Mid-Engine C8 Corvette Debut Likely For Summer 2019
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Previously, GM Authority broke the news that the 2019 North American International Auto Show would not play host to the mid-engine C8 Corvette’s debut. In fact, we also learned and exclusively reported the car had been delayed six months due to electrical issues.
When will the mid-engine C8 Corvette show up? Likely summer of 2019, according to our sources close to the matter. GM Authority can confirm a major auto show will not star the debut of the highly anticipated sports car. Instead, look for the mid-engine Corvette to have its own standalone reveal.
Although we never confirmed a New York Auto Show debut next year, we did highlight the show’s importance to the Corvette and previously brought up the possibility. The original 1953 Corvette model debuted in the Big Apple that year during GM’s annual Motorama event.
Our sources have floated a summer 2019 debut, perhaps May at the earliest. Enthusiasts and fans will need to hold tight for a while longer as Chevrolet prepares to show off the most revolutionary Corvette in decades.
It’s unclear if the car was ever meant to debut at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, but engineers uncovered a major electrical issue with the car during the development process. According to our sources, the system is currently unable to carry the necessary load needed to support components.
Thus, a total re-engineering effort of the electrical system is underway, which also means GM must coordinate with suppliers to tweak parts and components for production at the Bowling Green assembly plant.
Stay tuned to GM Authority for further news on the mid-engine Corvette as it unfolds.
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They still could have debuted it at Detroit and gave it in on sale date of 3rd quarter. Im thinking they want a special event for it
There’s really no market for a mid-engined car in the US. The total volume of all mid-engined cars sold in America is nothing on the magnitude of what GM will need to justify producing one. I don’t know why they are wasting time with this. They couldn’t sell enough CT6 luxury sedans to justify keeping it in production. There is no way a mid-engined Corvette will be able to meet GM’s volume targets. GM is not a niche carmaker, they are like McDonalds; they do big volume, low cost products.
GM is not like McDonald’s. There is no beef at McDonald’s. McDonald’s is a restaurant that does not sell food.
Ci2Eye: You are not known as an educated or even intelligent poster on here…And a bit of sore loser…
I will just leave it at that…
Only in your upside down world of alternative facts and lunatic conspiracy theories is Ci2Eye NOT known as an intelligent poster. Unlike yourself, his posts and opinions are always well founded and are more often than not spot on. He is also a courteous poster–something you and your brigade of phony-baloney conspiracy a$$hats are most definitely not. I say these things knowing full well that he and I have political differences (as do several posters here that I respect). You could learn much from him about reality and about how to conduct yourself without consistently making a fool of yourself.
Believe me, when reality sets in someday and you and your ilk move on this place is going to erupt in cheers. Ci2Eye on the other hand would be missed by many if he ever left.
-The guy whose screen name you & your buddies appropriated
The volume on other mid-engine cars is low because they’re priced so high. Since the C8 will be priced within 10% of the C7 GM can expect volume to be about the same or slightly less than the C7.
The one attribute that could drop sales volume is if there is too little cargo space. GM is rumored to have solved the cargo space issue with mid-engine cars, but we’ll see. My guess is that in addition to the frunk there will be space behind the engine that’s similar in size to the space on a C7 convertible. That’s probably enough.
This is still playing in the Corvette’s old market segment assuming GM doesn’t astronomically hike the pricing.
The Corvette needs a mid-engine layout to be competitive with the ultra-high performance class, differentiate from its stablemate Camaro and stop getting devoured by Porsche.
The laws of physics do not allow the current layout to improve performance as was reported in reviews of the ZR1 — I’m sure the Camaro ZL1 will still be available for those who prefer front-engine RWD layouts.
Just because you hate the idea of Mid Engine is not a formula for failure.
You have little to compare for sales as the limiting factor of most mid engine cars is price. Most are very limited models that have to charge big prices to make up for the low volume they are planned for.
Might note the Fiero in 5 years even with all the bad PR, lack of power and flaws still sold 343,766 units.
Now the new Corvette will not sell in these numbers but they will easily match and carry the present production number or better.
The price for the standard model will be very close to what we have today and like the present model the faster you want the more expensive it will get.
The hall mark for the Corvette is it was the best bang for the buck. But in recent years that has changed to it just being a world competitive performance sports car that can still be had for much less than the others it competes with.
The life of a two seat car is often limited. most live 10 years or less but the Corvette and Miata are the two exceptions. Both have a formula and niche that have made them successful where others have failed.
The mid engine will open the door to many more opportunities as the front engine car was maxed out. You had to have that big wing to get anything more from it. This new lay out will offer the chance at AWD and even a hybrid power drive to make it even faster in the way the LaFerrari works but at a much lower price.
You do not have to like this car but stop making up BS just to make your displeasure heard. It only kills any credibility you have.
Dragging Cadillac in here is a whole different set of issues and holds no relation to this car. The fact the CTS and the CT6 were very similar in size was a greater issue as was the interior quality and tranny issue Cadillac suffered. The turn over of Cadillac leadership has killed any continuity of the brand. Every time they get a start the leader and his plans die.
Can’t wait this car is going to be unreal!! With all the supercar tech this car is going to receive and if rumors are true that it will only be 10-15K more then a C7 these will take the world by storm not just NA.
And as I have said before rick conti has said New York was “the planned” reveal before the delay. This car deserves a huge reveal one with a build up with teasers & etc.
Yeah, Scott. The Fiero is the perfect reference. It sold in numbers previously unheard of for a mid-engined car but what happened to Fiero? It was canned. Discontinued. Axed. Eliminated. Killed. Put-out-to-pasture. Why? Because it wasn’t good enough for GM. The volume was too low. GM only wants to sell low cost, high volume products which is fine. If that’s their strategy, that’s fine but why continually tease their fans and develop products that have no hope of ever living in the GM culture?
I don’t hate mid-engine cars. In fact, I was thrilled by the notion of (finally) a mid-engined Corvette. I was hoping it was a companion to the C7 Stingray to be called Zora. All that came crashing down to earth on November 26th when GM cancelled two of their most compelling cars; the CT6 and Volt due to insufficient volume, along with four other models. I was immediately reminded that New GM is just like Old GM and is run by the same people. They don’t do niche products or halo cars or image-building cars or even true luxury cars, not for very long anyway. They do Big Macs for the masses. As such, they have no business even starting this vanity “C8” that everybody should know will most likely not live to celebrate a fifth birthday.
I wish that wasn’t true but I think it is. GM has never shown a willingness to keep something around that can’t pull it’s own weight. A GM product must sell in significant volumes and make money or its gone. I’m sure some overzealous car lovin’ engineers have made a business case to the GM beancounters that shows the mid-engined Corvette can ‘make its numbers’, just like they did with Fiero. When it inevitability can’t, it’ll be gone. I’m sorry but actually the facts, aka history, support that assertion.
Ci2Eye
President Trump is still President…Thought you said he would be impeached like 2 years ago?
Obviously you talk more than you know.
I have never spoken about Trump here. You have me confused with someone else. I try to never speak of politics here.
Yes let’s everyone drop the politics here and not ruin another thread.
The political post here have gotten out of hand on both sides and is killing this web site.
Hammer each other on the cars but leave the politics out where they are not involved like here.
I try to come here to escape the BS politics of the web. So do many others.
Well said, I’m up here in Canada and we all have the same interest for cars and let’s all banter all we want about options, styling, performance etc but what’s the old saying leave politics and religion out of conversations and there would be a lot less arguments
Ci2EYE The real reason for the Fiero failed was on many different levels.
I have been involved with the Fiero since 1980 and know the history well. I also still own my 1985 V6 Fiero yet.
Here is the actual facts as to why the Fiero failed.
#1 the car was hated by Chevy. The Corvette team was losing sales and they saw the Fiero as a threat. Not only was the Fiero set to get a DOHC V6 in 1990 but they had been seen testing a V8 version in AZ Mesa proving grounds. The C4 was losing sales and they feared that if any owners defected to the cheaper Fiero it would put their program in jeopardy.
#2 GM underfunded the car. This lead to many short cuts to get it build by Pontiac and resulted in 4 cylinder issues and bad media.
#3 The Plant Pontiac put the car in was able to produce 250K units per year. The hope was to add the GM 80 program the FWD F body to the plant. It was canceled and with production settled at around the expected 30K units per year it was not enough to fill the plant. Note the Vette often sells less than 30K units as it is now.
There were a number of issues in play but these were the greatest. The Chevy people used the under capacity to kill the car. Today the lone remaining 1990 model is in the Heritage collection.
Pontiac took the risk because they were on the bubble to be closed before that moved to Olds. They got aggressive and it gave them more time.
The Corvette was at risk and many never knew it. Russ McLean in the mid 90’s was ordered to shut down the C5 development as Chevy was going to kill the Corvette at the end of the C4.
He ignored them and kept it quiet and finished the C5. He saved the car but killed his career.
The key to the Corvette is performance and price. As long as they can keep sales between 18K to 35K in the model cycle and continue to make money the car is safe. Few sports cars can sell in those number and survive. Even the Miata is limited to average around 12K units per year.
The Corvette has heritage and is a icon that people are attracted too. It is much like Harley Davidson. Often copies but never duplicated. Yet moving into a future with less performance enthusiast they will have to adjust to the changes.
Performance is key and to get any more from the car they need to move the engine. Also if you want to add AWD you need to move and repackage the car as they attempted to add AWD to the C7 and it would not fit.
Just as the C2 with no trunk moved the car on and then the other changes this car will continue to draw people. The key is keeping it available to a larger number of people than the others at nearly 2.5 times the price will be key.
The other parts like engines like they have van make a ton of power at much less investment than some of the others be it the new Cadillac based engine or the LT based engine. Scale makes it cheaper.
The others are niche companies that do not want to sell 20K units per year. Ferrari likes to keep numbers below 3K. Sell less ask more if your reputation permits. Chevy has no luxury so they have to sell more.
As for the CT6 and other cars they are at the end of their cycles or are being replaced. The investment to replace them is just not practical. GM could spend $8 Billion on another low cost sedan and make some money on declining sales or they can invest in a CUV that makes the same money with increasing sales.
I just saw today the car sales at Toyota was down 17.3 and Honda 6.8 YOY from Nov 2017. Note their CUV and Truck sales were up accept for the Ridgline.
Thank you for the rest of the story on the Fiero Scott!
Previous owner of a bought new ’88 GT. I once had written to the plant manager and he wrote me back and said that I’d be welcome to transfer to his plant.(while it was still open and I wasn’t yet retired)
Hey Scott,
I wrote out a lengthy reply yesterday but it was categorized as Spam and not posted. I can’t rewrite it all but thanks for the insight on the Fiero and I offer my apologies for my attitude. I’m just really down on GM right now after they dropped the Volt and CT6. It seems like to me there is a pattern of them developing landmark products that are never fully fleshed-out then beginning the process of improving them only to drop them before the vision is ever fully realized. Fiero is an example from years ago. CT6 from today and I am concerned that C8 might be next.
Ci2eye what is getting to me are the folks who do not look at the big picture and understand what is going on. They want companies run on emotions and often their knowledge of what all involved in running the company is limited.
The cars being killed have been on the bubble for a good while. The Impala, Lacrosse and XTS have been expected to die for how long now? GM said 2019 a while ago and sales continue to drop.
The Volt is going to be replace by a CUV that better fits the market so that is a step up. The CT6 just never fit in. The CT 5 is coming nearly the same size and the Escala will be larger and the higher price point will better support the low volume the car will carry.
The Cruze is a damn hard segment to make money in. The mark up is small and it takes volume globally to carry it. GM is mostly selling here and a small Trax with better power and Blazer styling is coming and will sell in number the Cruze would never see. It will be similar in price and the volume and addition of AWD will give them a better profit.
Yes these are painful moves but these are the part of the buisness GM failed to do for decades and went bankrupt.
Like the 60’s they missed on the small cars and just kept going big. Then they tried to cut cost and lost on quality. Then they had too many models and too many divisions. It took them too long to kill the over burden.
In fact the competition between Chevy and Pontiac did more damage than good. Yes they fixed the Fiero but then Chevy killed it not GM.
The bottom line here is don’t panic. Read all you can not on forums but on buisness on the automakers.
I have been lucky to grow up with a old school GM engineer who taught me the old ways of the Sloan system. I also have been lucky to know GM people that you read about here and sit with them and talk about things they can not say publicly. I in fact have been at the home of brand managers who showed me how things were and how they are. Today they are much more proactive vs reactive.
Many of the changes here will make sense in a couple years. A couple of the closed plants will come back to.
The EV investment is long term. It will take more time but it will pay too as the laws that are here and coming laws will force everyone to deal with EV.
Now that there is investment in the segment it will grow and change faster in the future like Cell Phone.
The auto market is no longer an enthusiast market or image driven. It is a market we’re buyers see the product like an appliance.
Trust me I wish every car was an SS and had RWD with a V8 but I also know what makes money and what the true majority buyer is buying.
Much of what I say is what I expect not what I necessarily want.
Things are not as bad as some forum people make them out to be. Yes there are going to be challenges but the moves here will prevent problems in the future. Also consider what is know to be coming and some of what has yet to be announced that will tie this all together.
Read, learn and do not be miss lead by clueless posters acting on pure emotion not understanding.
What’s interesting is that Bob Lutz recently said that the new C8 Corvette shouldn’t cost significantly more than the C7 Corvette and suggested that the base entry C8 should be about $70,000.
The mule looks like a carbon copy of a 1990 Toyota MR2 minus the pop up headlights.
Every car program at GM has to provide a business case that supports its reason for being. For some (most) programs the business case is hinged on profitability which is usually (but not always) predicated on volume. Plant capacities are sized to deliver volume that supports the business case. Corvette (Bowling Green) has been defined as a low volume, yet profitable, manufacturing center for Corvettes for decades now. The placement of the engine doesn’t retroactively change that fact. It will continue to be a low volume production center for a car that is for the most part, a purchase made more on emotion than need.
A lot of people NEED a Silverado or something in that vein. A lot of people NEED a Traverse or something in that vein. Very few, if any, NEED a Corvette. Those that WANT one are more likely to pay more than the “sum of the parts” value to get the one they want and that helps keep the product line profitable, even at low volume.
Any chance a debadged Mid-Engine C8 Corvette could make a movie appearance – big-screen product placement, (e.g. Next Bond Movie – delayed) to expand knowledge to an wider audience – Global Distribution?
This is such a big deal, that I would say it’s almost guaranteed.
Cool car bro….., when’s the Sonic get a new paint option?..
My late husband never liked the Corvette. Said it was a plastic toy that should never have seen the light of day. Now it will catch fire and melt like a stick of butter on a skillet in back of my daddy’s black pickup in the Georgia sun in the middle of July!
I I would bet that it will be the pace car at the Indy 500 letting the world see it for the first time