MIDDLE AMERICA
After a long wait, a lot of teasing and a reveal involving a lot of all-American razzle dazzle, the eighth-generation Chevrolet Corvette has arrived.
The all-new ‘C8’ Corvette made its debut in California on 18 July in a presentation that involved GM heavyweights, like Mark Reuss (GM President and former MD of Holden), Mike Simcoe (VP of Global Design at GM and also ex-Holden) and Tadge Juechter (Corvette executive chief engineer).
Of course, the main talking point with the new Corvette – and major point of difference from all previous ‘Vette generations – is the relocation of the engine from the front to the middle.
MIDDLE… FOR AGES
A mid-engined Corvette had been toyed with by Chevrolet since the early 1960s, but was taken more seriously when a series of concepts, starting with the ‘Astro II’ of 1968, were developed.
Carrying “un-Corvette” features like a transversely-mounted V8, aluminium and steel bodies, four-wheel drive, gullwing doors and even a rotary engine, some of these mid-engined concepts came close to production, including the ‘Aerovette’ of
