About 2,800 cars are affected, according to a report at The Wall Street Journal. About 2,000 cars that are at dealers or still at the plant may have a faulty part that connects the airbag to the steering wheel, and the other 800 may have a faulty parking brake system. Most of the cars with the parking brake problem are on dealer lots.
GM sold nearly 2,700 Corvettes in August, up more than 300% compared with August of 2013. So far this year Corvette sales are up about 235% and GM has sold 23,483 units.
Out of 272,423 total sales in August, the Corvette accounts for a scant 1%, but the image value of the car is a lot higher. Last month the company introduced its Corvette Z06, a 650-horsepower version of the car that carries a base price just one tall latte short of $79,000. The base price for the 460-horsepower version is a mere $54,000.
The company’s dealers will not be happy about the stop-delivery order. Again, it’s not so much the volume as it is the image. Anyone willing to pay $54,000 or more for a car should be able to do so whenever he (and we wager that Corvette buyers are mostly men) wants to.
GM’s new mantra of “safety first” is both overdue and welcome, but the company needs to work on “quality first” in order to eradicate the memory of the recall fiasco. Of course it takes time to make these changes, but GM might consider starting the quality push with its marquee model.
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