Australia-bound Chevrolet Corvette outed

Outspoken Chevy employee spills beans on first mid-engined Corvette supercar.

A US car dealer has apparently just confirmed the automotive industry’s worst-kept secret: the next-generation 2020 C8 Chevrolet Corvette will for the first time be mid-engined and it isn’t far away.

Nate Chandler, of Van Bortel Chevrolet in New York, recently attended a dealer function in Las Vegas, and what he purportedly saw will likely pique the interest of Corvette lovers around the world.

“I just left the General Session presentation by GM/Chevy at the “Find New Roads” Dealer’s Conference at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas,” he said in a post to Corvetteforum.com this week.

“We got a glimpse of the C8 Corvette. It is coming. GM called it a super car. The 2 pictures we saw showed very little, but I’m thrilled to share I caught a glimpse of the production car. It definitely looked mid-engined.”

Marking a move that will position it closer to European competitors including the Ferrari 488 GTB, McLaren 720S, Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan, the next Corvette’s adoption of a mid-mounted V8 has been the subject of persistent rumours since 2015.

In even better news for Australians, the C8 Corvette will fulfil Holden’s promise to release a rear-wheel drive V8 sports car following the axing of its homegrown Commodore V8 last year, albeit at a significantly higher price.

In July last year, motoring.com.au received insider confirmation that Holden dealers will soon stock both the Chevrolet Corvette and Camaro.

The latter will come courtesy of Holden Special Vehicles, which convert the Camaro SS coupe to right-hand drive in Melbourne for sale nationally by mid-year.

But the new Corvette will be the first to be produced in factory right-hand drive for global consumption, and will be one of 24 new or upgraded models Holden committed to delivering between 2015 and 2020.

Chevrolet employee Chandler continued his crusade on a Corvette enthusiast blog by saying: “The front hood reminded me of a lotus. Front bumper cover reminded me of the 2019 ZR1. Time to go party at the reception. If I bump into Brian Sweeny, US VP of Chevy, or other GM Execs, I will ask some questions and report back!”

Those that have closely followed the C8’s gestation will hardly be shocked by the purported revelations from the conference.

Expectations of a mid-engined Corvette sent the rumour mill into overdrive three years ago when a heavily camouflaged Holden Ute was caught cutting laps of GM’s top-secret Milford proving ground in the US.

Since then there have been leaked CAD drawings of the car’s rear subframe, engine and suspension system, along with continuous reports around the car’s mid-engined underpinningsand a host of renderings including these by Andrei Avarvarii/Hagerty.

The C8 Corvette will have healthy Australian input too, as it has been penned and overseen by former Holden design chief, ex-pat Mike Simcoe, who heads GM International design.

Speculation the C8 Corvette will be powered by GM’s new twin-turbo 4.2-litre V8 revealed in the Cadillac CT6 V-Sport, which debuted at New York motor show last week, appear wide of the mark – despite the fact it will be produced in the same Bowling Green plant as the new ‘Vette.

Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen told Autoblog in New York: “Just quit the speculation it’s [the new Cadillac V8] headed for Corvette. It’s not. I think Corvette wants a different kind of character.”

That’s not to say the C8 won’t get a different version of the new twin-turbo GM V8 behind its seats, such as a more powerful 5.5-litre derivative that has just surfaced in the US.

But so far most commentators expect the C8 to debut with a circa-450kW, dry-sump replacement for today’s 6.2-litre LT1 V8, which in the supercharged C7 Corvette Z06 produces a whopping 485kW/881Nm and in the 2019 Corvette ZR1 delivers no less than 563kW/969kW.

Later on, even these figures could be eclipsed by a range-topping hybrid version of the C8 Corvette delivering up to 750kW of combined power from a mid-mounted V8 driving the rear wheels and an electric motor driving the front wheels.

Either way, the current C7 ‘Vette will continue on sale in the US alongside the C8, which is expected to debut at the 2019 Detroit show next January and go on sale in Australia by the end of 2020, priced from around $120,000.