that, right here, from the Bash (can't wait, wish it were tomorrow).

We do not have the date that dealers will get the info directly from GM, and it MAY come out at the Bash. The great dealers will, sometime after that, but before June 26th, be working with those at the head of their internal priority lists, finding out what it is their customers want to order. Then from the time it is official, say approximately June 12, to the 26th when they can first place their orders, the really great dealers will finalize every option with every customer in their first consensus allocation.

Probable new 2015 things are the same stuff you have already heard: No more Cyber Grey (replaced by Shark Gray), new PDR, probable yellow "color tone" change, 4LTE/partial Internet capability, and I still think we are going to be able to get an MSRC without Z-51.

Perhaps GM will surprises at the Bash and being out a new option(s) that we haven't even thought about??? In spite of the repeated rumors that "new option" will be the eight speed automatic, from what I've been able to learn, the chances of that surfacing at the beginning of the 2015 model year are between 0% and 1%.

We also at the Bash will learn more about the Z06 -- but surely not pricing, not final horsepower, not final torque, not final weight, not final EPA fuel economy ratings, and not final pricing.

 

[mjw930]

We also at the Bash will learn more about the Z06 -- but surely not pricing, not final horsepower, not final torque, not final weight, not final EPA fuel economy ratings, and not final pricing.

So basically not much more than you already know

 

[elegant]

So basically not much more than you already know

.

Last year we learned "none of the above" about the StringRay, but I still came home with ten "charts" (such as the one below) and five full pages of notes about the StingRay. For example we learned last year that the StingRay would go 0-60 "comfortably below 4.0 seconds." We will see actual 2015 'Rays, have presentations on their differences, and perhaps more. The nice thing for those who can't or do not a want to go to the Bash, is that there will again probably be videos of some of the presentations made at the Bash, posted on youtube, then here. One of the charts presented last year at the Bash:

We expect to similarly see comparable charts about the Z06 and learn much more about it -- other than those seven "still being finalized" numbers and again, hopefully, a video will be made at the Bash and again be available here.

Personally going because this will the first time my wonderful wife gets to see the Z06 in person, and we will together be making our final exterior and interior color choices. As I have e mail confirmation from Ryan Vaughan, Z06 Interior Design Manager, that he will be bringing the new Z's unique interior color samples, that is key for us -- what will the new Z06 "dark gray" and blue interiors look like?

Candidly, if you do not need to see exterior and interior color samples now (you can see them at New York Auto Show, Carlisle, or elsewhere before you order) -- or are comfortable making color choices from pictures that are taken there and posted here, are okay missing an opportunity to personally ask the Corvette team leaders questions in person, and are okay with not seeing some great old Corvette friends who regularly come to the Bash, 99% of what is learned at the Bash, both for the StingRay and the Z06, will be shared here.

Then again, for those of you still buried in cold and snow (sorry), the Bash is typically about 80 degrees with some showers, and often lots of sun!

 

[rdslon01]

One thing I would find interesting, but do not expect to happen, is if the 2015 StingRay Z51 has different rims or stay with the same rim design as the 2014. I like the 2014, and hope they remain.

 

[elegant]

One thing I would find interesting, but do not expect to happen, is if the 2015 StingRay Z51 has different rims or stay with the same rim design as the 2014. I like the 2014, and hope they remain.

Good question. Typically GM stays with the same rims for at least several years. Perhaps, if the optional "torque" wheels are not selling well, they might substitute a new optional wheel for 2015?

 

[Easton5150]

How do production numbers work for 2015 when the Z06 becomes available? Meaning, does GM decide the "X" number of corvettes will be made for the 2015 model year and orders between Z06's and non Z06's just are what they are and that's what dictates how many of each are made? Or, does GM determine how many of each they will produce for the model year? Not familiar with how that works so any info is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[elegant]

GM has already indicated that they want to produce approximately 3,500 Z06's during the six month long 2015 MY. Demand will far exceed that IMO. GM will consequently write contracts with their parts suppliers with that production level in mind. This thread will provide background info on this.

http://www.stingrayforums.com/forum/corvette-z06-purchasing/3111-need-z06-list.html

Some of the Z06's parts, as per that link, will probably be constrained. These parts, especially the exposed carbon fiber aero pieces and the carbon-ceramic brakes, are not easily "supplier quantity ramped up." Hence, even if GM's were to receive many more Z06 orders, customers who are not high up on the priority lists of those dealers which large Z06 allocation, may be, just as this year as with some StingRay customers who ordered CF roofs, the CF dash surround and the Z-51, faced with the option of choosing to not get a constrained option, or not have their submitted order be paired with "a GM acceptance."

This leads to, assuming that GM will produce another approximate 34,000 total Corvettes for 2015, that the total number of coupes and convertible StingRays would be approximately 30,500 units.