Chevrolet Corvette Production Offline After Devastating Tornadoes Strike Kentucky: News

Several tornadoes caused catastrophic damage and deaths this past weekend

Kentucky Tornado halts Corvette production: News
The Chevrolet Corvette is still manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky — and the facility was damaged by a series of tornadoes this weekend. (Image: General Motors)

The Chevrolet Corvette plant will be offline this week for repairs.

General Motors announced it would shut down the Bowling Green, Kentucky manufacturing plant, halting Chevy Corvette production after a series of tornadoes struck Kentucky and five other states Friday and Saturday. Authorities are still assessing damage throughout the state, but beyond the untold damage at least 64 people are confirmed dead, while many more are unaccounted for at time of writing.

Roof damage and a fire “caused damage to our facility,” the automaker says, “including the roof and an employee entrance.” Fortunately in this case, GM says the “small number of employees” that were on-site at the time are safe and accounted for. “Maintaining a safe work environment for plant employees is our top priority.”

Chevy Corvette production halted due to tornado damage
(Image: Channel News 5 Nashville, via Facebook)

Bowling Green will be offline the entire week of December 13, with both first and second shifts cancelled. Teams will reportedly work to repair the plant and restart production by December 20, though it’s unclear whether that will certainly happen depending on the scope of the damage. Channel 5 News Nashville published a flyover showing the damage around the Bowling Green plant, as Car and Driver and CorvetteBlogger point out.

The Corvette, like several other lines, suffered several pauses over the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic and supply shortages hampered production.

H/T: Corvette Blogger, Car and Driver