Vet copying Ferrari...

no...keep vettes the way they are.

 

I don't see GM taking such an expensive step. They don't have any trouble selling what they make now and a complete redesign of the car would have a long payback.


If GM did this I'd expect the result to be a lot more like a Fiero than a 430.

 

That would be a very nice addition...

 

They looked at moving the engine to the rear mid location in the sixties or seventies. For a while there you kept seeing mid engined vette prototypes and show cars. After a while they decided that like a 45 degree v twin is a harley, a vette is a front engined v8.

One of the show cars iirc was a mid wankle design.

Tom W

 

I doubt that there will ever be a production mid engine Corvette. I know that GM has a V12 in the pipeline though. Should be introduced in Cadillac first as they need a replacement for the Northstar V8. Who knows what will bleed over.

Personally, I wouldn't change it. The 6.0 is the perfect amount of power for the car, the 7.0 is great if you want to hurt yourself REALLY bad and the upcomming SS (bluedevil) motor will probably be a very effecient way to kill yourself.

 

More like a Fiero than an F430? Please.

The F430 already has its hands full with the Z06. GM has proven that they can build a world class performance sportscar. Unless we are debating "mistique", then the Ferrari F430 is not looking down on the muscular Vette.

PS - The Bluedevil will hurt a lot of feelings when it hits the streets.

 

Chevrolet has already moved the Corvette upmarket with the C6 Z06, and is pushing even farther with the upcoming Blue Devil/SS/Stingray.

You might see a bit of competition between the top-dog Camaro and the base model Vette, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue for GM. I really don't see a mid-engine Corvette making financial sense for GM. The C5 and C6 Vettes have been extremely successful, so the need simply isn't there for a drastic change.

 

Why? The Z06 already beats every production Ferrari on the market in all areas except price and cost of maintenance!

 

+1

Sometimes you just have to snap back into reality....

Of course none of this will stop me from picking up a 512BB one day!

 

This is an ongoing debate within the Corvette Design team. There are a group of diehards that still want to do a mid-engine car, or do a "base" car that is traditional front-engine and then do a mid-engine supercar. Read this month's Winding Road, there's a great article on this very subject.

http://www.windingroad.com

 

They can debate it all day long, but the Accounting department isn't likely to give its blessing.

 

As I recall, Zora really was the prime mover behind the mid-engine concept. (CERV car, many prototypes) But the days of Corvette progressive engineering are long gone now.

Look what happened to Dave McLellan after the ZR1. Dave Hill happened.

They are now making Cadillac Corvettes on the sacred production line at Bowling Green.

What's next - give the line over to Saturn to enhance their image?

 

The Corvette is a front engine car, always has been and always will be IMO. If GM wanted to build a new mid-engine sports car, it would be better for them to create a new name, and have it under the Cadillac brand.

+1, they are having a hard enough time with the cars they have now.

 

That is an interesting thought... I wonder if they will put the new Vette's Z06 engine in the top end Camaro??

 

It beats the 599?

 

Don't think so, the Enzo/FXX will put a serious beating on a C6 Z06 even a few moded vettes will suffer an ass kicking as well. Its all about the driver not the car and yes granted there are more guys and gals outthere who know how to drive a vette more than Ferrari owners know how to drive there cars, for those who know how to drive there car probably wouldn't worry to much.

Also I don't know if you have check the prices on maintenance but its still very expensive for a Corvette unless your comparing the bill to a Ferrari's maintenance bill then yes.

 

There has been talk of the Fiero making a comeback for sometime now, it wouldn't suprize me one bit if this new "Mid engined" Corvette is really a new Fiero.


My last question is how is GM copying Ferrari?. Anyone remember the Aerovette?.

 

+1. And the accounting department runs the place.

The truth is that most or maybe all guys buying new Ferraris are not cross-shopping new Corvettes, and moving the engine won't change that.

I don't see Corvette moving up to Ferrari territory just because it's Chevy's only success story right now at its current price point. At $150K+, it wouldn't sell enough units to survive in GM, and GM doesn't have the cash or business model to enter the exotics market. Making it mid-engined would take it out of the realm of buyers who can use it daily because it's a hatchback.

There's plenty of room for the Camaro to go back to competing with the Mustang: same demographics, similar pricing. The Corvette is up in Boxster S territory, expensive enough that a lot of wannabe customers are probably going to Mustangs already.

I'd say GM needs to fix everything right now except the Corvette.

 

The rumor mill seems to think that they will, although it will be slightly detuned so that the Z still makes more hp.

 

I think one thing most people forget about the Corvette in general is the fact that its a Sportscar and not a Supercar regardless if its the ZR1, Z06 or this new SS model the bottomline its Americas Sportscar which will never be on the same level as Ferrari or even lambo in the Supercar battles but as far as the world of sportscars goes the vette has that on lockdown nobody can match it for what it has to offer. Vettes now adays laugh at Porsches.

Think about it though there are already two midengined Vettes on the market today. They are both called the Mosler Photon which has the C5 Z06 engine in it while the other one is called the SSC ultimate Aero which uses the C6R racing engine. People can argue all they want but both cars have the spirit of the Corvette which basicly makes them vettes but without the Chevy Image. Sadly I don't think Mosler or SSC will never as successfull as Ferrari or lambo but if GM was to build something like those under the GM brand with GM pricing and all and sell it for around 140k in limited numbers performance could match the Veyron in every aspect, give it a V-12, they could be on to something.

The Camaro will become more than just a mustang competator especially if the TransAm comeback to, Ford will have to do something besides release another "Special" edition mustang. I can't wait to see what SLP will do with the newer Fbodys like they did back in the 90's.

 

While I can appreciate your enthusiasm for the new Camaro, one must not forget that it was in fact the Camaro/Firebird that left the market and not the Mustang. Hopefully the boys and girls at GM will be able to apply some hard-learned lessons this time around.

 

Out of curiosity...what are your requirements for a "super car"???? Z06 performance is on the same level as Ferrari & Lambo... Sure the Corvette name does not have the same mystique, and no matter how outstanding the latest greatest Vette is, and no matter how many Ferraris and Lambos it eats for lunch, people will always say "yeah, but it is not a super car"!!! Why is that? Is it because it will not garner as much attention as the F & L cars at the local Starbucks??? I mean REALLY, what is the difference? Because we PERFORMANCE guys recognize that the Vette may be common, and it may be "cheap" by upper crust standards, BUT the thing is DAMN FAST and there is not a Ferrari driver on this board with anything less than an Enzo, F50, or F40 that does not think twice when a C6Z06 is sitting next to them...sure those Ferraris are "super cars", but with a supercharger & a little TLC, they are not more "super" than the Z in terms of performance....

It never ceases to amaze me how after I whip the sheit out of some Ferrari in my "cheap" Corvette how the first words out of the other guy's mouth are usually along the lines of "soul", "exotic", "passion", and "but I am still going home in the Ferrari"....

 

The only thing holding a Corvette from being considered an exotic is production numbers. I have considered the Vette a super car since the C5 ZO6. I may see a Vette every day I drive, but it STILL grabs my attention. The Corvette is one of the few GM products I'd like to own. A stingray coupe is probably my favorite though. A mid engine vette would NOT be a fiero. Far far from it. Corvette has been involved in racing, and its building a record out there, I'm not blind to what its doing out on the track.