Mid-Engine Corvette Spy Shots Showcase Revolutionary Changes In Store
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The most recent spy shots of the inbound mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette finally begin to paint a picture that will soon be reality: this new Corvette will be revolutionary.
The shots, published by Autoblog, give us the best look yet of the all-but-confirmed super Corvette, showcasing a short front end with an elongated rear portion where the engine sits tucked neatly in the center. It’s difficult to make out any design cues up front, but it’s easy to see some traditional looking Corvette taillamps at the rear of this mule.
As for what’s powering the upcoming Corvette, speculation includes a twin-turbo V6 engine and a more Corvette-faithful friendly V8 engine. You can bet GM’s latest 10-speed automatic will be outfitted here, too.
The Corvette, codenamed “Emperor”, is rumored to debut in 2018 with a 2019 on-sale date. Reports also peg a front-engine variant Corvette to be sold alongside this mid-engined one for a few years before the Corvette goes solely mid-engine for the future.
Nothing is certain except one thing: start preparing for a mid-engine Corvette, world.
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It will be interesting. I hope this puts a stop to the claims of no mid engine Corvette now. Even the profile is similar to the Daytona Prototypes..
Tough to make any details here as the nose is well padded and the mule is using the C7 tail lamps. They will not move to product lights till late in the program as has been normal practice of late.
Still a lot of questions but at least we are not getting some more solid answers.
Note this photo was no accident. GM knows where they can be seen at what angle. They take these paths when they want to show what they have.
“Note this photo was no accident. GM knows where they can be seen at what angle. They take these paths when they want to show what they have.”
Tease the public from 1000 yards away. Let them see a blurry interior door skin and some blurry taillights. But I think the side shot tells more.
The side shot was to confirm it was mid engine nothing more nothing less. Note the roof line is also clear to present a clear view this is a Corvette profile not anything else.
Some of the people have met at GM has told me how they set up these shots. Also one of the spy photogs told me how he gets a call to be at a specific place at a specific time to take photos of specific parts of the car. Not all of it is by change. GM hides from them but they also use them when needed.
Once the mid-engine Corvette hits the market.. it’s going to hit the market for sports car like Apple’s MAC OS as everyone should be afraid because you’ve got to think Mary Barra wouldn’t have green light this project unless Chevrolet engineers proved they had the right stuff and could turn the entire industry on it’s head by bringing a lightweight and affordable mid-engine sports car to the market.
What they need to fear is this cars gestation has been not just a couple years but nearly a decade. It was in the works as a C7 till Lutz delayed it. He stated so himself recently.
With that much time they could really do some amazing engineering details and had more development money than if they had only 5 years to do this.
While they worked on the C7 they never stopped engineering on the C8 as it was reported long ago there were two c programs running at the same time.
This should prove to be very interesting at what they will bring. It could turn the entire mid level mid engine market on its ear as this car I expect will out perform most of them at half the cost or more. The mega cars will not be effected as they are in their own group and have prices to support things beyond mass production.
If reports are accurate they expect this car to start at $70K and will go to just under $200K. It will be interesting to see if this comes true.
It was not initially green-lighted by Barra and I hope the hell it is nothing like the Mac OS. We want excitement not boredom.
If the C8 was OSX, then it would have vendor lock-in; a practice that the Corvette, and by extension GM, would suffer irreparable negative PR damage if they implemented it.