{"id":23578,"date":"2019-03-22T09:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T13:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=23578"},"modified":"2019-03-22T09:40:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T13:40:09","slug":"elusive-chevy-corvette-c8-starts-to-come-into-the-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/elusive-chevy-corvette-c8-starts-to-come-into-the-open","title":{"rendered":"Elusive Chevy Corvette C8 starts to come into the open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/20\/PDTN\/828f1ac6-5c36-4f94-9063-039e82297461-williams-C8.jpg?width=520&amp;height=390&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The debut of the mid-engine Corvette C8  has been postponed several times, due primarily to electrical problems, sources say.\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">The mid-engine Chevy Corvette C8 is the auto industry\u2019s Bigfoot: lots of sightings in the wild, but no confirmation\u00a0as to when it will be officially revealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The 2019 Detroit auto show? Came and went. A springtime reveal at an exotic location? Not looking likely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But we know the elusive Corvette exists because, well, we just saw video of General Motors\u00a0President Mark Reuss riding in a caravan of camouflaged C8s in Arizona. And because a group of journalists stumbled across five\u00a0similar C8s north of San Diego. And then there was the barely disguised\u00a0mid-engine\u00a0Corvette\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gmauthority.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/mid-engine-corvette-c8-prototype-breaks-down-gets-towed-photos\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">that broke down last week<\/a>\u00a0at a Speedway gas station near GM&#8217;s Milford Proving Grounds\u00a0and had to be towed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">It&#8217;s driving would-be Corvette buyers\u00a0to distraction.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-RpspSE4Av-A\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/19\/PDTN\/b3a31d0f-b6d1-4934-8d1a-b96a2c522c67-coach_c8-05.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The Corvette C8.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/19\/PDTN\/b3a31d0f-b6d1-4934-8d1a-b96a2c522c67-coach_c8-05.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/19\/PDTN\/b3a31d0f-b6d1-4934-8d1a-b96a2c522c67-coach_c8-05.jpg?width=500&amp;height=281\" \/><\/aside>\n<\/div><div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a great-looking car, and everybody&#8217;s eagerly waiting to be the first to own one on the block. But information\u00a0about it is just diddling out, and it&#8217;s making us all crazy,&#8221; says Mike Figueroa\u00a0of Galena, Illinois, a\u00a0former Corvette owner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Figueroa, and many more like him, want to buy the next-generation Corvette\u00a0\u2014\u00a0if they\u00a0just knew when it will arrive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">General Motors won\u2019t comment and officially doesn&#8217;t acknowledge that the car even exists. &#8220;We do not comment on future product,&#8221; Chevrolet spokesman Kevin Kelly said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But here\u2019s what we know and what&#8217;s being reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Originally targeted for a coming-out-party at the Detroit show in January, the C8 was reportedly delayed until late spring \u2014\u00a0and now later in the year, according to several industry sources. The chief culprit? Electrical gremlins, they say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Observers have speculated that the Corvette C8&#8217;s debut could be coordinated with the 25th anniversary of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.corvettemuseum.org\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in late August.\u00a0<\/a>The Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green has undergone an overhaul in the last three years, including a\u00a0massive paint-plant investment,\u00a0to prepare for the\u00a0mid-engine car.<\/p>\n<div class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-ad-placement=\"native-article_link\" data-ad-sizes=\"[&quot;fluid&quot;,[3,3], [2,6]]\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">A debut of the C8 in late August would also allow Chevy to showcase the car at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.carlisleevents.com\/events\/events-detail\/index?id=corvettes+at+carlisle\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">Corvettes at\u00a0Carlisle<\/a>, a huge annual gathering of Corvette owners in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.carlisleevents.com\/events\/events-detail\/index?id=corvettes+at+carlisle\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in late August<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Whatever the venue, the intense speculation speaks to how important\u00a0this eighth-generation Corvette is to GM \u2014 and to the external pressures building on Chevy to produce the car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Sales of C7 Corvettes have fallen dramatically this year \u2014\u00a0off 20 percent from a year ago \u2014 as buyers anticipate the mid-engine supercar. About 10,000 C7s reportedly languish unsold on dealer lots, sitting for an average of 232 days, unprecedented\u00a0for the iconic sports car. Potential buyers like Figueroa\u00a0say\u00a0dealers are bending over backward\u00a0to offer deals, which get sweeter\u00a0the longer the C8 is delayed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-ad-placement=\"native-article_link\" data-ad-sizes=\"[&quot;fluid&quot;,[3,3], [2,6]]\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The good news for Chevy is the C7&#8217;s stale sales indicate huge\u00a0pent-up demand for the C8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The clock is also ticking on Corvette&#8217;s race program, which is expected to debut the car for the 2020 IMSA Weathertech racing season at next January&#8217;s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The current\u00a0front-engine race car is getting long in the tooth against formidable competition like the mid-engine Ford GT. The race-car version of the C8 has been seen testing at tracks in Florida, Wisconsin\u00a0and Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">While endurance-racing rules are famously opaque when it comes to official recognition of\u00a0production cars, the Corvette race car\u00a0effectively has to be licensed for competition by the end of 2019 in order to qualify for Daytona and LeMans next year. GM has traditionally introduced its production car before racing it. The front-engine\u00a0C7, for example, went into production in September 2013 ahead of the C7-R&#8217;s 2014 Daytona debut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The multitude of sightings of camouflaged cars \u2014 from Reuss&#8217;\u00a0ride in Arizona, to California, Colorado and Florida\u00a0\u2014 suggest a mature exterior design ready for prime time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The idea of a mid-engine Corvette actually dates back to legendary designer\u00a0Zora Arkus-Duntov,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hagerty.com\/articles-videos\/articles\/2018\/01\/30\/sixty-years-in-the-making\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">who considered the layout in the early 1960s<\/a>. But the program really picked up speed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/general-motors\/2016\/08\/04\/sources-mid-engine-corvette-due\/88054852\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">in 2007 when it was green-lighted by GM<\/a>,\u00a0only to be shelved by the Great Recession. Post-recession, it was full speed ahead.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-RpspSE5u2Qg\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/19\/PDTN\/222d53ba-d6f5-4c90-945b-b805f0e07153-Reuss_Vette.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Spied in the new Corvette C8: GM President Mark Reuss, who can't help but grin.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/19\/PDTN\/222d53ba-d6f5-4c90-945b-b805f0e07153-Reuss_Vette.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/03\/19\/PDTN\/222d53ba-d6f5-4c90-945b-b805f0e07153-Reuss_Vette.jpg?width=500&amp;height=236\" \/>Spied in the new Corvette C8: GM President Mark Reuss, who can&#8217;t help but grin.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: YouTube)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But for all its groundwork, the C8 has been a development headache.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;The mid-engine car is the most protracted Corvette ever,&#8221; says ex-Car and Driver writer\u00a0Don Sherman of Hagerty, the automotive publication. Sherman has\u00a0made a career out of chasing the elusive &#8216;Vette.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Sherman speculates the C8&#8217;s growing pains have their\u00a0roots in the car&#8217;s revolutionary nature: It is not just the first mid-engine Corvette, the C8 is a clean-sheet program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;Shuffling the engine location isn&#8217;t that big a deal,&#8221; says Sherman. &#8220;But the Corvette team is using the C8 to re-invent the entire car.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">While\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hagerty.com\/articles-videos\/articles\/2019\/03\/08\/real-reason-for-c8-corvette-delay\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">Sherman&#8217;s latest reporting at Hagerty<\/a>\u00a0indicates some chassis-twisting\u00a0issues with the high-horsepower mill,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gmauthority.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/mid-engine-corvette-delayed-six-months-over-electrical-issue-breaking\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">a multitude of sources<\/a>\u00a0indicate the biggest source of the C8&#8217;s delays involve the electrical system. The issue seems\u00a0to be GM&#8217;s effort to move to a new, common electrical-architecture using a so-called CAN (computer area network). The Corvette has proved difficult to adapt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Despite its exotic nature, Chevy is still expected to fall back on some familiar tools to keep the base car&#8217;s costs in line \u2014\u00a0a signature attribute of Corvette\u00a0that has\u00a0gained it a reputation as &#8220;the affordable supercar.&#8221; The standard engine is reportedly a good old\u00a0push-rod 6.2-liter V-8 code-named the LT2, putting the power to wheels through a dual-clutch automatic transmission.\u00a0The\u00a0current LT1-base engine&#8217;s horsepower is expected to be pushed past the current 460 horses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">So endowed, industry observers expect the C8 to\u00a0cost $4,000-$5,000 more than the current\u00a0front-engine model. That would put\u00a0its starting price in the neighborhood of $60,000 \u2014 still well below, say, a $92,000 Porsche 911.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The mid-engine beast may disappoint manual-gearbox customers, but\u00a0it will still satisfy Corvette traditionalists by fitting two golf bags in the front truck, or &#8220;frunk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Unless, of course, you get the rumored\u00a0hybrid model with an electric motor\u00a0crowding out frunk space. Seems 1,000 horsepower comes with its sacrifices.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-RpspSE4NKH8\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mid-engine Chevy Corvette C8 is the auto industry\u2019s Bigfoot: lots of sightings in the wild, but no confirmation\u00a0as to when it will be officially revealed. The 2019 Detroit auto show? Came and went. A springtime reveal at an exotic location? Not looking likely. But we know the elusive Corvette exists because, well, we just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}