2023 was a fine year for the Corvette. According to the National Corvette Museum, the Detroit-based automaker produced no fewer than 53,785 examples of the breed in 2023, which is extremely close to the all-time record.
More specifically, 53,807 units of the hideously underrated C3 were assembled in 1979. As a brief refresher, the third generation was offered between 1967 and 1982 for model year 1968 through 1982. The Corvette was originally produced in Flint, Michigan. In 1954, the Corvette was moved to the St. Louis plant in Missouri.
The C3 was also made in Missouri through 1981, the year Bowling Green became the stomping ground of America's favorite sports car. Speaking of which, can you believe that General Motors produced more Corvettes than Camaros in 2023? It boggles the mind, but then again, the Camaro plateaued into mediocrity after the introduction of the 10-speed automatic on the 650-horsepower ZL1 in 2016.
According to Corvette Blogger, the most popular Corvette paint color in 2023 was Torch Red. Also known as GKZ, this color accounted for 7,895 vehicles or almost 15 percent of the grand total. Of those, the small block V8-engined Stingray accounted for 7,096 vehicles. When it comes to the flat-plane crankshaft V8-powered Z06, the most popular color of the bunch was Black with 951 takers.
Precisely 47,372 units of the Stingray were assembled in Bowling Green, Kentucky last year, whereas the more performance-oriented Z06 numbered 6,413 units. Emphasis on numbered because Copart appears to list a totaled C8 every week or so. At the moment of writing, one Z06 and 50 units of the Stingray are available on Copart.
Photo: Corvette Blogger
The second most popular Corvette paint color in 2023 after Torch Red was Arctic White (7,216 cars), followed by Black (6,403), Red Mist (5,785), and Hypersonic Gray (5,130). At the other end of the spectrum, Caffeine is last with 536 cars (split between 516 Stingrays and 20 Z06s). Amplify Orange, which is the launch color of the Z06, accounted for 504 units of the Z06 and 2,526 Stingrays.
Of the 53,785 vehicles assembled in 2023, the biggest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit delivered 46,865 to customers in the United States market. A further 3,179 were shipped to Canada, 152 to Mexico, 277 to the Middle East, 575 to Japan, 2,195 to Europe, 492 to Australia and New Zealand, 34 to Israel, and 16 to Southeast Asia.
When it comes to Stingray customers, 20,176 picked the range-topping 3LT grade over the 2LT and 1LT. What's more, 60.7 percent of them opted for the Z51 package. As for the Z06, make that 5,252 examples of the Z06 and 1,845 takers for the Z07 package. Only 285 customers got the Z06-specific ROY painted carbon-fiber wheels, and 871 customers opted for ROZ visible carbon-fiber wheels.
Last but certainly not least, bear in mind that 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of America's favorite sports car. Split between the Stingray Coupe, Convertible, Z06 Coupe, and Convertible, the 70th Anniversary package was optioned 5,601 times, which is 10.4 percent of total production.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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