Those holding out to get their hands on a right-hand drive Chevrolet Corvette for the very first time in history might have to take a rain check as General Motors feels the effects of Covid-19.
Like most businesses around the world right now, General Motors, the over-arching brand above Chevrolet, is weighing up its options around spending, and has reportedly turned the spotlight on the right-hand drive Corvette.
READ MORE: Just how does a $60k Corvette in the US turn into a $260k Corvette in New Zealand?
This report has come from Car Advice over in Australia, where the publication has claimed that GM has put a hold on all future car and truck development, including that of the 2020 Corvette.
Despite this hold only being temporary, it most likely means that the Corvette will not make it down to New Zealand or Australia in 2021, as originally planned. The project will likely be pushed down the list of priorities and arrive in 2022 at the earliest.
In the grand scheme, New Zealand and Australia were never the priorities for the right-hand drive models, as the United Kingdom and Japan were also on the waiting list.
An industry source recently spoke about the possibility of the factory-built models taking place in the wake of Covid-19
“When General Motors comes out of this crisis, they will want to allocate their engineering resources to the vehicles that can deliver the biggest profits in the shortest possible time … they need cashflow urgently,” they said.
“Do you really think General Motors is going to allocate engineers to finish off the right-hand-drive Corvette, when those same engineers could be working on another vehicle for the US market that will deliver much bigger profits and sell in much greater volumes?”
While no official word has come from either Chevrolet or General Motors about the matter, these words can only be taken with a grain of salt, and could potentially just be smoke in mirrors.
If the program is just delayed, as opposed to being cancelled, there are rumours of the right-hand drive project kicking off alongside the higher-spec Corvette models such as the Z06 and ZR1 further down the track.
In the meantime, check out this 2020 Z51 Corvette that we have listed on our site. Loaded with a bunch of extras, the car is due to arrive in New Zealand in just a couple of weeks.