Photography courtesy of Chevrolet
with cover photo by Dan MacMedan.
Text by Bryce Womeldurf
Chevrolet finally pulled back the curtain on the long rumored mid-engine Corvette last night. Some of what everyone thought they knew about it was completely wrong, like thinking the price was going up substantially. And some was right, like the fact that the C8 is in fact the first production Corvette which will be mid-engined. Let’s take a look around the new car.
My biggest concerns about the design were that the rear end was going to be huge and that the rear lights were going to become even more like the Camaro rather than the classic 4 round lights of the Vettes that preceded the C7. In some ways, those concerns were valid.
The taillights are very Camaro-esque as has been the trend starting with the C7. The low rear wing is tacky in my opinion, and being rear-engined with more weight in the back, is it really needed? Maybe it’s optional. We’ll find out soon as it’s supposed to start production later this year and go on sale early in 2020.
(Photo by J. Emilio Flores for Chevrolet)
At certain angles, the back end does appear huge. However, it’s not as noticeably big as it appeared when the car was previously seen camouflaged while in testing. Why is it so big? Well, possibly because of the ‘boomers who still play golf. There’s not really any other reason I can think of that the rear end would need to be so wide other than fitting golf clubs. Which is strange when I read from the Road & Track interview with some of the engineers, saying that this will be the Corvette for a new generation.
The front end seems tiny by comparison. Taking in the whole car, visually it has a very Ferrari 360 or 430 appearance aside from the taillights. From the front 3/4 view I’d even call it beautiful. I’m not sure I’d have said the same of the C7.
The interior is where things get a little bit weird, as is often the case with Corvettes. There’s the big long line of buttons that seem like they were just put there as an afterthought. The steering wheel is not round but rather square. There’s no third pedal and manual stick option, so don’t look for that. It’s sad, but I won’t drone on about it. It’s just the way things are. For manufacturers and for buyers of new sports cars, performance seems to trump driver involvement. As enthusiasts, we like to wail about them doing away with a stick option, but I don’t typically buy new cars. And anyway, a new dual-clutch transmission had to be created anyway to fit with the new position of the engine, so financial feasibility goes down even more.
The price is a big surprise. This new Corvette starts below $60,000. Many, including myself, were thinking that it would possibly approach or exceed $100k. The top models still could when they’re available, but the base model is still fairly reachable. This low base price is definitely a smart move by Chevrolet.
Personally, there’s not much for me to complain about here. I love mid-engine cars like many a Lamborghini, Lotus Elise, Porsche Cayman, Toyota MR2, etc. Even if I was born during the malaise days of the late C3, I’ve still always loved the Corvette. Why was I so worried that combining the two would be a bad thing? Maybe because change is scary. And companies will often use any excuse for us to pay more for a product, so why would they not in this case? The best guess I could come up with was that they’ve been teasing mid-engine Corvette for so many generations that maybe they’d learned enough that it wasn’t rocket science. Or maybe they’ve been building it into the price for a long time.
This launch for me feels similar to how the C5 launch felt. Like the old name is made more relevant again. I’ll be sad to see the C7 leave the racetrack, but I never really loved the looks of the street car. The new C8 however is quite a looker. I won’t have to get used to it, because it already looks great.
Some interesting questions were coming through Twitter and Facebook, like what will this car do to the market for the Porsche 718 Cayman and Boxster or for the new Toyota Supra. It should be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
If you want to hear more about the new Corvette from the perspective of some of the engineers, check out the article I found on Road & Track. They also have some info on the new convertible version, which I can’t seem to find press images of yet.
Tessa Buehring
July 30, 2019 at 1:17 PM
Nice Blog, Nice Work Keep it up!