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Well, it looks like the long-awaited mid-engine Corvette may finally be coming to fruitition. Some spy shots from Motor Trend apparently caught one testing.
It’s been a few months since we’ve heard anything about Chevrolet’s mid-engine Corvette, but these spy shots show the automaker is still hard at work developing the new car. A prototype was recently spotted conducting track testing in full camouflage.
The engineers driving the car must have noticed the shooter, as they came to a stop on the track and quickly covered the car – which was already well camouflaged. The camo is different from the test mules we spotted earlier this year, and it may be hiding production bodywork. As covered up as this prototype may be, there’s no hiding its mid-engine proportions. The short dash-to-axle leaves little room for an engine up front, but there appears to be just enough space between the cabin and rear axle to fit a longitudinal V-8.
The model’s exact powertrain remains a mystery, but leaked documents suggest GM is preparing a dual-overhead-cam 6.2-liter V-8 for a Corvette model in 2018. A performance hybrid drivetrain remains another possibility. We know the mid-engine version isn’t the only Corvette in the works, as a front-engine C7 ZR1 is also expected. The mid-engine Corvette will be built alongside the C7 at GM’s Bowling Green plant in Kentucky. Production is said to begin by January 2019.
Here’s hoping we see the mid-engine ‘Vette start dropping cover soon.
I kind of think GM should come up with a new name for this mid-engined car, if they're going to be keeping the C7 Corvette in production at the same time as this car. Calling two radically different cars the same name while they are both in production is IMO lazy and potentially confusing. Remember the Mitsubishi Montero and the Montero Sport??? Nissan Pathfinder Armada(later shortened to just Armada), back in the 1980's every Oldsmobile was called Cutlass, Cadillac in the 1980's selling the small FWD Fleetwood while still selling the big RWD Fleetwood Brougham, well I guess GM has a good history of this nonsense.
Calling the base model the Corvette, then the supercharged front engined car the Corvette Z06, then this mid engined one Corvette L88 or whatever stupid GM RPO they decide is just lazy marketing using the well known Corvette name for an entirely different type of car.
Now if they want to make 2018 the last year for the C7 Corvette and call this "the all new 2019 Corvette", I'm fine with that, just don't sell two radically different cars with the same name at the same time.
They can't call it a Corvette if the engine isn't at the front. Has GM ever made a mid-engined sports car or supercar?
The Pontiac Fiero is the only thing I can think of for a mid-engined production car, the Corvair had the engine behind the rear axle like a Porsche or VW. They have done mid-engined Lemans Prototype racers before(think Cadillac racing efforts in the 00's up to current), but not with much luck IIRC.
Oh and I forgot about those 1960's forward control vans(not the Corvair van), front driver and passenger sat over the front tires, legs went in front of the front tires, engine was in a doghouse between the driver and passenger, don't know if that counts as "mid-engined", but it wasn't front engine. Great design, noisy engine in the cabin with you, legs acted as the front crumple zone.
Anyways, getting back on topic, there is precedent for a mid-engined Corvette. Zora Arkus-Duntov, the lead engineer for the Corvette back in the 50's and 60's lobbied hard for a mid-engined car, recognizing the better weight distribution. They made a few different prototypes, but GM brass were never sold on the idea and it faded away after Duntov retired in the 70's. Still it would fly in the face of 60+ years of Corvette tradition and has the potential to alienate that very loyal Corvette crowd who buy 20,000+ of these things a year(that's a huge number for this type of car IMO)
It didn't fade away completely in the 70s. GM actually built two prototype models of the 1986 Corvette Indy, which was a radical mid-engined design being considered to replace the C4. I had that poster on my wall for several years as a boy.
It's a damn shame that GM is taking an iconic model and completely turning it into something different. I'm not opposed to them producing a mid-engined halo car, but since it's something all new, it should be named something new and allow the Corvette to carry on.
It didn't fade away completely in the 70s. GM actually built two prototype models of the 1986 Corvette Indy, which was a radical mid-engined design being considered to replace the C4. I had that poster on my wall for several years as a boy.
I saw the Corvette Indy in person at a auto show in the 80's. Really cool looking, they had a bunch of cool GM concept cars there like the Pontiac Banshee, Buick Wildcat, Oldsmobile Aerotech, Cadillac Solitaire, etc.
It's a damn shame that GM is taking an iconic model and completely turning it into something different. I'm not opposed to them producing a mid-engined halo car, but since it's something all new, it should be named something new and allow the Corvette to carry on.
I don't think they are going to call the new mid engined car a Corvette but it will have some relation or tie in to the Corvette history. I think they may call it the Zora, Duntov or ZR1 or ZR something. You are right, it makes no sense to call a totally different sports car a Corvette especially when the regular front engine Corvette will be sold at the same time too.
I don't think they are going to call the new mid engined car a Corvette but it will have some relation or tie in to the Corvette history. I think they may call it the Zora, Duntov or ZR1 or ZR something. You are right, it makes no sense to call a totally different sports car a Corvette especially when the regular front engine Corvette will be sold at the same time too.
I read the C7 would be sold alongside the C8 till about 2021.
Did they have Jane Seymour modeling/posing next to it . . . .
LOL, I don't know, they had a model with it and a 2 door concept Caddy model but I was only around 11 years old and would not even know who Jane Seymour was back then. It was a cool looking car with a cool interior and I think they said it could do 200mph(unlikely). I still have pictures of the cars from that show.
I read the C7 would be sold alongside the C8 till about 2021.
I think this mid engine model is supposed to cost over a 100K or near it, way too expensive for a Corvette or to fully replace a Corvette. If it is going to be priced that high they will still need a regular Corvette as they don't want to destroy the Corvette legacy by putting in a model most buyers won't be able to afford anymore.
LOL, I don't know, they had a model with it and a 2 door concept Caddy model but I was only around 11 years old and would not even know who Jane Seymour was back then. It was a cool looking car with a cool interior and I think they said it could do 200mph(unlikely). I still have pictures of the cars from that show.
You need to brush up on your old James Bond movies, Jane Seymour was the Bond girl named "Solitaire" in Live and Let Die, her gig was reading tarot cards for the bad guy.
You need to brush up on your old James Bond movies, Jane Seymour was the Bond girl named "Solitaire" in Live and Let Die, her gig was reading tarot cards for the bad guy.
Okay, get the joke now, did not know that was Jane Seymour in "Live and Let Die", I remember the girl reading the cards was pretty hot but that was not one of my favorite Bond movies, I have only seen it maybe 2 times or so when I was younger.
Mid-Engine Corvette Spy-Shots
