C/D: Mid-engined Corvette mule spotted

[kevm14]

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/exclus ... hotos-news

I had faith all along that this was really in development. Not sure how I feel about the small, non-pushrod V8 discussion though.

[bill25]

Credit goes to the camo guys. I would have never guessed this was a new Corvette. Really, without the spoiler, it looks like a new El Camino, mostly because the back looks like it could be a truck bed. I have to be honest, I think the Stingray and current new Z06 look much better than the artist renderings of this mid-engine Corvette.

Part of me just wants the Corvette to stay Front Engine, Rear Drive. Why can't this new mid-engine car be a new nameplate altogether?

I really wish that GM would get over the Corvette having to be the best/fastest car in the company and just make cars. Who cares if a new mid-engine car performed better than the Corvette? Price it accordingly and call it a day. People will have options. Is that so bad? You can get a Corvette FR for 65K, and a XYZ MR for 80K. What is the big deal?

Can the Chevrolet people not think of a new name for a supercar or is it that they can't sell 2? Ford had the Mustang, the GT40. I seriously doubt that the Mustang lost sales to the GT-40.

I feel like if a drivetrain is this different (FR to MR) it isn't the same car anymore. What if studies were done that showed a Corvette with 4 seats would sell better. Would you still call that a Corvette? Nope.

[kevm14]

It's actually not camo. This is a powertrain development mule, which is different than disguising the actual platform.

A front-engine C7 has more in common with a mid-engine C8 than any Mustang has with the Ford GT.

[bill25]

I have to stick with my original statement. The Corvette has been out for over 60 years as a FR car. It has distinctly looked like one since inception - Long hood, short back. This is partly what defines the car.

This new MR changes all of the defining lines and ratios (I know it is an artist rendering but it will not be able to maintain its look and still handle without looking mostly like the rendering). Going to Wikipedia and scrolling through the generations of Corvettes (Except for maybe the C1) they are all very obviously Corvettes without any question, even to non car fans. I am not a Corvette enthusiast, but this new car is not a Corvette.

This is kind of on the same level as when they axed the G body and made the Monte Carlo a 6 cyl FWD. It wasn't a Monte Carlo in my mind anymore.

So if they make this Mid engine AWD when they realize that it can't be any faster as a MR, is it still a Corvette? it will then have zero semblance to 7 generations of the car.

[kevm14]

I hope they don't go AWD. Going to MR adds so much potential. I say RWD is the more important characteristic than where the engine is (except rear engine, that's just dumb). There has been some discussion on what to call it though. Referring to it as C8 is also confusing because people are like "that can't be the C8, the C7 just came out." Other folks suggested "Chevrolet ZR1" kind of like the SS model. Maybe it won't be called Corvette? That's a tough one.

[bill25]

I have read rumors that it will be the ZR1. SS would be interesting. It might be weird to call the supercar version SS since in Camaro land, SS is the base V8 model. I personally like the SS as a package trim level and wish it was higher up than the base V8 production model. I agree it is also weird coming out with the C8 as the top dog version first, history has been: base comes out, and it iteratively has higher models come out during it's lifespan, not first. GM is almost acting like moving the engine location and styling is a package to the stingray, maybe to downplay the fact that it will force a radical redesign in styling. Maybe they are using a low production version to get people used to it so if the styling and changes are a bomb with enthusiasts, they don't lose sales on all of the C8 base Corvettes because they could just do a small evolutionary change to the current Stingray, for C8, and all they lost was minimal sales on a prototype ZR1 that frankly at the price point it will come out as probably won't sell in mass units of anyway. I am guessing that since the real Z06 is about 100K (still a bargain, the options that really make this car insane are 20K) this "Super Vette" might start at 125K and have options up to 140K which isn't totally unreasonable, it puts it in GT-R territory in price, and should be in that territory in performance if it will be faster than the faster than 3 seconds 0-60 Z06.

[kevm14]

Yeah I think C8 is a misnomer and what's throwing off most people in properly understanding what the car really is. It's a C7 ZR1 that happens to be completely different vehicle architecture. C7.5 ZR1?

The Z06 is $100k WITH options. It starts at a "reasonable" $78k.

[kevm14]

More info from the October issue: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/c8 ... ra-feature

The second reason is less engineering-driven: Chevy wants to finally move the Corvette past the basic proportions and form language it has used since the C3. Today’s Stingray is a dream car for men on the wrong side of 50. But by updating the exterior with a radical remix of its visual masses, the Corvette could sweep the odd Aventador, LaFerrari, P1, and 918 posters off adolescents’ bedroom walls. As Chevy well knows, kids grow up quickly, and the fortunate ones convert their salaries to sports cars. Read on for how the C8 will take shape.

Alternative power sources are planned to keep the Corvette viable when regulations clamp down more aggressively on fuel consumption. Potent V-6s with and without boost are inevitable. Moving the engine behind the cockpit clears space for an electric motor to drive the front wheels; by 2020, a four-wheel-drive Corvette hybrid is a distinct possibility.

Sigh.

[kevm14]

http://blog.caranddriver.com/a-mid-engi ... d-the-way/

MR for Corvette is nothing novel at all.

If you look closely, you can see next generation lines in these concepts. Pretty cool.

[bill25]

Ok,

I think that these points are all the more reason to call the mid engine version a whole new vehicle for the future.

Electric drive, 4 wheel drive, mid engine, 6 cyl. all equate to "not a Corvette" by any stretch of the imagination. Why is GM/Chevy so afraid of new nameplates? Most people now look at performance and looks if the new car has these attributes and continues to kill cars well above it's price point, are people really not going to buy it?

I am not saying it can't be great, or better than a Corvette, but why hold to the Corvette name? They should let the Corvette go out with a bang, and introduce their new supercar of the future. Bring out a last year Vette with a 427 or 454 badging all over it, and let it do a final victory lap while emissions allow, then retire the name with some respect.

I am not trying to hold GM back from moving forward with the times and regulations but I think GM is holding themselves back if they really want a revolutionary car that young people want if they hold on to the Corvette name. Either let it go, or sell both.

I totally disagree that the Corvette could not continue to sell in it's form to the older crowd at 75K, and a MR supercar priced at 150K. Chevy/GM need to get over cars not being faster than the Corvette for that to happen though.