The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 has arrived, bringing with it a brand-new mid-engine layout. No doubt about it, moving the motor to the middle is a huge leap forward for the iconic Chevy nameplate in terms of performance, but does the new platform also change who’s buying the sports car? In a recent interview with Autoline After Hours, Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter answers that question and several others, providing an insider look at the new Vette.
For starters, Juechter is asked about right-hand-drive versions of the C8, which mark the very first time in the history of the Chevrolet Corvette to offer the driving configuration, thus making it acceptable for a broader range of markets. As a result, the Corvette C8 is more accessible to a broader range of buyers, at least from a global perspective.
Juechter responds that the C8’s mid-engine layout actually makes it easier to do right-hand-drive conversions. Nevertheless, it’s still a risky maneuver.
“We’re taking a little bit of a bet there,” Juechter says. “We have people come to Corvette events from Australia, Japan, which we sell in okay. U.K. we don’t sell a lot but I think our volume will go up there by doing a right-hand-drive [Corvette].”
Later, Juechter is asked point blank if the new mid-engine platform changes who the typical Chevrolet Corvette buyer may be.
Juechter responds that the mid-engine platform was the right choice in terms of physics. “It’s a bad business strategy to bring out a new Corvette that has lower performance than the old one, or even equal performance,” the Chevrolet Corvette Chief Engineer said.
Juechter also said that the development process didn’t utilize customer clinics, but that current customers were more or less satisfied with the new model. Additionally, consumers that were never interested in Corvette prior to the C8 were now interested.
“But people who don’t consider a Corvette today, it was vastly different,” Juechter said in reference to customer feedback on the C8. “It was like 90-10 would prefer a mid-engine architecture, and also those folks queued younger.”
“So we’re not walking away from our current customers, we love our current customers, and wanna do a car for them that they’ll be happy with,” Juechter adds. “But at the same time you can’t continue to have your demographics continue to get older every year or eventually, you won’t have any customers.”
Juechter adds that the only about five percent of owners regularly take their Chevrolet Corvette to the track, and that percentage is likely to stay the same with the C8.
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Comments
They will gain more customers than they will lose.
Being a better car and the excitement around the changes will draw in people who never would have purchased the last model.
They will retain the vast majority of the present owners as they are a loyal core group.
As long as it is a better car with a V8 they will be back.
Now Corvette owners can afford a couple new GOLD CHAINS….
Now that’s funny….
I bet you wish you could????🤣
Platinum nothing but…
I’m a lifelong Chevrolet Corvette/Chevelle/Camaro (and C/CK truck) guy and have loved the Corvette from the C1 and every generation since. The C8 has only fueled my passion for Chevrolet cars of old again. If it brings something to life inside of you, they did it right. Going rear/mid engine is only the fulfillment of what people like myself have been waiting for. There’s not one single person I know of young or old, new Corvette fan or lifelong Corvette fan that isn’t in love with this car. Chevrolet has never screwed up the Corvette. I’m not happy with their trucks but their sports car is still America’s #1 automobile in my book.
The general rule is when a new C car comes out half love it and half hate it. In 6 months 90% love them.
With the C8 we are seeing excitement not seen since 1963 and the C2. You hear few complaints this time around and the excitement is crazy. People on the dealer tour lined up all day just to sit in the new car and touch it.
When was the last time you saw that for just about any car?
Many of the old guys who still criticize the C8 don’t matter anyway since they’re waiting for their last ride in a Cadillac Station Wagon…🤣
No no no, it’s the Vette one seater for the oldies (coffins). For the “youngsters” in their 50’s and 60’s the Vette will offer tilted-up steering wheels for pot-belly clearance and extra wide drivers seat, the 100 lb “escort” passenger don’t need room but only if you order the Winestien package….😁.
You really shouldn’t start drinking so esrly in the day.
Nah, D’ette owners always beat me for 1st call at the bar…pops…😉
They beat you to the bar because you drive a Camry….Sparky…👄
Still a bit faster than your XTS….🙃
I am 56 and have been a Chevy man since my first 68 Camaro in highschool. I’ve had Camaros, Corvettes and lots of Silverados through the years. I’ve always wished GM would produce a mid engine corvette. I love the new C8, GM hit this one out of the park. I have a production date/week of March 2nd on my new C8 and I can’t help from smiling on the inside thinking about taking delivery. USA- 1,
Tony
When the EV of this vehicle is released GM will only have to worry about two things:
#1 how can they make them fast enough, both the V8 and the EV !!
#2 Counting the money, and the trips to the bank !!
This is just simply an awesome vehicle !!
Hopefully the Hummer will be the same in reverse, first the EV, then the V8 !
You have to remember that us “old guys” have been asking for a mid engine car for a long time. We wanted one when Zora was in charge because he convinced us back then it was the way to go.
It’s a beautiful car. I’ll keep my c5 6spd. I’m still disappointed that no manual option will be offered. I do love that is has the pushrod engine still instead of a timing chain eating over head cam. That itself will make it very reliable. Delete the cylinder deactivation.
Pushrod is not suitable for sports cars. It’s 2020 and high strung multi cams are the choice sports car for enthusiast. Camless engines are coming and we should look into this closer. We should not be living in the past! #pushrodsfortrucks
You do realize living in the past means using overhead cams since they came first right? Cam in block engines while being in use for decades are actually the new kid on the block. Cam in block V8’s from all manufacturers are running 9 grand plus for hours on end in simple nascar form. That’s pretty high strung. I’m a sports car enthusiast and love them. I also love a good 4 valve per cylinder overhead cam motor. There’s no right way or wrong way. Every failure point for both designs really comes down to supplier parts defects and not the design itself. With high quality parts, both engines will scream away reliably for years without fail. The only camless engine coming is the electric one… The use of solenoids instead of cams isn’t cost effective nor needed with the push into electrics.
Multi valves and cams are not cost effective many years ago too. Now even Ford build them like pan cake. Hence the cayote. Heat recovery,electric assisted turbo charging, etc. All these are not cost effective right now,but soon enough it will. Camless tech will come sooner than you think. Engines now are so close to 50% efficiency (no Pushrod) . The Japanese have building engines ,no Pushrod for ampteen years. And they are considered the most reliable world wide. I take it you don’t watch F1. #nohate. I stand to My opinion!
Electric cars were on sale around 1900, is that old tech too?.
Yes and no. Over a hundred years later it didn’t picked up popularity. My take,not for everyone! Imagine yourself in the golf course (limited area) it might work only if you don’t floor it all the time. Or else plug in time will come too soon. Again, not for everyone!
Yeah, I trust GM LS pushrods. They can be worked on if something goes wrong and have money left over for a cruise. Try paying for repairs on German engineered TT V8, and you might have to cancel vacation plans.
Adithya Ramachandran,
Remember the twin turbo twin overhead cam V8 is no different than the 4.2 TT Blackwing.
Remember those engines are basically the same as the GM twin turbo 3.0 V6 or just the GM 3.6 V6
And there are ALOT, ALOT, ALOT of them, they are just two cylinders shy, yet basically the same thing !
Are the old push rods a reliable engine, you are dam right they are they are just not very efficient as a 4 valve per cylinder engine !
And reliability is directly related to cost when talking engines. ALL engines should be designed to wear out, not fail, do you remember the last GM engine you wore out ? I do not ! All the last GM engines I have owner have had known faulty parts, something failed before the engine wore out.
When I was young, everyone drove old worn out GM vehicles and the engines still ran but were just worn out, burned so much oil the plugs fouled out. I would give just about anything, just to own a GM vehicle that I could drive without going to a dealer and just drive it until it wore out !
Autoline is always interesting to listen to.
Good to hear about the RHD, but only seeing is believing.
Strange to hear that is considered a risk. One third of the planet is driving on the left side of the road.
GM surprises me when they can make such a stunning vehicle like this C8, and a woeful disappointment like the XT6 for the same 60-70K price tag.
I’m sure the thousands of upcoming XT6 owners will disagree with your statement wholeheartedly, while GM laughs all the way to the bank on the profits generated by the XT6. But yes… sure… why not… a “disappointment.”
If I’m spending Audi and BMW money, I expect better quality and powertrain options than what’s found in the XT6. Cadillac is pushing XT6’s out the door with deals, so no doubt they are making money. But it hurts the brand image. At $50K, the XT6 is a good deal.
I love that, the thousands of ” upcoming ” XT6 owners.
Sure when GM puts $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 on the hoods !
Then that trip to the bank just got smaller again !
I’m sure your right, it’s the success the GM stock holder, and Cadillac customer was hopeing for.
Adithya Ramachandran,
I could not agree more !!
And to Alex’s comment, or point he is trying to make here !
Are you sure Alex, could we see the huge bank deposits Cadillac mid-sized SUV’s are adding to the Cadillac line !
Because all I see with the XT6 is the SAME Cadillac customer, the Cadillac loyalist, is buying both the XT4 on the cheaper side, and the XT6 on the larger side, of the already loyal XT5 owner !!
Now has Cadillac added some new to Cadillac customers, sure, were they already GM loyalist coming from Buick, or GMC, or Chevrolet ?
And on this huge profit engine the XT6 is for Cadillac, GM now had to stamp out two additional vehicles to just brake over what the one XT5 sold in the past ! That’s 3 times the trucking, 3 times the storage, 3 times the DEALER INVESTMENT !!
However there is one silver lining to the XT6, and the GM profit !
Its the SAME vehicle as all of the rest of the GM mid-sized average GM blah vehicles, so the investment on GM’s part was just about as CHEAP as they could keep it, H3ll GM didn’t even change the interior hardly at all over the XT5, all the expense of the dash is the same.
So by GM creating the CHEAPEST ” Good Enough ” XT6 they could, How much ” extra profit ” did GM generate over ” existing ” GM sales !!
Like I said before, there are thousands of these XT4 and XT6 that were NOT on dealer lots before ! How many were just sold to dealers alone, and not a ” new ” customer !
I’m not buying it, all I see is GM lots full of Cadillacs, and a hell of a lot of Jeeps and Audi’s on the road.
H3ll I was at a Menards this weekend and there were 3 BMW X6’s, I have never even seen a BMW look like that before ! I didn’t notice if they were the inline turbo 6 or the twin turbo V8, but there they were !! Ask me if I have seen a XT6 other than on the Cadillac lot, ask me !
NOPE !
GM and Cadillac O so bad missed that one !
But you just wait, that ” new ” Cadillac EV will be a win !!
Just you wait, and wait, and wait, and wait !
I’m 75 and I’ve owned 6 vets since 1966. I’ve purchased all from New and now I still have my C5 and C7. I hope to get my C8 convertible by I hope June (no TPW yet) the point here is your never to late or old to own a Corvette
A lot of the technology you see in todays cars is driven by government regulations, not market forces. Washing ton bureaucrats working for the EPA are dictating to the automakers who have no choice but to comply. Does it really make sense to have 5,000 lb SUV’s with tiny four cylinder engines with extremely high compression, multi-valve engines with turbo chargers that require premium fuel? You could easily put a normally aspirated big Four or small six in there and achieve the same performance. Yes, it might get 1 MPG less, but with gas so cheap (Thanks to American ingenuity) who cares? Don’t get me started on clean air when China is building over 800 Coal power power plants all over the world.