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Ford did an awesome job with the Ford GT but at 450 grand....I mean come on...who here on the forum is spending 450 grand on their next sports car...
Nice to dream but let's be real...
I prefer affordable and reasonably priced 500 plus hp mid rear engine sports cars...
I'm hopeful we see an LT1 derivative powering the rear mid engine corvette over the next few years...
McLaren 570s and other models from that brand offer a service ownership experience that could be shockingly involved...at least it was with the McLaren 12c....
Not everyone of them but do a little searching and you ll find deep wallets are or at least should be prepared...
The nice part about corvettes in general is since they use or share so many parts with other vehicles in the GM lineup...the parts costs and service are usually reasonable...
It's not a question of just money but rather rational expenditures...on the vehicles purchase but also in the maintaince and repair bills..
I don't know about you guys but I love daily driving my new corvettes for years and really for the most part it's change the oil, buy new tires and pump in some gasoline...
These GM cars with all their validation processes make the total ownership experiences a pleasure...
Plus the corvette team usually makes all its cars kick serious @ss on the competition...
Reminds me of the Toyota MR2, little larger version. I really think the mid engine is being built for the global economy, certainly not for a U.S. car for the North American market. Looks to European or Asian, rather then the AMERICAN Corvette. Not saying I don't like it, just this this will be the death blow to the Corvette of the past 50 plus years.... Guess this is the way of the automotive business. Think I will hold on to my C7 for quite a long time.... I am sure the C8 midengine is a wonderful car, cutting edge technology, and handles on a dime, and has more then enough HP, but you are losing the vision of the American Corvette. Making a car that looks like a Nissan, Accura, Toyota MR2, or Porsche, to me loses the value of the American Sportscar. This is my humble opinion, I am sure it will grow on me, but hard to say based on renderings.
Then GM will be making another big mistake. GM tried to enter the "world" market(Europe primarily) with the C6 and C7. In 2016, GM sold ~33,000 Corvettes worldwide. 29,995 were in the USA with Canada being the highest "foreign" country sold to with 1758, Europe next with 962, Then the Mideast with 259, Mexico with 207 and then Japan with 191.
Then compare the sales worldwide of the Boxster, Cayman and the 911 to their sales numbers in the USA. The sports car buyers in the USA just are not that excited about sports cars designed for the "world" market vs Corvette which is designed for the American market.
GM had better design the next generation of the Corvette for it's home market(90% of it's sales), and not Germany, Italy or Japan.
I think the mustang GT is doing quite well overseas sales since its last revamp.
Hard to say if the two seater market overseas will be worth the effort but you never know.
Still raising the bar with rear mid engine c8 is exciting to imagine.
I'm sure it will be an expensive model first to showcase the advantages of rear mid engine...and then imo GM will role out to the masses with a more appropriately priced (5 grand higher than now) 500 hp version..
Should be fun...
Till GM releases all the information we are all just guessing
Last edited by JerriVette; 04-12-2017 at 06:50 AM.
I think the target with a ME Corvette is more 911 than Ferrari, hence the pricing will be more competitive with the Porsche. Makes no sense to price any Corvette in Ferrari territory, at least not until the GM ME design has proven itself with a few years of production.
I really don't see a front engined Corvette continuing alongside a a ME version for very long. There are too many overlapping opportunities for pricing and performance, and I do think they can bring in a ME car at "reasonable" price without alienating the current clientele.
Looks like McLaren 650 and the new NSX had a love child...
Not a Corvette. Name it something else.
My sentiments exactly. A Corvette has more flair and attitude than this rending. Granted my C4 is perhaps the simplest of all Corvette body styles but that's what the C4 was, back in the 80s and 90s.
The C8 will not be a simple body style and I think this rendering is too simple.
Hopefully it will have a different rear fascia and tail pipes otherwise it will look too much like the current C7. And bigger extenuated side vents like other supercars.
Definitely the best render I've seen so far. Love the demon looking tail lights, vents and everything else about the overall design except for two things, the split exhaust tips and the c7 half and half rear fascia/diffuser. The c7 is a stunning car from every angle (ignoring the rear fascia/diffuser that is) and this car will be as well. If the tail lights had a swoop going downward that followed along the vent, making a sideways "Y" shape, they would carry the design cue of the front grill to the rear of the car and make it look even better IMO.
If the latest rendering is even half close, I'll have my checkbook and pen at the ready. Some say they find this attempt too conservative, but that's what I like about it. Despite having a C7 photo on the wall and viewing several at dealerships, I've never warmed up to the design.
I turned 75 this week, have driven Vettes since 1962, and plan on being an early owner of a C8 before the clock runs out. And if possible in the great beyond, I'll thank Zora for his career-long campaign to build the mid-engined Vette.
Mid-Engine cars are a PITA to maintain, that is why they are so expensive to keep. For GM to succeed with a ME Corvette, it must be supportable by Chevy service techs. at the about same cost as a C7. That simple fact will drive the design. If a ME Corvette cost the same to buy and keep as a Ferrari, why not just buy a Ferrari ? Same for a McLaren or a Lamborghini.
For that reason, it is hard to understand exactly what a ME Corvette will look like, BUT, it will NOT look like a McLaren or a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or an Audi R8/10 because of the need for easy engine / transaxle / system access.
The rendering is good approximation of an Ed Wellborn ME concept, but Ed retired from GM a couple years ago. More than likely, the C7 "look" went with him. Who has the mantle of design to conceive a ME C8 ? It will be a daunting task to succeed Ed Wellborn, and there is a good chance that it will not be the knockout the C7 was in 2013. There are a lot of really ugly awkward mid-engine cars, as well as a few gems.
Here's an example from history that might inform where Chevy may go with this ME car: Jaquar's move from the E-Type to the ME XJ13 prototype. The family resemblance was obvious, but the XJ13 was a totally original car, and perhaps the best looking Jag in history. Compare it to the first ME Ferrari, which was a great race car but nobody's idea of a 250 GTO successor. The question is, does GM have what it takes to emulate Jaguar, or will their first ME be a disappointment to everyone here like the first ME Ferrari ? The jury is out on this one, and nobody should get too cocky.
Compare these two images: the first is the Jaguar XJ13, the second is the Ferrari 250 LM. One is stunning and the other is homely.
Last edited by Steve Garrett; 04-16-2017 at 10:40 PM.
Reason: Merged Posts
With regard to the latest "rendering," . . . meh. It does look bland. The new Ford GT truly was an innovative design. This isn't.
I have three Ford GT 1/18th scale models on a shelf in my man-cave - the Lola designed Ford GT40 from the 1960's, the Ford GT from 2005, and the new Ford GT the keeps losing to the Corvette C7R's at Sebring, Long Beach, Road Atlanta, etc. The new one looks good in pictures but it underwhelms in 3D. Not sure why, but it is BIG compared to the other two, and looks like a cockroach to me.
Honestly, the best looking one is still the original one from Lola. If GM could figure out how to modernize the Lola T70 coupe as the basis for the C8, they might have something.
Wish it had the classic round tail lights, so not to look like a transformer kid's car! Other than that it looks pretty good! Still not sure we need a mid-engine Vette, it performs so well right now! (Any trunk space?)
04-08-2017, 07:26 AM
But I laugh every time I see it. 
