Ford Benchmarking C8 Corvette, Could It Be Considering Future Rival?

Ford has a C8 in its possession, but is it analyzing that car for a future rival, next-gen Mustang, or something else?

Automakers are always watching their competition, keeping close tabs on what they’re doing and what they’ve already done. This process also includes what’s known as benchmarking, or the process of actually going out and buying products made by competitors, then driving them, tearing them down, analyzing them, and building something even better. Or, at least trying to. So as one might imagine, we found it quite interesting to learn that Ford was recently spied benchmarking a C8 Corvette by the folks at Ford Authority.

It’s unclear why, exactly, GM’s longtime rival might be interested in seeing what the new mid-engine C8 is all about. There are numerous possibilities, but all are purely speculative. Perhaps Ford is considering or even already in the process of working on a Corvette rival. As most are aware, the automaker did this in the early days of GM’s legendary model when it built and sold the Thunderbird as a two-door sports car.

As Ford Authority points out, the Blue Oval recently filed to trademark the Thunderbird name once again. It could be that the automaker was simply trying to retain ownership of that name, but it’s also shown a willingness to revive old model names from the dead in recent months. Just take the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover, F-150 Lightning EV pickup, and Ford Maverick compact pickup for example. Thus, the possibility remains that it might be considering a Corvette rival, but it’s far from a lock.

Perhaps more realistic is the notion that it’s benchmarking the C8 for the next-generation Mustang, which is rumored to be on the way for the 2023 model year. It’s highly unlikely that the pony car will switch to a mid-engine format, of course, but it isn’t shocking that Ford would be using the C8 as a performance reference point for the future model. After all, a Mustang that could theoretically hang with the new Z51-equipped C8 would be a revelation, particularly at its historically low price tag.

Ultimately, only Ford knows exactly what’s going on here, and that’ll likely be the case for some time. But we’ll certainly be keeping close tabs on this situation, because if FoMoCo is really thinking about building its own Corvette of sorts, it would take this classic rivalry to an entirely new level.

Photos: Chevrolet, Ford

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