Mid-engine Corvette design study

Hm... looks like Alfa on steroids to me. Which is not bad at all.

These are wonderful renderings and reflect just what GM needs to shake up the exotic auto industry & take the Corvette brand in an exciting direction - successfully attracting a younger audience (- 40). It has a beautiful shape that melds Ferrari & Lamborghini curvacious lines with Chevrolet dna to make a winning design. A powerful mid-engine Detroit V8 would make this vehicle a true contender for one of the top exotics available. GM should hire the designer. Kudos Ivan.

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP

Raptor I was thinking the same thing ,but I also see some Ferrari Fxx in there.

well if they make it mid engine, wouldnt that effectively throw it into the "supercar"/"exotic" category thereby eliminating almost all but the richest of chevy's customers who want their bang for their buck type car...???

The new ZR1 pushes the Corvette into the super car arena already. So this would be a continuation of that. I dont know why they couldnt do a low end version and all out high end version. Oh wait a minute dont they have that already? All be it with the engines in the front.

Question, why do we associate rear engine with higher cost/luxury item? I find it hard to believe just by putting the engine in the back manufacturing costs go up. Besides is'nt the 599 more money than any of its rivals, hmmmm!

It's nice for sure, but honestly it doesn't carry any recognizable Corvette cues. Good design, just not a Vette.

it cant be a corvette as what Layne stated there is no lineage to corvettes of old etc...unless GM are planning on pushing the 'Vette name out on its own. If thats the case this could and should be their halo car

Lineage?? Leaf springs, fiberglass, and pushrod engines! Its time to move on, even Porsche moved on and water cools its engines nowadays. Look at Cadillac they figured it out too and you dont see to many parked at active adult living communites anymore either (PC for old folks home). I just bought a new carbon fiber tri-pod so the stuff is not that rare.

Do you remember the dinosaurs?

The fangs are a bit much, plus this would be a complete revolution in the Vette world. The fifth and sixth (current) generations of the Vette are evolutionary. There would have be another generation (or three) before this car before I would readily recognize this as a Vette. I'm all for progress, but this would be too radical for a one generation change.

Check this out http://www.welovecorvettes.com/concept.html Some of the images did not load for me but in flesh is the heritage you could base this car on. The Ital Design being very close although the Astro II conept and the Indy Concept are also in the above design too.

One can only hope for sooner than two or three generations down the road.

Please GOD have the designers at Cadillac call Chevrolet and teach them how the flaps on the box works so they can look out side to.

MyWheelsOnWalls ---- maybe i wasnt clear....i was referring to the general shape and design, and not the mechanics.

Wizsrds Lore- You were clear and I to was referring to the general shape. They need to move on. Take Jaguar- sticking with their past pushed them into the red, if you can find some lineage in the XF then your a genius. Even a Mercedes looks stylish these days and not just blocks of wood with the corners sanded off.

It just time to move on or follow Jaguars previous path. Also dont get me started on Mustangs, solid beam rear suspension! I mean come on an independent rear suspension will never take off, who would pay for the benefits of that.

i agree with the XF JAguar being a different beast to its origins, but i think they dropped the ball with the finished product compared to design study !!

And the Mustangs rear suspension is the same as the one used on the Falcon here in Australia.....still about 25 years behind the norm....

ohmy: only if you consider a fiero a super car.

this isnt a corvette. if you look at the current generation corvette, they could put the engine in the back by moving the passenger cabin up a foot at the most.

something radical like this isnt a corvette. I'm sorry. you'll lose everyone that the corvette appeals to, not because of the mid engine but because the design is not american at all. at least not chevy anyways.

this basically looks like some one took the shelby concept we just saw a couple weeks ago and put a corvette badge on it.

a mid engine car doesnt have to look italian.........................

I have driven the new Vette, and it is such a pleasure to drive, I don't see why they would have to go mid engine? As long as the cost remained to where and average person could eventually afford it (somewhere in the $60-$70k max range) then I guess go for it.
But, there are a lot of people who balk at anything other than a RWD, front engined V8. Kind of like the Porsche guys and their rear mounted six...

ah yes Gus, here comes the next problem: tradition. In the end, CAFE is going to require the engine to move closer to the drive wheels to reduce weight, and that V8 is either going to have to go on a diet, gain a turbo, or lose some cylinders. Or all of the above. Personally I'd like to see a corvette that is a foot or more shorter, a couple hundred pounds lighter, and running on a turbo straight six for the next generation. after that, Rear-mid mounted turbo straight six would be nice... good for a solid luxury feel.

But in the end I really do see the vette getting ever smaller and smaller V8's with turbo's.... which would be nice. I've already said it but I'll say it again. There's no need for this continual "dropping of cylinders"... lets just drop the displacements.. and keep things as they are. I4's for small cars, V6's for mids, and V8's for your large cars, trucks, SUVs, and muscle cars.

If the 2020 Vette needs to get 30 mpg to keep CAFE happy, then why cant it have a 3L V8 with twin turbos? should be able to get a solid 450 hp out of that sucker, with VVT, VIT, forced induction... etc..

Yeah, I think the purists wouldn't mind, as long as it had a V8. Might sound like an F1 car on full boost, but that's the future...

You can always hear the Lambos and Ferraris (we have 3 in our apartment complex) when they accelrate up the local main road, sounds like Senna, back from the dead. Good sound...

Ferraris have an aweful sound....there i said it....sounds too tinny and not throaty like a v8 should. Evne Porsche 6's sound better !

I think you guys are all missing out on the biggest factor; Corvettes sell so well not only because they're an absolutely terrific car for the money, but because they're Corvettes! The pushrod V8, the fiberglass body, the classic front-engine sports car character, all these things make the Corvette what it is. If you start changing all these things and messing with the formula, it might make it a more "proper" sports car in the modern sense, but it'll also take away what the Corvettes are known for, and I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts that sales would drop. And not only would it lose character, but the mid-engine layout and all the high tech would almost surely raise the price, and what makes the Corvette so great for sports car buyers, bang for the buck, would disappear.

And besides, what exactly is wrong with the formula the Corvette is currently using? Just because it goes about it's business differently than other sports cars means it has to change to conform to what elitists think it "should" be? Why? Does every car have to follow the same design philosophy? Get off you high horses, and stop dogging the Corvette for being "last century". Don't buy one, and instead go buy your sports car of choice. It's as simple as that.

Oh and one more thing; I can see Corvettes being forced to go to smaller engines for economy reasons, but currently, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the LS series engines that have been used in Corvettes for years. They're light as hell, very compact, cheap to produce, reliable, make gobs of power with simple mods, get extremely good mileage, sound fantastic, and as a bonus they even look good aesthetically speaking. So remind me again what's wrong with pushrods? Oh ya, they're "old". So it may be one of the best engine designs in production, but it contains elements that aren't attractive to techno geeks, therefore it must be crap. *Sigh* If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

And just so you know, I'm not a Corvette fanboy. They're great cars, but not entirely to my taste. Personally I actually prefer Japanese tuners and European sports cars. I just can't stand all this senseless, ignorant hate that seems to float around Corvettes.

/Rant.