Photos Of Mid-Engine C8 Corvette Body Panels Surface
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We have reason to believe these photos are legitimate and show the mid-engine C8 Corvette’s front and rear body panels at the Bowling Green assembly plant’s new paint shop. If General Motors is testing paint quality for the C8 Corvette at this point in time, it might mean the next-generation Corvette is closer than anticipated.
A Corvette Forum user posted the photos to a thread and the consensus is these parts reside in the newly constructed paint shop. In fact, with a little imagination, they seem to match up quite well with the latest C8 Corvette spy shots. The front bumper looks wide and gaping, and it’s absolutely not for the 2019 C7 Corvette ZR1. The air inlets point in opposite directions.
The rear bumper panel tells more. It’s just as wide and we can almost imagine where massive tires will hug the panel. It depicts angular rear taillight shapes that will likely emerge as an evolution from the C7 Corvette’s design. We also see inlets below the taillights, too.
It’s the latest high-profile leak surrounding the mid-engine Corvette after the car itself was spied out to lunch at a McDonald’s in Michigan. We also learned GM will build the 2018 model year Corvette for just a few more months when the plant goes back online after retooling. Come the end of January, Bowling Green will churn out 2019 model year Corvettes.
It’s plausible we may see the mid-engine Corvette surface sometime next year. Numerous reports peg early 2019 as an on-sale date for the car. Nothing is certain, but we know one thing: the mid-engine Corvette cometh.
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Reports are mid to late January for the change over with the C7 and C8 being produced at one time for a while.
These photos make this report plausible.
Pretty big gaps in the front for a mid engine, unless it will have a hood similar to the GT
I think the gaps seem large because it’s actually of the next camaro
I would think they would retain a similar trunk opening to the current camaro for the next update.
The rear panel in the background of the second picture gives a better idea of what the car will look like.
It will have a hood vent to prevent pressure under the car.
The radiators will remain up front.
It also will have active air that will opdnsnd close as down force is needed or added cooling.
The nose also will be set to a switch or GPS to raise up for curbs. You can set the GPS for work Home to lift for the curb.
There will be many new features. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
How did you obtain the GPS feature info? 😉
Automated door functions possible?
Pays to know a employee for a supplier. It is a similar system as used on Ferrari and Lamborghini.
It is the only way to get good aero and keep the nose on the car.
The suspension work was done in Spain and France.
He works for a suspension supplier.
corvette racing want to run the 24 hr of Daytona with a mid engine race car like all the other cars in its class are. this what ford did with the GT racing it a year before the GT was for sale to the p[ublic
Ha…..went on sale to the public..good one.
This is exactly why GM is presently testing the car! So what’s the point of your article?
The point of the article is for people like you to read it and see the adds. It’s a pretty simple concept. Thanks for your support.
Read the adds? What about the subtracts? I’d say thank a teacher, but likely he/she wasn’t listened to very closely.
I have several HOPES for the Mid-Engine Corvette
1) That it looks great
2) That its very very fast
3) That it doesn’t cost a fortune
4) That it doesn’t replace the current front engine Corvette but serve as a an addition to the family
I am with you FrankR and I hope Speedy is wrong. I am thinking there will be customers for both the front engine and mid engine Vett. Ferrari has both so why not the Corvette?
Define “a fortune”?
I think the MR Corvette will be out of the reach of most middle income earners, if that’s what you mean.
I think the Mid engine Corvette will be out of reach for most middle income people. That why I think they need both Front and Mid engine Corvettes.
I also think they need both to keep he factors operating at a decient rate because the Mid engine price point will cause it to sell in too limited numbers. Can’t imagine GM putting that kind of money in a factory to have it operate at most like a third or less than its current rate.
There’s a distinct possibility they produce 2018 FE Vettes OR 2019 ME Vettes with rotating or overlapping production schedules.
That all depends on the so-called modernisation and re-tooling of the Vette factory. If it is a truely flexible production line, no problemo.
But GM will watch the market closely to see where the greatest profits stand to be made and which models inventories are building up at dealers (ie. not selling). They will need to make profit in any case to pay for the C8 ME re-tooling.
There won’t be any front engine corvette added, people needed to get that out there heads.
Yeah. Why would GM have 2 separate production run for 2 different platforms that do the same thing in the same market segment? It’s just a open-ended waste of money; money that they can’t afford to waste getting a return on their engineering money spent making a whole new platform.
Well they damn sure didn’t shut the factory down for a good cleaning now did they..
We don’t need Corvette sedans and Suv’s just pure sport cars. GM has enough other sources for those type of vehicles.
I’m pretty sure these are from the next Camaro not a Corvette
No there won’t be any front engine corvette’s. C8 corvette will be ME. And as of cost, take a look at grand sport or these up coming C7 ZR1.
Look at these spy shots of these c8 and these body panels, they look real close, to these c8, doesn’t look like a Camaro at all .
Someone is getting fired LOL
The Camaro crossed my mind too. But we also must consider how the Camato and Corvette of late are sharing mor family styling.
I expect the refresh of the Camaro to share some styling with the C8.
I with we has something to judge the size of this nose piece. The openings are pretty large for head lights.
That did cross my mind; however, the front bumper looks no different from the current Camaros. Then I looked back at the rear bumper and that’s also pretty darn close. I have a friend that works at the Milford proving grounds, I know that I can’t ask him if that is the new Corvette but I have gotten out of him that everything is still camo-ed and tarped on the C8s.
Well, GM is moving the Camaro upmarket to take the place of where the Corvette is today. Corvette is moving up market to super car territory (and more profit potential), so it will be priced as such.
This is the whole general strategy for almost all car companies…Move key models upmarket and charge more as those buyers age and have more purchasing power…Cadillac CTS, BMW 3/ 4 series, etc.
Well the Corvette will cover a larger range in price but the base car will still come in around $70k.
The other thing that does not fit is why would Camaro parts be in Ky?
There just is no logic to Camaro parts in a Corvette plant what so ever.
I just suspect that the Corvette is sharing the family face just as it already does with the Camaro tail.
They have done this before in the early 70’s with round tail lamps and pointed noses.
Do me a favor and Google 2017 Camaro SS front bumper, if you’re still not convinced then I’m done
Google map the Corvette Plant and google map the Camsro plant and why would the paint a Camaro nose two states away?
Not really any logic to this.
Also the tech center would be doing any of the work on the prototypes. They have their own paint shop and would do the work in Warren.
Give on good reason why Camaro work would be done in KY. With out any good reasons it makes no sense.
Besides how big would the headlights need to be to fill these holes? They would make much better air ducts for brakes.
This is not unlike when the US introduces a new fighter jet as every aspect of it is news as there will be more stories like this until General Motors takes a pre–production C8 Corvette to a major event and one has to imagine that the new Corvette will be on the cover of a number of magazines and not just car magazines.
Radiators and brakes cooling in these front.
How light do you think the C8 can be? C6 Zo6 is 3150 pounds. All C7 corvettes are much higher then that.
Can GM get the C8 under 3k while having more power then the LT1 or LT4?
I expect weight may have to do with the price,
The base models will be over but higher priced models will have more carbon.
Again how fast depends on how much you spend.
Even the base should be just over 3000
It’s not a Camaro SS bumper, it doesn’t match. Camaro front ends come with the headlight bezels. That has nothing.
It definitely doesn’t match anything for sale now in 2017 or 18. especially that rear end