Corvette Team Loses Another Key Member in GM Performance Shakeup

Corvette Exterior Design Manager Kirk Bennion has left General Motors, according to his LinkedIn account. In doing so, he becomes the third senior member of the GM Performance team to retire over the course of the past year alongside Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter and Corvette Project Manager Harlan Charles. While GM has downplayed rumors that it plans to re-imagine the Corvette “brand,” these high-profile departures—forced or otherwise—leave us wondering just what GM has envisioned for the next generation of the program.

While Juechter’s retirement was long-telegraphed, the circumstances surrounding the departures of both Charles and Bennion are less clear. Charles characterized his separation from GM as a forced retirement and has taken to signing social media posts as the “FORMER Chevrolet Corvette Product Marketing Manager.” Bennion has not commented publicly about his separation, but CorvetteBlogger.com reported Tuesday that he was fired. Charles worked at GM for 37 years; Bennion, for 41.

“I have had the greatest life I could have ever imagined because of Corvette. We were able to prove that America can compete with the best in the world and win,” Charles said when he announced his departure on Facebook. “I was able to work on four generations. No one can take away what I think is Corvette’s best era in history. I had the honor of working with Corvette legends like Tadge Juechter and Kirk Bennion. Josh Holder, Devon Blue, and Tony Roma and the rest of the team have my best wishes for the future.”

We can’t help but notice that of the six people mentioned in his post (Charles included), the first three are no longer with the company. With GM insisting that the Corvette will remain a Chevrolet and not be spun off into its own brand, this could simply be GM’s way of reducing redundancies between Corvette and the broader brand portfolio, especially if Chevy is only going to produce one dedicated enthusiast car going forward rather than two.

And we say that because these departures may also lend credence to rumors of a significant pivot for the Camaro program. While Juechter and Charles were known as high-profile members of the Corvette team, Bennion was also the lead designer for the sixth-generation pony car, which was just discontinued last year.

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