Bowling Green’s COVID-19 shutdown may delay C8 convertible until 2021

With auto production shut down as part of the measures to quell the spread of COVID-19, many hopeful car owners are having to wait for their orders to be fulfilled. That wait may be especially tough for those with 2020 Corvette orders, as the long-anticipated first production mid-engine Corvette just started shipping before its Bowling Green assembly plant went quiet.

That could mean we may not see the first-ever production hardtop convertible Corvette until 2021.

We reached out to Chevrolet to get an update and confirm if the rumor of delayed C8 convertible production was true. The response we got didn’t confirm anything. Kevin Kelly, Senior Manager of Chevrolet Car and Crossover Communications told us that “Due to the current situation, we will resume production on Corvette when it is safe to do so.”

That could mean that those with the first allotments of 2020 Stingrays will have a much more exclusive Corvette than they had intended. It also means that one of the very few 2020 Stingray convertible pilot cars that are currently being driven by Chevrolet employees may wind up with a special place in the National Corvette Museum. The 2020 Corvette convertible may not be as rare as the 1983 model that never went on sale, but it will likely end up as a similar footnote in the Corvette’s long history.