The new mid engine corvette/caddy...
 

For those of you living under a rock, gm's new mid engine sports car program is in full swing. Here's the latest shots taken of it a day or two ago doing some cold weather/traction testing alongside the new zr1.

http://www.autoblog.com/2017/01/30/m...r1-spy-photos/

So Is it indeed a vette? Is the DOHC lt5 going to make an appearance? Possibly a hybrid? What will it cost? Would gm really give up on its biggest baddest front engine/rear drive flagship sports car and all its fans? What does everyone think? Btw if you're an insider, you're clearly bound by the rules of this forum to reveal all you know:rules:

The mid engine Corvette has been a rumor since 1955...

That being said, look at the Ford GT. If ever the time was right to make it happen, that time is now. Unfortunately for GM, the benchmark has been set. If they are not planning a honest GT rival (legitimately on par with) then there is no point trying to release a poor mans mid engine...

I think if it comes out it will make the Ford GT look like a Nissan Leaf.:lmao:

Agree now would be the right time to have a midengine design. Disagree that it has to be on par with the GT. The GT is a very exclusive car and extremely expensive. There is plenty of room in the market for an "affordable" midengine car from GM that is capable of outperforming a C7 or advancing the design at a minimum. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

More than I'll have...

... is what it'll have to be for me to be able to get one.:bang:

Charlie...more like the late 80's Yugo.

If they make the LT into a cammer and make it as good looking as the C5, 6, and now 7 are- it'll sell like crazy. I'm sure sticker will climb as they always do, but hell a mid engine Vette with an 8000 rpm or so redline for what will probably be $80k or so? How can perspective Porsche buyers at least not go take a look? A close friend just bought a '17 Carrera S with all of the good stuff on it. Damn thing was $140k and it doesn't even have hair dryers on it. Sheesh.

a Mid-Engined Vette will at least $150k

That would be a poor decision. It would put that car in a cross section of cars it can't compete with. Customers shopping in the $150k bandwidth are looking for fit, finish, textures, and exclusivity that GM can't deliver. Don't get me wrong, the car will put up crazy numbers beating cars three times the price, but I'm not so sure tenths on a stopwatch matter to guys who buy 911s and R8s.

Having said that, my enthusiasm for the recent GM product line has been greatly revived. I found myself looking pretty seriously at a new 1LE Camaro the other night. They're offering some pretty serious hardware these days for fair prices.

All good points fella's, but if the 2010 ZR1 was $120k, do we really expect this one to be less than that? Let's remember, the ZR1 was a hot commodity and flew off the dealers lot's. There are Corvette enthusiast who'll buy it just because it's a Corvette. Then, on top of all that, it'll be the first "real" mid-engine American made sports car. Don't dare mention a Corvair as the first. Hahahaha!! Lastly, if Ford can sell the GT at $225k, I know this car would sell just as easily in that price range or near it. Don't get your hopes up high thinking this car will be anywhere close to the price tag of $80k-$90k...won't happen. I think it's competitive market would be cars such as the Acura NSX which sells for $150k+and the Nissan GTR at $110k+ and maybe the Porsche 911 GT3 RS at $175k+. I doubt Chevy wants to battle the Lamborghini Aventador @ $400k+ or the Ferrari 488 (the 458 Italia successor) at $245k+. I'm sure the mid-engine Vette could compete, performance wise, with the Lambo and Ferrari, but I don't think that's GM's aim.

I think if EVERY C8 is gonna be mid-engine, it won't be in that kind of price range. I can't see dealers with $150k cars on their lots by the dozens. Dealer near us is a huge Vette seller and keeps 40-60 on lot at all times. Who knows, I could be very wrong. The amount of people who can afford a car over $100k is a finite crowd. If the C8 is $150k, I'd rather just have the R8 or the GT3. Go sit in them, then go jump in a Vette. Zero comparison.

I totally agree. I am in that finite crowd. :thmbsdwn:

If only people would get that the Corvette has been a (front) mid-engine car for decades, some of the terminology would work a little more effectively. The new rear-mid-engine design could definitely result in some dynamic benefits, so the question should be one of what those benefits might be. People had a lot of complaints about the Pantera four decades ago, but they rave about the Porsche Cayman now. To a driver, will the new platform really be an improvement over the current layout, or is it just throwing a new dart at the styling board, possibly to help sell a new engine configuration?

Sneak peek...

Lmao ...that was a car that was 10-15 yrs ahead of its time ...think of that car in the 90's ...quite possibly a 3.8 supercharged... Northstar....

All good points gentlemen. It's going to be interesting to see what develops for sure. We could end up with a special model corvette similar to the C4 ZR1. I just hope it doesn't sound bad.

But that won't be the case! There will be a C7 Evolution and the C8 Mid-Engine.

You can't compare a car that hasn't come out yet with a R8 or GT3. The Ford GT is Sold Out. I see no reason why GM can't build a high quality car in the $150,000 - 200,000 price range

I don't see a need for it to be > $80-90k. I don't see the location of the engine being a driver of huge cost. They have had a front/mid engine w/ a transaxle for quite a while now, so remove that tube and bolt them together. Maybe GM will think it should get all exotic w/ lots of CF etc but I don't think it needs to go that way. Rather than make it a separate model halo car I would make it the standard model. That way they can amortize a lot of the development costs over the next 10 yrs and a lot more volume.

GM sells a LOT of corvettes at the current price level. I doubt that trend would continue if the price jumped to $150k, and where would all the $60-80k buyers go? Camaro? I don't think so.

The ZR1 was a flagship Corvette but could still be built on the regular Corvette production line, and still exist with regular Vettes. I don't see how that could happen if they went mid-engine unless they continued building the C7, and then the mid wouldn't really be a Corvette ...

I agree - there will be a Corvette A and a Corvette B. I just can't imagine watching a Chevy lot boy crawling into my $150K car though.

Just curious what is the current base price for s vette. Somewhere in the 60's I think if so jumping up into the 6 figure mark would kill the sales.

Vette buyers won't downgrade to s camaro they will look at other brands.

And driving a Cayman is stupid fun compared to any of the cars that I have driven recently. Drove the R8 and hated it.


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Base-base is just over $54K up to the Z06 Convertible at just over $83K. It's easy to add $10-15K for interior and carbon options. There are few base coupes being sold with the Z06 accounting for a large percentage of sales - and the Grand Sport (base price $65K) just became available. I would say that the average selling price (with some Z06s being optioned over $100K) is around $80K. My 2011 Z06/Z07 stickered at over 90, and the Zr1 was over 120. I think GM needs to fix their image problem caused by the Z06 not really living up to its "most track ready Corvette ever" sales pitch, but they can't abandon the leagues of devoted followers. I will say that the A8 Z06 is a very fast drag car with some going low 10s on just drag radials. My bet is on a pretty sophisticated "super Vette" (mid-engine, 32 valve DOHC, DCT) - track credible - in the $140-150 range plus a more consumer price-friendly traditional Corvette. They could probably produce a watered-down mid-engine for less than $100K, but then you end up with another "one-size-fits-all" car that is a compromise in every category. I would opt for a true performance oriented mid-engine (NA preferred), but in the mean time I'll make do with my rude, crude, old school ACR.

Pappy

This has to be my favorite comment to date.

No matter how much it's really gonna sticker for, some big money guy will buy #0001 at Barrett-Jackson for a $1 million.

True. His name is Rick Hendrick.
He owns the largest Corvette collection in the world...so I've heard.

That 1 million will go to charity.:patriot:

Nope ...he will have #2 ....#1 will be part of a special display at the Corvette museum.... "X" many yrs after Zora first designed the mid engine here it is ....etc etc etc

Just thought I'd refresh this thread with some cool info:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/articl...mpaign=content

And some more info leaked just over the past day or so...

http://www.corvetteonline.com/news/m...-images-leaked