#Corvette

Between 1953 and a few weeks ago, the Chevrolet Corvette stuck to a very specific formula: Engine at the front, driven wheels at the back. With the debut of the 2020 C8 Corvette, all of that changed. Today we want to find out what you think about the metamorphosis of an iconic sports car nameplate.

You knew this Ace of Base would happen eventually. Ever since the dawn of time (or the moment Don Sherman started working at Car and Driver, whichever came first), speculation had been rife of an impending mid-engined Corvette. The shoe finally dropped last month, with the debut of Chevy’s eighth-gen Vette.

One huge detail? Its starting price of $59,995. For less than sixty grand, one will soon be able to plug themselves into the driver’s seat of America’s hot rod. What’s included (and not included?) in the base 1LT?

When General Motors debuted the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette, the automaker promised it would start below $60,000. It’s just barely been able to keep that promise at $59,995, which incorporates the obligatory $1,095 destination charge, but it’s still an impressively low target for a mid-engined performance vehicle. You can, of course, option out Chevy’s C8 Stingray to a much higher price tag.

Fortunately, even if you go absolutely mental on the options, you’ll still be saving yourself some cash vs any of the Corvette’s chief rivals. For example, a bare-bones Porsche 911 starts at $98,750 while the Corvette has to move up two trim levels and take on loads of extras before it surpasses $80,000.

Who’s talking about the C7 Corvette these days? Precious few, that’s who, as the recent appearance of the mid-engined C8 has sucked all the attention away from the current-generation Chevrolet two-seater.

This situation, paired with the need to clear existing inventory, could be advantageous for buyers of the departing model, assuming you’re ready to shell out nearly six figures for the hottest C7s around.

In accordance with all that is true in the U.S. sports car market, General Motors is about to sell 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingrays by the truckload before settling in to a few years of significantly less volume.

Even casual industry observers understand that trend. Between the hype, the early adoption fervor, and the performance leaps generally represented by a new species of sportus caricus, shoppers tend to turn en masse to the newest, flashiest, boldest two-door. That pattern is amplified by vehicles with legendary status.

Fortunately, the legends aren’t as inherently prone to suffering from dramatic, post-hype declines in demand (See: FR-S, Scion.) History tells us General Motors’ 66-year-old sports car will surge some 40 percent in 2020 and then continue rising in 2021 before dipping somewhat in 2022.

The Corvette average buyer age is a whole ‘nuther story.

The new Corvette showed up in a war-era hangar last week, wearing slinky new bodywork and an engine mounted amidships. This change has reliably rattled some corners of Vette fandom.

Another part of the new Chevy halo car that caused controversy? Its interior. The reconfigurable screen ahead of the driver was expected, given what’s being deployed now by the likes of Audi and a few others. But the rest of the Corvette cabin? Very surprising.

Which is today’s question: what production car interior, good or bad, has surprised you the most?

ORANGE COUNTY, CA. — After months, if not years, of hype, plus another 30 minutes or so of introduction, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is finally here.

Dubbed C8, for eighth generation, the Corvette is now mid-engined for the first time ever.

It’s also sans stick, at least for the foreseeable future.

Chevy introduced just one version of the car in Southern California Thursday — the Stingray. A Z51 performance package is available, and Stingrays so equipped will be able to hit 60 mph from a standing start in under 3 seconds.

Oh, and the price tag? Under $60,000 to start.

I’m in California today so that I can see the new Chevrolet C8 Corvette in the flesh. The reveal will take place later tonight.

In advance of that event, friend of TTAC Bozi Tatarevic has tweeted out a photo of the car’s interior. It looks, um, interesting.

We’re living in a golden age of performance where somehow, despite all the focus on electrification and sport-utility development, you can still buy a nearly 800 horsepower coupe off the showroom floor for less than six figures. All of the so-called “Detroit 3” manufacturers are offering supercharged V8’s that start with the Camaro ZL1 and Corvette Z06’s 650 hp and top out at the Challenger Redeye’s 797 hp. The new Shelby GT500 falls in between, with 760 hp.

Are they the fastest iterations of each of their respective platforms? Yes. Does that make them the best? No. In fact, they become inferior in the process.

Chevrolet is finally going to show us the all-new, mid-engined Corvette later this week at a live event in California. Yes, the car actually exists. In anticipation of this reveal, and to build more hype for one of the most hyped-about cars in existence, Chevy is releasing C8 teasers throughout the week.

Today’s teaser was the name of the car. It’ll be the Stingray.

Judging from the comments on yesterday’s post about what the new C8’s rump might look like, most of you lot aren’t quite sold on the possibility of Corvette copying some of Camaro’s homework. One commenter used the word ‘ersatz’, for which he gets extra TTAC points.

This got us thinking: is there ever an appropriate time for an automaker to reprise styling cues on another model?

When the new mid-engine, C8 Chevrolet Corvette finally debuts, it’ll be one of the most teased auto launches in history. While it seems like we’ve been talking about it forever, we still haven’t had a chance to take a look at the car without any camouflage. But since the internet exists, we don’t have to wait until the official unveiling later this month to check out unwrapped parts of the vehicle.

What you are seeing below (the break) is an Instagram post purporting to be the rear end of the new Corvette. It’s not the best quality of image, but we can see some key details that match up to the camouflaged version. We believe this to be an accurate picture. The exhausts, pushed all the way to the outside of the car, is one giveaway. The second is the rear spoiler that appears to curve down in the middle, following the lines of the decklid.

A Canadian man was arrested in Vancouver’s West End over the weekend after trying to usurp someone else’s Corvette. The owner had reportedly left the vehicle’s top off in a public lot and a passerby, assuming the car was a free agent, climbed inside. By the time the Vette’s owner returned, the man had settled in and was refusing to leave.

This wasn’t officially a theft, mind you, just a case of some weirdo declining to get out of a Corvette on the grounds that simply occupying the driver’s seat magically made it his. As you have correctly assumed, the situation escalated once authorities arrived.

This year’s 24 Hours of LeMans was expectedly dominated by the two LMP1 entries from Toyota, but it wasn’t the expected car that won. LMP2 had a huge battle of its own, American-based IMSA teams challenged in GTE Pro, and the heartfelt GTE Am win changed after the end of the race.

After dominating for nearly the whole race and resetting the track record, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez came in with a down tire. Upon going back out, they realized that the tire pressure sensor system was reporting the incorrect tire’s pressure and they had to come in once again. Driving the entire track with a low tire cost them dearly.

General Motors has officially announced that the Chevrolet Corvette will continue production in Bowling Green, KY after it transitions into a mid-engined car. The automaker will add 400 new jobs and a second shift to support production of the new model, bringing the factory’s workforce to more than 1,300 individuals.

However, the Corvette news — such as it is — doesn’t end there. The vehicle’s factory-sanctioned Facebook page also revealed the car’s new logo on Friday.