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Car and Driver thinks that this Holden Ute/Batmobile/Mad Max thing is a mule for a mid-engine Corvette. I’ll believe it when I see it. Then again, it looks like I was wrong about the upcoming Ford GT revival.
50 Comments on “Car And Driver Thinks This Is A Mid-Engine Corvette Mule...”
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It’s just a new tonneau covered SSR.
With a corvette roof and windshield?
As with FGT v 3.0, the new mid engine Vette is in fact a reality headed for production, though it will not replace the front engine C7.
http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2014/09/11/car-and-driver-dishes-new-report-on-the-mid-engine-2017-corvette-zora-zr1/
It’s obviously the 2016 Cadillac CT-Camino.
OT
Ward’s has an article on Ford’s Ecobust engines. They don’t get close to their claimed mpg.
http://wardsauto.com/wards-10-best-engines/where-s-eco-ecoboost
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/06/editorial-lots-of-boost-not-much-eco/
Neither did I
It’d obviously be named the Escalade Camino TS. With an $8k upgrade to gauges imported from Korea, just for you :)
I’d bet that a Cadillac Ute w/the Escalade’s gauges & a V8 would outsell the ATS.
What it really needs is AWD to put down that power.
Too substancial a front end to be a mid-engine car – tall grill, tall lights. Its more likely an El Camino kind of vehicle, with an open back…
The body work means nothing at all, nothing. This could just be a powertrain validation mule, and nothing else.
Here is a picture of an early Plymouth Prowler mule:
http://carzz.co/_46419.jpg
You’re letting the height of the Holden SSV’s front end fool you (which is what I’m guessing is a part of the intent.)
A significant part of that the sheet metal behind the wheel arch of the SSV’s fender and hood have been cut down before it hits the cabin. There doesn’t look to be too much space at all in the front end.
Unless you’re suggesting that the ending is going to have the substantial part of its bulk mounted relatively high and in front of the front axle.
@nine11c2:
Look at the position of the front wheel. If there were an engine upfront it would be mostly ahead of the front axle line, like an old Audi. That’s a mid-engine layout.
Not a Corvette, those tail lights don’t look at all like the Camaro
Mid-engine? That is now officially the longest running car rumor in the history of the automobile, 46 years
http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/astro2/
Except this time it’s not just a rumor.
It wasn’t the last time either…
“The concept car was named Aerovette and approved for production for 1980. The Aerovette featured double folding gullwing doors. The production car would use a 350 cu in (5,700 cc) V-8, and priced between $15000-$18000. However, after chief supporters Duntov, Bill Mitchell, and Ed Cole had retired from General Motors, David R. McLellan decided that a front/mid-engine car would be more economical to build and would have better performance, and canceled the Aerovette program. Contemporary import mid engine cars had poor sales in the United States compared to the Datsun 240Z, which ultimately determined the Aerovette’s fate, further contributing to termination of production plans.”-Wikipedia
So what’s changed?
What’s changed? There is actual internal support resulting in the greenlighting of the program, not just a “concept.” Trust me, cars don’t get to the stage this one is at without real momentum internally. I’m as big of a Vette fan as anyone here, and I was obviously skeptical too. This IS happening, hard as it is to believe.
It was “green-lighted” in 1980 as well, then killed a move common at GM, but also common at GM is being occasionally blinds1ded by something unannounced and unexpected. So, we’ll see, but I wouldn’t hold my breath until you actually can configure one on the Chevy site
Care to make a friendly wager, L2M?
The second-gen Fiero was a lot closer to production than this, and it never saw a showroom floor. GM has an annoying tendency to lurch from crisis to crisis, which leaves a lot of might-have-beens in its wake.
Having said that, if GM is ever going to build a mid-engine ‘vette, now is the time to do it. The big wad of baby-boomer cash that buys these cars will be diverted to end-of-life concerns within a decade or so, and there is no realistic prospect for younger generations to take up the slack.
“The big wad of baby-boomer cash that buys these cars will be diverted to end-of-life concerns within a decade or so”
bumpy ii, thanks, being a boomer suddenly got kind of depressing :(
Right, it wasn’t a rumor then. It’s not a rumor now so your statement that it is the longest running rumor was wrong. It can still get cancelled like the would have been C4 but it still wouldn’t have been a rumor.
Every next-gen Corvette is going to be mid-engined.
@ SCE to AUX.. best post.. I laughed out loud..
Since when did engineering mules carry production ready trim and features
By your accounts the Plymouth Prowler was the next Wrangler…
That was an obvious joke about the brouhaha surrounding the current Corvette’s use of tail lights that closely resemble those of the Camaro. The auto-world was in absolute turmoil over that.
lol, I now see what you did there, well played
I never cared that they resembled the Camaros lights so much as they resemble the LAST Camaros lights. The current Camaro uses one piece wrap around lamps that if anything would work better adapted to the Bette of they could bear parting with that last bit of styling legacy.
The body work means nothing at all, nothing. This could just be a powertrain validation mule, and nothing else. It might not even have the proper suspension under it.
Here is a picture of an early Plymouth Prowler mule:
http://carzz.co/_46419.jpg
The roads are so bad in the Detroit area that even the GM Milford Proving Grounds are full of broken pavement.
If there’s one persistent rumor in the automotive industry that never ever goes away, it’s that of a mid-engined Corvette.
Would you want one? I like the almost-achievable-by-real-people price of the current Corvette. At least the base one.
But the new Sting-Ray just came out. I realize switching to a mid-engine configuration is a HUGE R&D task but are they really working on a new ‘Vette already? Given how times this rumor comes up (every year) at this point if I was GM I wouldn’t even bother. The current ‘Vette is so good (based what I’ve read) that going mid-engine seems like throwing in the towel and admitting you lost. Or maybe that is why they are going mid-engine… in which case we really have reached peak ‘Vette!
When do you think they start work on the next version of any car? The C7 was in the works shortly after the C6 came out and the same is true of the C6 to an extent. The older cars not so much but competitive sportscar shelf lives are no longer measured in decades. Also the C7 is the evolution of the C5 that began development in the early 90s, it is in a sense a quarter century old. From a time when GM engineers thought there could never again be an n/a V8 corvette capable of 300 horse power. It really is an old design and whatever happens with C8 it is almost guaranteed it won’t be based on the current platform, and if it is it will mark corvettes next decline from performance relevance.
“Would you want one?”
Not unless it has Corvair badges on it.
Wrong drivetrain config.
Nope! It’s a Holden UTE… I still want one…
It is the end of the line, end of the era, last of the V8 interceptors, 2017 Mad Max edition Maloo.
I’ll take it in black just as shown. Thank you.
We sure that engine is in front of the rear axle?
If not, that would make it a rear engined car..
Right?
There’s not enough room for an 8 behind the wheels accounting for bumper structure. It looks tight ahead of the wheels also but it could easily fit between the wheels biased to the front some with a clever transaxle setup and still be sold as “mid engined”. Kinda like how Nissan gets away with its “front midships” malarkey.
More pics
http://roa.h-cdn.co/assets/15/02/1024×625/gallery_nrm_1420739857-2017-mid-engined-chevrolet-corvette-113jpg.jpeg
http://roa.h-cdn.co/assets/15/02/1024×625/gallery_nrm_1420739977-2017-mid-engined-chevrolet-corvette-115jpg.jpeg
Well, whatever it is, it’s a more creative test mule than when Ford put the Ford GT’s engine into base model refrigerator white F250s.
Well the tail lights are from a Holden ute.
http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/holden-releases-the-worlds-most-powerful-ute-20140911-10fmmh.html
While I think a mid-engine vette will be a helluva fast car. I just don’t see it being a sales success.
I’ve read GM might offer both front and mid engine car. That would be a good prudent plan.
The day the mid-engined Corvette appears in showrooms will be the same day I get a one night with Kate Upton.
Well, you have about 2 years to bone Up then.
A thrilling thought for Kate, I’m sure
The top of the dash and the roof appear to be from the vette. I shrugged off the mid-engine vette talk years ago, but looks like it could happen.
Someone should make one of those picture collages of a corvette out of every “Next Vette will be Mid-engined!” magazine cover ever published.
GUYS WHAT IF EVERYONE IS WRONG AND THIS IS THE NEW EL CAMINO?