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Mid-Engine C8 Corvette Rendered In 3D: Video

The mid-engine C8 Corvette had its fair share of spottings and leaks this past year, and new video aims to provide our best look yet at the new car.

YouTuber kaldarleifar has taken the spy photos and worked magic to bring the mid-engine C8 Corvette to life in the best way possible. The creator said he used photogrammetry, the use of photography in surveying and mapping to measure distances between objects, to create a pretty spot-on representation of what the final car could look like.

Mid-Engine Chevrolet Corvette Spy Shots - Nurburgring - September 2018 010

The front end falls directly in life with what we’ve imagined lies underneath the swirled camouflage. The nose is very much still a Corvette and the headlights even appear similar to the current C7 Corvette Stingray. As the 3D model rotates, the side view features a large scoop to feed air into the mid-mounted engine and we’re really digging the style lines running over where the door would sit. However, this feature may be pushed back slightly as to not interrupt a production door. Though, now that we look at spy shots again, this same scallop does seem to impede on area where the door handle would be.

Finally, at the rear, the rendering sports long taillights that we’re sure will be filled with traditional Corvette light signatures and two vented areas. The final blank spaces are where the production car will house quad exhaust tips—a major departure from the current car that sees its exhaust outlets organized in a single-file line in the center.

Mid-Engine Chevrolet Corvette spy shots - rear end - September 2018 001

The overall package looks pretty close to what we will likely see from the production car when it debuts. But, we do imagine the front fascia to look somewhat slimmer and not as chunky looking.

When the C8 Corvette debuts, look for an updated 6.2-liter LT1 V8 engine and new DOHC V8 engines to power the sports car. We could see the production car as early as the 2019 Detroit auto show.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. Rick conti seems to have intel to a unveil date and a huge surprise nugget about the car that will blow everyone away. I’m guessing sooner then later…. around the Detroit show? And for the nugget what could that be? He already ruled out active aero being it.

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  2. Just my opinion but like nearly all GM designs the ass end is way to big and too high.

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    1. The N”ASS”CAR look.

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      1. Lol!!!

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    2. Was just talking about this yesterday! Impala is a terrible offender. Everything in the GM lineup is a wedge. The C7 is gorgeous. I think the C8 is a miss so far. Pretty sad about it.

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  3. Still, there is too much tradition in the Corvette name to call this one. This is a whole new animal.

    Whenever Porsche comes out with a sports car that has an engine somewhere other than the rear, they don’t call it a 911.

    When Audi came out with something brand new and mid engined, they called it the R8.

    Dodge’s Charger, Challenger deserve their names, because the essence is the same as in the originals.

    VW shall be forgiven for the New Beetle despite the different layout because it looks like the original.

    This neither looks nor acts like a Corvette.

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    1. But that’s where you’re wrong. The Chargers’ essence looks nothing like the original, lest not as a four door. I know you can remember when people where losing their minds at the prospect of a 4-door Charger 12 years ago. The Charger concept of 1999 enraged so many people as sacrilege to the Charger name.

      They probably lost their minds in the same way they did when the fifth generation Charger was a FWD coupe in the 80’s, but I suspect you’re deliberate ignoring that generation of Charger, as neither that car or the Charger of today would qualify to meet your ‘essence’ argument.

      If you can accept the Charger of today because it has “the essence is the same as in the originals” in that they both have RWD and V8 engines, you can accept the C8 as a Corvette in that it will be a RWD, V8 sports coupe.

      If the number of doors (or drivetrain) doesn’t disqualify a Charger from being a Charger, then the placement of the engine doesn’t disqualify a Corvette from being a Corvette.

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      1. The current 2011-present Charger does take a some cues from the originals, such taillights, scallops, roofline if you compare them closely but yeah I agree with you on the 4-doors.

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        1. 20 years after the concept car and 12 years after the first production model, the people who complained the most no longer care about the number of doors on a Charger. If the product is good and the majority of the market is happy, the name doesn’t matter.

          I’d put the same argument for Cadillac too. The market just doesn’t care that the CT6 isn’t called Fleetwood if the finished product today is better than what come before.

          I’ll bet ol’ magirus won’t care about the placement of the C8’s engine a few years from now.

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    2. If you want to have a laugh, compare the design of the 1960s Porsche 911 to the current model. It looks like a modern version of this car. Now compare the 1950s Corvette to today’s vette. The C8 is more similar to C7 than the C2 is to the C1.

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    3. They have a ME 911; the 911RSR. Race track only however.

      That said, I agree with you; don’t call this a Corvette.

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  4. Perhaps it is just me but just way too Camaro looking to be a Corvette. Folks have been waiting for 40+ years for the mid engine Corvette, I was hoping for something that just blew your socks off. I think they should have used the old AeroVette concept as an inspiration. http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/08/mid-engine-corvette-the-1976-aerovette/

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    1. I agree and I agree with the comment above about the size of the car’s rump; it’s way too big. I too was hoping for something like the C1/C2 or C2/C3 transition where the look was totally new and a watershed design. New Corvettes haven’t been stunning to behold since 1968. The C4 was a technological tour de force in 1984 and a big leap but design-wise, it was evolutionary. C5, C6, and C7 likewise were evolved designs that weren’t significant departures. I was hoping this mid-engine model would be. They could’ve at least done round tail lamps.

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    2. New pedestrian collision standards prevent such a low and pointy front end. That’s why all cars are becoming more boxy. The high beltlines are the result of more stringent side impact standards.

      I think you’ll be pleased with the production version. Underneath the camo, fillers, and faux panels, it’s a stunning design.

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      1. Forget that! Give me the days of pointy chrome steel bumpers and huge hood ornaments. Take that pedestrians! Stay on on the sidewalk.

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  5. Where do you people expect the mid engine, transaxle, and suspension to go if you design a small rear end?

    There is a reason why the c5,c6c,c7 all have large rear ends.

    This is my problem with most car guys today, nothing is ever good enough! You build a mid engine Corvette and people still complain. GM makes the Corvette handle like never before, people still complain. GM makes the Corvette faster then ever before, people still complain!

    C8 is coming and people will find something to complain about it!

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  6. Yah, seriously, what is up with that boxy back end on these testers? It’s derivative of 80’s designs. The C8.R looks way better, so I’m hoping these testers are somehow not the final design.

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  7. Terrible rendering – it looks nothing like the real C8.

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