Build Your Own Engine Option Now Offered to Canadian Corvette Enthusiasts
Exclusive Program Lets Customers Help Create Their Own Corvette
For enthusiasts who want to be personally involved in creating their Corvette, Chevrolet’s Corvette Engine Build Experience allows them to literally build the engine for their new car.
In what is believed to be the world’s most hands-on super car program, customers who order a 2011 Corvette Z06 or ZR1 can choose to help assemble their cars’ LS7 or LS9 engines at General Motors’ Performance Build Center (PBC) in Wixom, Mich.
“Corvette owners are some of the most passionate – and most involved – enthusiasts in the industry,” said Paul Dinneen, Marketing Manager for Luxury and Sport Vehicles. “The Corvette Engine Build Experience offers customers an unprecedented opportunity to participate, hands on, in creating the car.”
The Engine Build Experience is an option with a suggested retail price of $5,800 CAD . When a customer selects this option, they are contacted by a special concierge to verify participation and help coordinate arrangements. While travel arrangements to and from Metro Detroit are the customer’s responsibility, the Chevrolet concierge helps schedule the engine build; coordinates the customer’s activities at the Performance Build Center; assists with booking local lodging, meals and arranges local transportation.
At the PBC, the customer doesn’t merely view the engine’s assembly; he or she builds it under the supervision of and support from skilled technicians. When the engine is assembled, a personalized nameplate is added to the engine next to the builder’s name. It is then sent to the Corvette assembly plant for installation in the customer’s car.
The Corvette Engine Build Experience is possible because of the hand-assembly processes used at the 100,000-square-foot PBC. Technicians hand-build the Corvette Z06’s LS7 7.0L engine, the Corvette ZR1’s 6.2L supercharged LS9 engine and a variation of the Corvette Grand Sport’s LS3 6.2L engine. The PBC incorporates the best practices of low-volume niche manufacturers and the established quality and manufacturing standards at GM to ensure the highest-quality specialized engines.
Like all engines assembled at the PBC, Engine Build Experience engines are covered by Chevrolet’s five year / 160,000 km transferable powertrain warranty.
“Simply put, no other sports car manufacturer can match the level of personal customer involvement that Corvette offers,” Dinneen said. “The Corvette Engine Build Experience takes this personal involvement to an unprecedented level.”