Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Plants/Manufacturing, Supercars, Chevrolet, GM, Rumormill
GM on Corvette ZR1 cancellation rumor: "Not true."
by Alex Nunez on Oct 7th 2008 at 10:37PM 
The rumormill is a funny thing, and sometimes it can run amok. This appears to be one of those times. The DigitalCorvettes.com forum posted a note earlier this evening saying that Corvette ZR1 production has been halted (Bowling Green is shut down this week, so no Vettes are being built at the moment) and suggesting that the ZR1 may be cancelled. A post on dealer Rick "Corvette" Conti's blog, linked in the referenced DigitalCorvettes thread, added to the intrigue.
Autoblog has contacted GM's Terry Rhadigan, who handles global communications for the Chevrolet brand. We presented the DigitalCorvettes link and asked for an official response. His was very clear:
"Not true."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Todd 10:47PM (10/07/2008)
Sunset in the background of photo is fitting symbolism...
R.I.P. all production gasoline V8s
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Zeus.:God 11:36PM (10/07/2008)
What?
Get out of here. That's all I can say to you in a polite manner.
Chase 11:21PM (10/07/2008)
Editors: "His ?????? was very clear:"
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Arcturus 11:23PM (10/07/2008)
His "resonse", of course.
LCN 11:23PM (10/07/2008)
The editor's sentence is very clear (and correct) if you put it in context with the sentence before it.
stevereportdotcom 11:46PM (10/07/2008)
Listen. The ZR1 is a prime example of American speed, power and prestige that is attainable and within reach (relatively speaking). This car reminds us that its not only the Italians, Germans or Japanese that can build sports cars.
However, this car was built at a very wrong time. GM has big issues to deal with. They simply can not sustain the product of this car. They need to stop producing this car, cut there losses and bring this back in 3-5 years.
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Davit 12:22AM (10/08/2008)
Its limited production no need to kill it
HotRodzNKustoms 2:32AM (10/08/2008)
Pay no attention to the high profit margins kept by this type of car.
why not the LS2LS7? 2:50AM (10/08/2008)
It was no more built at the wrong time than the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti was. Or the Mercedes CL65 Black.
Yes, these vehicles do drink a lot of fuel. But the people who buy them don't care. Even at much higher fuel prices these limited high-spec cars would still sell.
If GM did their engineering and accounting correctly and recoups their development cost, then releasing this car was a smart thing.
tankd0g 8:00AM (10/08/2008)
Ferrari isn't on the financial ropes, nether is Mercedes.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:53PM (10/08/2008)
tankd0g:
There's no reason GM can't turn a profit on this car. You, being incredibly anti-GM assume this car is a loss-leader. It's unlikely to be true given how little extra engineering it had over the regular Vette and the profit margins on it.
Torrent 11:52PM (10/07/2008)
why would they cancel it? 640 horsepower and 20 MPG is makes this car killer. GM would have been foolish to cancel the ZR1. especially this early.
anyway, I'm glad it's not true.
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SeattleJeremy 12:37AM (10/08/2008)
Davit got it right, its a limited production car. There is no way they would "Kill it".
GM's not making any Vettes right now. It's okay, they are going to be back on the job soon enough. No body panic.
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Mike 12:41AM (10/08/2008)
Why would GM kill off the ZR 1 when they just introduced the car? I know that the Corvette isn't a big $ maker for them but I doubt they would intro a car and then 6 months later snuff it. Obviously someone has their story a little mixed up, even with the big economic downturn I am sure they will still find buyers for every last ZR 1. As it is a pretty kickass car for the money and the production numbers will be quite low.
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bosnashcar 2:28AM (10/08/2008)
The car is already tooled up.
Profit margins are bound to be extremely high on it.
Demand does not necessarily dry up for limited tradition/high dollar items during a recession.
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bid4goodies 3:49AM (10/08/2008)
Its just a rumor . . . I'll just wait for the real news!
http://bid4goodies.com
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amade.ch 3:58AM (10/08/2008)
this would be too sad. keep it alive, folks.
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hidden_hunter 6:42AM (10/08/2008)
The cynic in me thinks that that page got exactly what they were looking for.
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foxj30 7:45AM (10/08/2008)
the car's already developed, prototyped, and even driven by some of the media. as long as they're not losing money on each one sold, they'd be fantastically stupid to cancel the car at this point.
and it's not like a few hundred zr1s are going to impact CAFE all that much anyway...
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tankd0g 8:00AM (10/08/2008)
If it gets canceled it will be by the liquidators, not GM.
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