#ChevroletCorvetteC8

Chevrolet’s C8 Corvette has been in demand.

So much so that some dealers are commanding markups up to $100K over MSRP.

Last week, we told you a parts shortage had halted production of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.

Now the lines are rolling again.

Automakers are notoriously tight-lipped about future product, much to the endless frustration of scoop-hungry automotive journalists.

They respond “we don’t comment on future product” to our e-mailed queries so often that I suspect it’s an automated response. It’s a running joke when hacks and flacks are drinking together in the hospitality suite on a junket and one of us tries to get a buzzed P.R. professional to spill some tea. They go to great lengths to disguise prototypes from the prying eyes of both professional spy photogs and random jamokes with a cell-phone camera. Speaking of cell-phone cameras, journalists invited on to automaker property for certain events will have their phone’s camera lens covered with a sticker for the duration.

Subjected to more spy photography than Princess Diana, the Chevrolet Corvette C8 is very much real. For the first time, General Motors has released official images of the next-generation car, adding a debut date for good measure.

Still cloaked in camouflage, the mid-engined C8 prototype crawled along the streets of New York City Thursday, piloted by Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter. GM CEO Mary Barra rode shotgun for the trip, which culminated at the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s annual Footsteps to the Future Gala.

There, GM announced that the final C7 Vette will be auctioned off to the charity’s benefit.