MAYBE We're Jumping The Gun, BUT Will The All-new Mid-engine Corvette End Up Being A GALACTIC Mistake?

Right now, one of the most unkept secrets is the all-new Chevrolet Corvette C8. Although it's one of the years most anticipated debuts, it seems like General Motors is doing its best to botch the unveil.

There's already been several revealing pictures leaked over the past six months. At this stage, we're just awaiting the official images to confirm our beliefs.

And slowly but surely, it's happening.

The latest images show off its entire front three-quarter view, and in addition, we've seen the rear clip. Months ago, the steering wheel and center stack were spied. In the past 24 hours, GM has officially confirmed the steering wheel we saw — see our cover image here.

I hate to be a Debbie Downer but with each image that comes through, I am starting to sour on this all-new Corvette. Originally, I thought it was going to be an opportunity for GM to truly differentiate the Corvette among the sports car masses.

Now though it's looking rather desperate and exceedingly cheap. Frankly, it looks like a kit car from the late 1980s or early 1990s.

This has left me wondering: What IF the all-new C8 Corvette is a GALACTIC mistake?

Would that be the death knell for the Corvette brand?

carloslassiter - 7/13/2019 6:52:48 AM

+2 Boost

Maybe it will, maybe it won't.

But the guys calling this radical change a huge mistake are the same people who complain that the 911 looks the same as it did in the 1960s.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 7/13/2019 8:55:19 AM

-2 Boost

The current car is only doing 15k units a year or so. Maybe even less now. The bar is very low. Can the mid-engine C8 find that many buyers? And yes while some may complain that a 911 is to similar to its roots, it is successful because they did not throw out the baby with the bathwater. This new car may be from the Corvette brand, but it is not a Corvette. In the same way the new NSX is an Acura but not an NSX.

mre30 - 7/13/2019 9:48:41 AM

-1 Boost

Given the model's 15,000 in annual sales, there was really no reason for GM to dump resources into a mid-engined model. IMO no one cares.

The Corvette could just have morphed into a "legacy" model that stays the same for a long time with steady improvements as Chevrolet builds the "Corvette" brand around that car.

The one thing that GM should have done was support 'Corvette' into becoming its own sport/luxury/grand touring nameplate. ALA BMW, a Corvette "Gran Coupe" stretched with 4-seats would have been a logical extension. Also a true 4-seat convertible would have been logical also - these could have been built on the Camaro/ATS/CTS platform and would probably have done well sales wise.

The mid-engine Covette will be redundant in the marketplace - few will care about it and the front-engined legacy will be lost.

Agent00R - 7/13/2019 10:08:12 AM

-1 Boost

I think you nailed it.

And, it's sad. Honestly. Chevrolet really nailed the C7.

If it made another huge jump as a front-engined C8 it would have been pretty amazing. Instead it looks like we've got a cartoon around the bend and, frankly, it looks awful.

MDarringer - 7/13/2019 11:09:43 AM

0 Boost

The 15K number is WILDLY incorrect.

TomM - 7/13/2019 12:30:36 PM

+3 Boost

No - I do not agree about the COrvette being a "Brand" with a number of different BodyStyles

THe Corvette has always been a fiberglass sports car - in some cases even an exotic sports car, but Certainly Chevy's ultimate sports car. It has and should remain just that. If people really want a 4 seat car - and there is NO indication that they do - they could have made one out of the Camaro. Right now - the need for more "sedans" is non-existent - and they are removing them from the market. People have already stopped buying the Camaro. More bodystyles means more parts to stockpile

I think that too much is being placed on it being mid-engined. If no one knew - until they were actually introduced - the C8 would still sell well (Over 30,000 cars a year - not 15,000). I suppose a carbon fiber Corvette might be more "To date" - but as long as it works -who really cars what it is made of? They will buy it anyway.

The people who are complaining about the mid-engine are the same ones who complained that it has been front engined for too long. There will be PLENTY of buyers.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 7/13/2019 1:48:11 PM

0 Boost

@MD- What number is correct in your mind? The Corvette did 18,791 units in the USA in 2017. Likely less in 2018 and even less in 2019. C7 Sales peaked the first year it was out at 34,893 units. All data from Carbase.com.

Truthy - 7/13/2019 2:08:25 PM

+1 Boost

GM has said they have squeezed all the performance they can out of this layout.
It is quite an assumption they could make a big leap in performance.

MDarringer - 7/14/2019 7:51:45 PM

+1 Boost

30K units is where the Corvette should be.

It really should become a BRAND and should be aimed at Porsche.

OneOfOne - 7/13/2019 11:15:55 AM

-1 Boost

people are not buying coupes. its what is stopping me from buy a TTS. the corvette makes little sense today and gm is always behind the curve when it comes to products. the corvette should be much smaller seeing how its always been intended as a 2 seater and it should be made from something other than fiberglas. but nope, lets stick a gigantic yestertech engine in it and a sub par interior and make the thing much larger than makes any sense so the same pinky ring buyers can buy it. damned poseurs.

Truthy - 7/13/2019 2:24:25 PM

+1 Boost

The engine is far from yester-tech. An OHC can be more thermodynamicaly efficient, the OHV has fewer moving parts and can allow for a lower center of gravity.

bmw7er - 7/14/2019 2:38:04 AM

+2 Boost

TomM, but if the C8 kills it, what did being a fiberglass sports car really matter? It needed to morph, but not into a mid-engine.

TomM - 7/16/2019 6:43:19 PM

+1 Boost

I expect the new Corvette to have runaway sales at least for the first year - and I expect it to start at about $50,000. Higher end models will of course be quite expensive - maybe even break $100,000 but I suspect that number to be only a few cars.

I do not expect that being a Fiberglass car will affect and/or reduce sales - it is what a Corvette is - and it is what is expected. GM has never intimated it would made of some other possibility and by now we would have known.

As the penultimate Chevy Vehicle- I do not see being mid-engine to be an issue. In fact I see reasons why a mid engine vehicle would out-handle a front engine one. Real Ferrari Competition - at less than half the price.

As a stockholder - sure - I would like to see a highly profitable car - but I really don't believe the Corvette has EVER really made huge profits - if ever It is an image car - just as the EV-1 was - and since it likely fails to contribute to the profit structure - itself - It needs to be a reason for people to go to a Chevy Dealership - and the "controversy" of the mid-engine placement will do just that.

runninglogan1 - 7/14/2019 2:53:49 AM

+3 Boost

You're definitely jumping the gun. C8 is going to be gr8.

bmw7er - 7/15/2019 2:08:35 AM

+1 Boost

I don't have any data to support this, but from what I can see, the Corvette, and the entire automotive market has some core problems. First, the 80's and 90's freaking killed cars. I mean, cars were basically built to fall into pieces at 50k miles. Second, at the same time, cars really became ugly. Remember those god awful 1986 Cadillac Deville, Olds 98, Buick Park Avenue triplets? How about the Buick Roadmaster of the 90's? Things weren't much better over at Ford. And now, you have the kids from that generation not giving a crap about cars because they were never excited by them. Fast Forward to this new C8, which is hard on the eyes, it certainly won't make it down my street in Houston without losing the air dam under the front bumper, reliability will be low, space will be confined to say the least, and there you have it. A car built for absolutely no one.

If there by some stretch of the universe is a C9, it has to go back to the front engine layout, but with beautiful lines, a cabin filled with technology and craftsman-like materials, and, like the Porsche, a 4 door option. But sadly, the Vette is already gone.