Car makers in the United States have been hit hard by coronavirus issues and none have been spared.

 ONE here now, 28 to follow – all long spoken for, BTW – and more to come … one day.

That’s the best General Motors Specialist Vehicles in New Zealand can offer in thought about the supply chain for their latest and most high-profile product, with admission the cars locked in the order bank for the launch programme are the only ones absolutely confirmed to come here just at the moment.

“I have not been advised of any delays,” a local spokesman said. “There is definitely another allocation but whether it is a similar number, fewer or more … we do not have visibility on that yet.”

Right-hand drive production for New Zealand and Australia has begun, yet the output does not appear to be at full flow, according to reports from overseas.

High home market demand for the C8, plus Corvette’s famous Bowling Green plant appearing to be among numerous car factories in the United States being beset by component shortages and coronavirus, is impacting the schedule. 

US media report that every make manufacturing outlet for cars Stateside is now being impacted by the virus and/or the severe shortage of parts, in particular semiconductor chips.

The latter shortage alone has slowed new vehicle production in North America alone by hundreds of thousands of units. Every car has at least two or three dozen microchips, which control everything from infotainment screens to fuel management and stability control. Luxury vehicles and cars with advanced safety systems and driver assistance features might have 100 or more processors.

In the last month a new wave of Delta-variant cases in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines has been causing production delays at factories that cut and package semiconductors.

New Zealand takes the Corvette in coupe and convertible formats, all with the same naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 LT2 petrol engine as offered Stateside, rated at 370kW and 637 Newton metres’ torque, paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission driving the back wheels.

Even when Corvette production for New Zealand steadies down to a more even beat, there’s little prospect of it ever arriving in the count anything like accrued by the Ford Mustang in its first full year of New Zealand market release.

The Blue Oval’s Pony car has always been a much cheaper car, save for when presented in its most exotic formats – the Mach 1 and now arriving Scott McLaughlin-honouring Herrod Performance-created SM17 are slightly pricier than a standard C8, which starts at $154,990.

The 28 Corvettes en route – presumably in a single consignment, though that’s not clear - are to be evenly spread to the country’s seven appointed sales outlets. That count includes the seven Carbon Edition release specials that carry a hefty premium over the standard C8. Their time in the showroom could be brief as all have owners.

For now there’s just a single car already on New Zealand soil, a 3LT Coupe in Accelerate Yellow, ostensibly delivered here to enable “validation and testing purposes” though a GMSV spokesman has acknowledged that’s really a formality process basically, he quipped, to ensure it can accommodate NZ-style number plates.

Primarily, the example will be used to promote the eight generation Corvette being first to be factory-built as a right-hand drive product. That role will see it engage in display and demonstration exercises.