Mid Engine Corvette: Should they build it, pros and cons

In keeping with the title of this thread..."should they build it?"

That's already decided. It is going to be built. We will see un-camo'd cars around late November/early December, the car will be intro'd at the Detroit 2019 show, and go on sale late summer 2019 (as a 2020 model). I don't think the "renders" are close to the end product, looks wise (C&D's cover render is especially off). I have faith that the car will be a show stopper, looks wise. The base car will be in $63,00-$68,000 range, IMO. As has been pointed out, Chevrolet is a VOLUME builder. GM didn't spend over 3/4ths of a BILLION dollars over the last 2 years on Bowling Green Assembly to make LESS cars. No doubt, the car will be what every Corvette is....big performance for low money. The 2020 car is NOT competing with the Ford GT or any Ferrari/Lamborghini/McLaren. THAT will happen 2022-2023. And it will be crazy.

 

Some of us think both the FE and ME will co-exist for several years while Chevy gets its feet firmly placed in the ME market.

 

this is what I believe will happen in fact there may always be a front engine corvette and maybe along with a mid engine corvette why not have the mid engine the top of the line... and the Fe the entry level ..

 

Car and Driver magazine did a rendering of the ME Corvette:
http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2018/04/13/pics-car-driver-renders-mid-engine-c8-corvette-may-2018-issue/

 

That 10 foot tall rear fender is terrible.

 

Square tail pipes but still no round tail lights.

 

That render is not close, back end is all wrong, based on the latest spy shots that clearly show buttresses and not a full glass hatchback.

 

My guess is GM is still doing some research on this car and trying to figure out if they really want to make it or not. Price may be the issue. Just because they built some prototypes doesn't mean they will actually make it. Even the C7 went through a lot of soul searching at GM before they pulled the trigger.

At $150K (if that is what it is) it might be more than most Vette owners can chew.

 

At $150k, its DOA if GM does not have a front engine Vette to keep the volume flowing.

I do think it's a done deal, though. The ME Vette is coming.

 

It might be coming but the details of it and it's pricing may be still being worked on. The C7 had a lot of similar issues before they announced it was officially coming. They needed that under $60 grand opening price point or the brass were going to nix it. Not enough cars would be sold for the investment.

Retooling for this car has to be a lot more than the C7 was.

Making a more luxurious Cadillac version might help their volume. They may be looking at that now as well to see if they can squeeze a few more thousand sales through Caddie dealers.

All the "leaked" stuff may be trial balloons to gauge the interest level.

 

My thought has always been the C8 should be front engined and priced and positioned where the C7 is today. The ME car should be badged as a Cadillac. I figured that is why their IMSA dpi car is badged as a Cadillac.

 

The additional volume will come from Europe, where today they have literally no market share whatsoever. The Mustang, by comparison, has been a huge hit over there.

If the car is more than $75K, it will be a bust. See Ford's decision to stop making most cars.

 

Damn right. No way they will make money on it if its over $150k (too few buyers). I'm guessing $80-100k base msrp range* for the mid-engine vette depending upon trim level/power/etc. Although, personally I'm hoping for somewhat lower. [If Alfa can do it with the 4C for $65k-75k range, then GM should certainly be able to do it at their higher volumes for so many of the parts - and we aren't even talking carbon tub. And of course Porsche makes solid profits (we think) on the Cayman and boxster in the 60-100k range at similar projected volumes]

And keeping the front-engined car in the $55-75k range* is a must do.

(*of course I'm excluding limited production cars like the z06/ZR1 types from the price ranges above)

EDIT: If - by some Porsche-like efficiency - Chevy can keep the price in the $60-90k range, then they could do only do the one mid-engined model and ditch the idea of both a ME and FE vette. Why can't chevy - with their cost base - do what Porsche does with the 718? There is no reason for this car to be more than the 718 or Alfa 4C.

 

I'm sure it's been said before, but IMO this ME thing should not be a "corvette"...it should be its own model and the front engine corvette platform should continue to be available along side it. Call this new thing the sting-ray, manta-ray, or....? But to completely change the platform/layout of a car with such a devoted audience and history is strange to me. Off the top of my head I can't think of a single example in which a specific car model has done this drastic a change

 

Honestly, I'm more bummed about square taillights than a mid engine layout. Zoe's always romanced the idea of a mid engine Corvette, it's very fitting and honors the heritage.

 

Going in the other direction; rear engine to front engine the Porsche 928 was supposed to replace the Porsche 911...

 

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/chevy-next-gen-corvette-wont-be-raced-for-a-while-1046133/

 

Damn auto correct - I meant "Zora's" not "Zoe's"...

 

gm will definitely build the mid engine corvette and they will continue to build the Front engine corvette for now..
atleast that is still my prediction.....

 

the only reason they would do that if the ME is well over $100k (as I predict).

If they go over $100K look for sales to go from 25K a year to 6k a year. How do I know this? Just look at the sales of other Vettes that sell at that price. And, those are darn fast.

 

I suspect the ME could be over 100k base price.....even right now they are building the z06 which hits the low 100s and the ZR1 which can easily price out at over 135... My guess the ME starts at around 100 . and the base corvette stays as a FE for the next 3 to 5 years after the ME debuts...
Now will they also build a mid engine Cadillac on the same line starting at say 150