What we would give to be a fly on the wall at the Bowling Green assembly plant these days. After millions of dollars in investment, the production line is now capable of building separate vehicles on one assembly line. And the first of the “separate” vehicles from the front-engine C7 Corvette allegedly has begun.
According to a MidEngineCorvetteForum.com user, pre-production of the mid-engine C8 Corvette has begun. Specifically, General Motors has marked various Friday dates to build a handful of pre-production cars since the current Corvette is assembled Monday through Thursday. The first date was allegedly July 13, according to the poster’s source. The second date? Today, August 10.
Thus far, GM has supposedly built 40 C8 Corvettes total.
The news follows an influx of mid-engine Corvette happenings this week, specifically as spy photographers captured the C8.R racer testing in public for the first time. The photos give us our best look at some of the production car’s design cues.
If pre-production has begun, a 2019 on-sale date doesn’t appear out of the question. The biggest question is where the revolutionary new Corvette will make its debut.
Comments
Please let the new C8 Corvette look like that because there will be one in my garage! To go along with my 70 C10!
That thing looks like a Hyundai. Fugly.
You see a Hyundai??!
More like Ferrari McLaren
Looks like the competition is getting very nervous about this car…and should be!
Looks like a Hyundai!!?? Is that supposed to be a negative thing?
Hyundai makes some rather attractive looking vehicles; a few other manufacturers would do well to follow their lead.
It will look better. Far better. The side scoops will be amazingly cool and they have not yet been seen by the public, nor will they be until the Detroit auto show.
While I’ll miss the classic proportions, I’ve gotta say… just sitting in this car is going to give a lot of people a high they won’t soon come down off of.
Whoa, built on a Friday and the 13th, too?! Stay away from that one. LOL
Maybe you should become an adult and stay away from childish superstitions too.
You don’t want it? Great!! i’ll take it in less than a heart beat!
It almost seems as if GM has finally figured out the error of their ways. Usually GM shows a concept of an exciting new vehicle many years in advance of production. It gets lots of press attention and public interest. People actually show up at dealers looking for it only to be told it won’t be available for a few years. By the time it is launched it’s old news, all interest has faded, and sales never live up to expectations as a result. I’d cite the Escala as the latest example but the relaunched Camaro took an agonizingly long time from concept to production as did the Volt and many others.
If GM keeps the C8 under wraps until very close to its release date, it would truly be a big change for the company and one that I think they’d benefit from. Let the automotive press be going crazy for the mid-engined Corvette Zora at the same time the cars are rolling into dealerships. Imagine that. They’d have crowds in dealerships again like they did in days gone by. They could again announce a “show date” and build enthusiasm. So, to the question of where this thing premieres; which auto show it launches at? Maybe it’ll premiere simultaneously at Chevy dealers across the country. If Apple can pull off this kind of a launch and draw crowds for something as ubiquitous as a phone, Chevrolet ought to be able to pull a page from their old playbook and launch a car that way again. It almost seems like that’s what they are planning.
Well you have to put things into context.
GM for years showed prototypes early and drug ten out for many years. The case in point 5th gen Camaro.
But there was a reason why GM did things like this. For the last 30 years they were going broke with low stock prices and poor product.
They began to play the prototype game to entice investors and to try to show they were trying to turn the product around.
The problem was they found few invested and the still were stuck with a damaged company with too many brands and a broken culture that said the were better but were not.
GM on the C7 kept it under cover very well till some insider leaked a drawing but few believed it was real.
To be honest GM dropped a bunch of Easter Eggs on us but few understood.
Anyone remember the C6 based mid engine prototype testing in California back about 11 years ago?
Then how can we forget the Mystery Mid Engined Malibu in NYC with Corvette flags and wheels.
There will be a big event and it will be stunning. But with cell phones and media leaks it will not be a dealer event. Those things are just not possible anymore with the web and prying eyes.
We also must credit the improved Camo for holding secrets. Just look how long many were fooled into this being a Cadillac.
I think many of the thinks that were right in front of us all along will be shown soon at the intro and you will be surprised at what was over looked.
The days of need to milk long therm prototypes are over. Only long term ideas will be showcased to test ideas and technologies.
Yes we will still have pure show cars just for the media buzz.
Scott3,
I’m inclined to think you’re right that the days of building hype and having everyone showing up at a dealer for “show date” where they get their first look at a new car may be over in our 24-7 media culture. Then I think of Apple and the way they keep new products under wraps until mere days before launch. With Apple, millions of their new products have already been produced in relative secrecy before the big web reveal that half the world anxiously watches. So they manage to do it and the hype and anticipation and desire on the part of consumers to be the first to get the new Apple iPhone X, for instance, becomes a huge driver of sales.
While it may not be possible to truly keep the Y2 secret till it arrives at dealers, GM is definitely up to something here; their strategy is for sure different. Rumor is that Bowling Green was building pilot Y2 cars yesterday and they built them on July 13th too as the above article outlines yet GM still hasn’t shown it or even confirmed they are building it. That’s not typical.
I hope they keep playing coy and start building it before the reveal and have folks camped out around Bowling Green trying to see them. Then create a huge spectacle when it’s finally revealed with an on-sale date immediately thereafter. That’d be the kind of excitement GM used to build for new cars and this is going to be the biggest new product in many years so it merits a big, splashy roll-out with lots of drama.
Ci2eye; you have total reason
“What we would give to be a fly on the wall at the Bowling Green assembly plant these days.” Just less than $100 will get you a Wi-Fi spy camera, even with the lens shaped as a Phillips screw head (I have one). The hard part is getting thte camera inside!
And if caught you would lose your job, face possible jail time and be in major debt from legal fees to your lawyer.
That’s the challenge
That is the crime.
Chevrolet puts a lot of work into creating a certain, special feeling about the new Corvettes. It’s a tribute to the designers and the people that assemble these machines, plus the money backers. We can guess and imagine, but spoiling that for them with illegal spying seems un-american. We need to give them that moment …..
Man I hope I can afford one of these… I would readily take a lower tier engine to be able to drive something so badass to work.
Odds are if not new the used market will make for great deals.
Good clean used Vettes anymore tend to be in big supply. This is bad for resale but it makes them a great deal for the second owner. It also opens the door for low mile cars being able to be purchased buy those who can not go new.
This really opens the supercar to many more people.
One of the appeals of the front engine Corvette (for some owners) was how easy it was to work on, especially engine work, in contrast to a Porsche or Ferrari or anything with a mid-engine layout. Even those that didn’t do the work themselves, appreciated the significantly lower bills from their mechanic.
I wonder if that was a consideration for C8 design in any way? Is the engine going to have to come out to do maintenance or minor repairs?
Don’t read between the lines and think I’m saying “bad choice” to go mid; I’m just creating a point of discussion.
Not all mid engines are that hard to work on.
The truth is Ferraris are just hard to work on front or mid engine.
To be honest the front engine Vette has good and bad things to work on.
Case in point my neighbors C5 had a failed fuel pump. To replace it the rear suspension and trans axle had to come out. The exhaust had to come out and then the fuel tank could come down.
With the Vette some things are packaged well some not.the key on the avette is GM used timing chains and suspension parts that do not need to be replaced in 30k miles. Ferrari and other high end models just have intense maintenance issues that are costly and have to be done by a documented trained mechanic or you kill the value of the car.
GM then to try to keep it affordable.
I really see the Mid engine may actually be easier to work on on many ways. I have worked on a number of mid engine cars and they are all not equal in pita work.
To be honest I have had more FWD vehicles I hate to work on more.
I dont always work on my car, but when it’s an expensive mid-engine race car, I prefer to do it myself.