Chevrolet is splitting the assembly of the 2015 Corvette Z06’s powerful supercharged V8 engine between to plants: the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky., and General Motors’ Tonawanda engine plant in Buffalo, N.Y. Previously, the Z06’s engine was exclusively built in Bowling Green, which made it easy for the bowtie brand to offer Z06 customers the option to fork over $5,800 to help build their own car’s engine.
Now with two plants, Chevrolet will need to figure out the logistics of maintaining this unique opportunity. Chevrolet spokesman Monte Doran assured Edmunds.com that the build-your-own engine program will continue with the new car, though he acknowledged the option may not be available to all Z06 buyers, as it depends “on if your engine is going to be built in Bowling Green or Tonawanda.”
Customers ordering a Z06 with an engine produced at Tonawanda will have to forgo the opportunity to build their new Z06’s LT4 heart, while customers ordering a Z06 with an engine produced at the Bowling Green plant will be able to take advantage of Chevrolet’s hands-on customer program. Unfortunately, General Motors did not tell Edmunds what percentage of the 650-horsepower engines will be allocated to each facility. But we have a feeling one plant will be designated for automatic-equipped engines while the other gets the manual (which will probably be Bowling Green, but nobody is talking).
Chevrolet has added production of the Z06’s engine to the Tonawanda plant in anticipation of the new car’s expected popularity. Offered for the first time with an automatic transmission, as well as a convertible model, the new Z06 is expected to exceed last year’s sales of “about 870 vehicles.”