From your post on the other REFR board
Did GM hit the panic button....... I trying to hypothesize what exactly has transpired.
Chronologically:
6/14/2024 Tony Roma announcement
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Roma, who currently serves as the chief engineer for the electric Cadillac Celestiq, will take over starting on July 1. He'll also lead GM's newly formed luxury and performance car team. In a press release, GM President Mark Reuss said, "Tony is a natural fit to succeed Tadge. . . . I see a great future for Corvette and the other vehicles that Tony's team will create."
"Other vehicles"
So on 5/5/25 you have Tony Roma touting the SPD Smartglass roof in an article about how AGP furnace is needed to make this glass.
“We had to find a furnace large enough in the world, and there’s one furnace in the world that can bend automotive glass to get the shape of the roof we want, and it’s in Peru,” Roma explained. “The glass is made in Belgium, it’s laminated and made as flat sheet stock in Belgium, sent to Peru, molded into this shape, and then sent up to us [in Michigan].”
That means that the roof of a Cadillac Celestiq travels approximately 10,000 miles from the genesis of its production until it’s installed on a car. That’s quite a long, global journey for what is ostensibly a sunroof, normally a pretty simple part to source.
Now at that time AGP was seeking a buyer. But in June the buyer pulled back.
XGlass even promised to invest 100 million euros in the factories in East Flanders. This would have allowed 680 of the 1,200 employees to keep their jobs. 400 people in Rumbeke would lose their jobs, while in Evergem and Zwijnaarde originally only 160 jobs would be lost.
However, the American buyer was unable to deliver on its promises, and major clients such as Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi did not want to go along with the new business plan. The planned takeover has therefore failed.
I believe that Joe actually thought the new supplier which had taken on Ferrarri might be doing the same for Corvette. The Corvette roof would not have the requirements for a large furnace giving its size.
I think that the decision to not go with SPD would have been predicated on that. But what company could step in. If it is indeed Gentex, then when was that decision made and could the cause for delay be because Gentex is taking longer to supply GM? If this were the case, then GM would wait for Gentex even if it were delayed, because they would have signed a contract.
So while I don't believe that somehow the SPD glass supplier stepped in and it's just taking longer, I can't say that I don't think there is a sliver of a chance that Corvette may go with SPD.
ND |
