Corvette Revolution: The Mid-Engine Development Story Part 1

C8 Corvette team discusses what goes into the design and why it was time for the mid-engine shift.

The C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has taken the automotive world by storm. After literal decades of rumors about a mid-engine Corvette coming to production, it finally became a reality with the introduction of the 2020 Stingray. The new design brought about all-new levels of performance and with the C8 being priced comparatively to past models, the newest Stingray brings an exotic look and feel to the masses.

Of course, transitioning away from seven generations of the engine being mounted in front of the driver was no simple task. Every aspect of the Corvette had to be reimagined for the mid-engine shift. To showcase exactly how the C8 came to exist, the Chevrolet YouTube channel is running a series of videos titled “Revolution: The Mid-Engine Corvette Development Story”.

The first video, shown below, focuses on the design process.

Corvette Heritage

The video begins with a handful of General Motors design team leaders sharing a memorable vision of the Corvette during their formidable years. They talk about how a specific Chevy sports car caught their eye and stuck with them forever. This brief introduction leads to the first segment, featuring Tom Peters, the former Director of Exterior Design of the GM Performance Car Studio.

Peters’ first design job which he directed was the V6, but he talks about the characteristics that go into every Corvette. He points out features such as the proportions, profile, surfaces, graphics and fender shapes. He talks about how aircraft prove to be inspirational for cars like the Corvette, as they are also purpose-built, high-performance machines. Peters also points out that racing plays a major role in the design of the legendary Chevrolet sports car and “the 2020 is a culmination of all of that experience”.

Time for the Mid-Engine

Next, we hear from Brett Golliff and Vlad Kapitonov. Golliff is the Color & Trim Design Manager for Chevrolet Global and Kapitonov is the Lead Designer for Chevrolet Performance Cars, including the C8 Corvette. They talk about how the Corvette platforms with the engine up front had reached their pinnacle, so it was time for the change to the mid-engine platform.

Kapitonov points out that for some, switching the Corvette to a mid-engine layout was a risk, but it is something that has “always been beneath the surface”. As many of us know, considerations for a mid-engine Corvette date back to the 1960s, with Zora Arkus-Duntov suggesting such a machine during the second generation of the nameplate.

When Kirk Bennion, Exterior Design Manager for the Corvette program joins the video, we learn that the C8 program began back in 2011. The team discussed what they wanted to see from a mid-engine car, leading to many small scale models. The team eventually transitioned to three full size clay models, with unique design features on each side of each unit. The design team would use these large clay sculptures to carefully decide which physical attributes would make it to the production 2020 Corvette Stingray.

Driving Success

Towards the end of the video, we hear from Tristian Murphy, the Interior Design Manager for General Motors. He explains how the controls and displays of the C7 were had a flat layout that spread across the dash whereas the C8 wraps the controls around the driver. The 2020 Stingray interior has more of a three-dimensional feel, bolstering the fighter jet reference from the beginning of the video.

Murphy ends his segment by stating that the C8 Corvette takes “all of the things that the front engine car did and take them to the next level”.

Finally, the video ends with a look at the initial reveal of the C8, with Tom Peters promising us that the 2020 Corvette Stingray is only the tip of the iceberg. In short, this first mid-engine Corvette is likely the first of many groundbreaking performance cars that being the exotic feel to the masses.

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