In 1953, the first 300 Corvettes were built by hand in Flint, Michigan, just after General Motors unveiled the Corvette as a "dream car" in the Motorama show in New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel. The following year, production moved to St. Louis. In June of 1981, Corvette production transferred from St. Louis to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Previously a Chrysler air-conditioning factory, the building was completely renovated into a modern automotive facility twice the size of the previous structure. It took approximately 14 months to convert it to the sophisticated technical operation it is today. The first Kentucky-built Corvette rolled off the Bowling Green line on June 1, 1981.

The Bowling Green Assembly Plant is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It sits on 250 acres of land, located directly off Interstate I-65. This is the only place in the world where the Chevrolet Corvette and the Cadillac XLR are produced. The plant is over one million square feet under roof, or the equivalent of 22 football fields. Bowling Green Assembly employs approximately 1,200 workers. Over 1,000 are members of UAW Local 2164 and the others are salaried management.

The plant assembles more than 35,000 Chevrolet Corvettes and 4,000 Cadillac XLRs per year. Production each day ranges from 150-170 Corvettes and approximately 16 XLRs are produced a day. We have 387 suppliers from which we receive 1,376 parts. Seventy-seven percent of the car is made in the USA and Canada.

The Assembly plant hosts more than 50,000 enthusiasts each year. From start to finish each Corvette spends approximately 36 hours winding seven miles of conveyor systems in the plant. In the paint department body panels spend ten hours winding two miles on a conveyor system. Body panels receive three coats of paint: primer, color and clear coat. The paint is manufactured by DuPont. Corvette and XLR body panels are composite fiberglass, except for the front and rear bumpers, which are urethane.

Current production includes the Cadillac XLR luxury roadster and supercharged XLR-V and three models of the 2008 Chevrolet Corvette: the coupe, the convertible and the high-performance Z06. Every car is custom built for a specific customer. The cars are not mass produced. Each sold order is either for a dealer showroom or a customer order placed through a dealership. Bowling Green Assembly does not manufacture any of the parts for their vehicles, they are only assembled at this location.

Production runs one shift, Monday through Friday, from 6:12am until 2:42pm. Plant tours are offered Monday thru Friday at 9:00am, 11:30am and 1:15pm, when the plant is open for normal operation. A $5 fee per person helps fund our WKU student intern program.