Chevrolet C8 Corvette will be Mid-Engined; Launch in 2018 NAIAS

Chevrolet C8 Corvette in its production form will be introduced at 2018 NAIAS; the mid-engine supercar is said to make between 450 and 500hp

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The all-new Chevrolet Corvette C8 will make world premiere at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in January at Detroit according to a report in Car and Driver. The engine will be positioned in the middle and it’s internally codenamed as ZERV. The car could act as a tribute to the mid-engined CERV concepts of Zora Arkus-Duntov from the 1960s.

The C8 Corvette is more likely to come with a starting price of $80,000 and the engine will be a new iteration of the current V8 motor producing around 450 to 500 horses. It will succeed the existing Corvette C7 presumably after its introduction in production guise but the pushrod power unit, with the front mid-engine layout used since 1953 in the original Vette, will be sold as long as the stock remains.

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The possibilities of the existing seventh generation Corvette C7’s final chapter could be badged as the famed ZR1 and it is expected to be revealed at next year’s NAIAS as a high performance edition. The most notable mechanical change for the Corvette C8 by January 2019 will be a new four-cam, 32-valve V8 engine that’s an evolution from the existing powertrain.

The revisions will up the price of the C8 by $100,000 and by the end of this decade the Corvette will further evolve into a hybrid sportscar. As the Corvette Stingray, the hybrid car could be termed as E-Ray as the American car maker has already trademarked that name. It will feature electric motors driving the front wheels.

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Some of the C8 avatars could carry ZORA nameplate to pay homage to the Zora Arkus-Duntov, the mid-engine forefather in the early ‘50s to ‘70s. The report went on to claim that the under-the-radar C8 Corvettes are currently being trailed and tested at General Motor’s Milford facility in Michigan.

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The C8 has been put under heavy battering against main rivals through its development phase as GM pits it against production prototypes of the Ferrari 458 Italia and McLaren rivals. GM also owns a Nissan GT-R, BMW i8 and two Porsche 911 Turbos to speed up the development of the new mid-engined C8 Corvette.

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SOURCECar and Driver