Mid-Engine C8 Corvette Reveal Date Finally Announced!
July 18th, 2019 is the date set to change the high-performance automotive landscape as we know it.
Late this afternoon, on Thursday, April 11, 2019, on the eve of the Long Beach Grand Prix, Chevrolet dropped a bomb. It’s the announcement heard ’round the world: The mid-engine C8 Corvette is coming, on July 18 of this year. The Corvette team took to the official Corvette Instagram account to make the announcement.
Instagram-surfing Corvette Forum members are encouraged to check out their profile page, as the brand’s Instagram stories are filled with C8 Corvette information, including, crucially, a cold start clip of the exhaust note. And, it sounds like a wicked V8, to us.
Here’s what we know so far. The next generation C8 Corvette will officially switch from a front-mid-engine layout to a supercar status mid-engine layout. The engine(s), now situated behind the driver, will be V8 units, with one set to be naturally-aspirated on the entry-level model, and twin-turbocharged on a forthcoming, more hardcore model that Corvette fans have taken to calling the C8 Z06. Power figures for the latter powertrain package have been stated to be in excess of 800 horsepower. This figure would easily top the 2019 Corvette ZR1 as the most powerful General Motors production vehicle ever made.
ALSO SEE: 2019 Corvette ZR1 Drive Review: 755 Horsepower of American Excess
A quick-shifting, dual-clutch automatic transmission is coming, though, General Motors patents have surfaced showing that the manual transmission is both possible, and being planned for the mid-engine ‘Vette.
Pricing is supposedly, set at $169,990, though we can neither confirm nor deny this, as of yet.
For more information, head over to Chevrolet’s website, which now has an updated page for the forthcoming C8 Corvette. Or, head over to the forums, which are buzzing with C8 news and the latest rumors. More news as we have it, folks.
