News on the industry’s worst kept secret keeps on surfacing, and the latest has to do with what the first-ever mid-engined C8 Corvette will be called. Or what at least one variant will be called, anyway.
According to a sleuth photo found on Carscoops, the all-new C8 Corvette will retain a familiar namesake, evident by the ‘Stingray‘ decal in the center of the cabin.
The Stingray name is nearly as old as the Corvette itself. Originally debuting on a concept car designed by the legendary Peter Brock in 1959, the Corvette Stingray (also spelled Sting Ray back then) faded out in 1976 before coming back in 2013 with the launch of the C7. It continues to serve as the entry level nameplate of the Corvette family, which includes the wide-bodied Grand Sport, then 650 horsepower Z06, and topped out by the 755 horsepower Corvette ZR1. The C7 Corvette Stingray comes from the factory with a minimum of 455 horsepower and carries an MSRP of just under $56,000. It is America’s best selling two-seat sports car.
The C8 Corvette is not expected to be too far a jump in overall price – appealing to much of the same budgets that feed the popularity of the marque. But that’s where the similarities are expected to end. Along with the mid/rear-engine placement, it’s likely that the C8 Corvette will have a dual-overhead cam V8 engine instead of the familiar small block V8, based of videos of the car pacing the Nurburgring. The C8.R Corvette race car also sounds wildly different from the C7.R, further pointing to a departure from engine traditions. Additionally, patent filings point to a dual clutch transmission system, and a clutch-by-wire electronic manual transmission system. These transmissions are also different from the 8-speed single clutch automatic, and familiar seven-speed manual we see today. The steering wheel on the C8 Corvette also has been spied with a flat top, mimicking the wheel of a race car.
GM trademark filings also point to other Corvette names likely to come. These include Corvette Manta Ray, Corvette E-Ray, and the mysterious Zora trademark – derived from Zora Arkus-Duntov, the “Father of the Corvette.” With these names in mind, along with the currently used Grand Sport, Z06, and ZR1, we could be in for a breadth of C8 Corvette variants for years to come. Stay tuned for more.
Comments
So does this finally put to bed that the mid engine will be the only corvette offered (other then the slight production overlap) no way they would give a C7 a new name and give the c8 a new name if they were going to build both for a couple of years
This was reported last week on many outlets…
Facts don’t lie:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/the-historic-results-of-president-donald-j-trumps-first-two-years-in-office/
Stingray is sort of a heritage name for the Chevrolet Corvette as the 2019 Chevrolet C7 Corvette’s base model is the Corvette Stingray; thus, it makes sense for Chevrolet to continue with heritage names as one has to think there will be a C8 Corvette Z06 and ZR1 as well.. giving them names that people don’t recognize makes no sense unless it’s Zora (for Corvette creator Zora Arkus-Duntov).
Equity counts for much. Why spend time and money to reinvent something that isn’t broke.
So they had the necessary funds to change everything, make the car a whole different animal, but a new name is a waste of time and money?
Magirus, you couldn’t be more spot on. Intelligent comment in a sea of idiots on here.
What you fail to grasp is that there is nothing wrong with the present name. It is a name that hold heritage and meaning.
You bring a new name you have to define it and earn a new heritage to it al, over again.
Also you have the slightest clue to the future and the other names they will use. It is know Mantaray , E Ray and ZORA are all registered and odds are good these will be used on future models. This places the Stingray right in line with the other names following a theme.
Matter of fact you are complaining about the old name, odds are good you would complain about the new name too. And god forbid they call it a number vs a name.
The old saying applies here if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The Vette is not coming off an image issue like many Cadillac model had for several decades.
Like the removal of the pop up lights, six month after the intro no one would care what you call it. Most just call it a Corvette anyways.
There’s nothing wrong with the old name for a front engine car. A rear engine car shall not be called “Corvette.”
Good thing it’s not a rear engined car then…
C7… Mid-Front engine. Behind the front axle line.
C8… Mid-Rear engine. In front of the rear axle line.
Rear engine… Behind the rear axle line.
Front engine… Ahead of the front axle line
Typical engine location is a hybrid of Front engine & Mid-Front engine
Kudo’s to Corvette for keeping the C7 style and powerplant for as long as they have. In this speed of light technology changes the C7 has been an automotive engineering marvel. I expect no less from the move to mid-engine C8. I drive a 2017 Stingray Lt1 base model with all of the Z51 upgrades added. This is the greatest styling, driving. handling, and performance car I ever driven. May GM have great success with the C8 no matter the names given the various models. Keep the smiles coming.
Best thing…
ONLY good thing happening at GM currently.
I’m 15, and aspiring to own a Chevy dealer for my career, but I don’t know if I’ll still want to in 10-20 years.
Blackwing? L8T? Duramax 3.0? Silverado medium duties? The upcoming CT cars?
Close to C7 pricing … Pie in the Sky hopes and dreams will meet reality. Or, GM will have actualized a miracle.
It amazes me that you do not know your Corvette History Zora-Arkus Duntov is NOT the “Father of the Corvette”. Harley Earl is the “Father of the Corvette”. Zora was hired by Ed Cole, Chevrolet’s Chief Engineer, and Maurice Olley in May of 1953 after seeing the 1953 Corvette at the GM Motorama in New York in 1953 and sending Ed Cole suggestions on how to make it a serious Sports Car. Cole and Olley were so impressed with his ideas that they hired him as an assistant staff engineer. He went on for the next 22 years to pioneer Corvette’s racing and sports car programs, the CERV’s (Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicles) I and II, and was a steadfast supporter of the mid-engined Corvette he fought so hard to promote, for the rest of his life until he retired from GM in 1975. He died in April 1996 of lung cancer.
Zora… The Father of Chevrolet Performance.
Zora, was often referred to, as, Mr. Corvette.