2020 C8 Corvette Revealed, Meet Chevy’s Mid-Engine Porsche Slayer

Mid-engine C8 Corvette wowed the crowd upon its reveal, but the biggest surprise of all is the price tag.

It’s official, the C8 Corvette is here, and it’s poised to take down the likes of Porsche. With a starting price point of under $60,000, it’s going to down both the Cayman and the 911, at the same time, too.

The July 18 reveal event answered a lot of questions, while also leaving much in the air, especially about future mid-engine C8 models and variants, however, here’s what we know for certain.

The model that debuted here is the Stingray model. The white car is the base, while the red and blue cars feature the optional Z51 performance package. The nomenclature used for C8 is basically the same as what we have seen with the C7 Corvette.

Out of the box, the C8 produces 490 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque, though, with the optional performance exhaust, those figures rise to 495 and 470, respectively. That power comes from a 6.2-liter, naturally-aspirated pushrod engine called LT2. It features a dry sump oiling system, for strong oil pressure during track use. The only transmission available with the C8 is an 8-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. Chevrolet claims this combination is good for a sub-three second 0-60 sprint.

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The aforementioned Z51 package is, for now, the most aggressive C8 variant money can buy. It adds a different wheel and tire package, bigger brakes, an electronically-controlled limited-slip differential (eLSD), a different calibration of the magnetic ride control suspension and aerodynamic components, like the front splitter and rear wing element, that produce actual downforce. No specific numbers have been given, yet. The Z51 rolls on 19-inch front wheels and 20s out back, wrapped in 245/35 and 305/30 section-width Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires. All-season tires are available, if the buyer would like.

Every Day Sports Car

Of course, being a Corvette, the team at Chevrolet wanted to design a car that brand fans and current owners would appreciate. So, while this is undoubtedly the most race-ready Corvette platform ever built, there are still a lot of concessions for day-to-day use, which is something Tadge Juechter mentioned on stage.

One of the coolest features is the nose lift system, which can raise the front of the car by up to two-inches, to clear speed bumps and help drivers avoid scraping the nose of the car. Even more clever is that the C8 has a memory setting logged into the GPS system, and it can store up to 1,000 data points on those speed bumps. So, if you encounter a particularly nasty one, you can log it in your GPS and know not to go back there again.

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There are a variety of interior color palettes available, including white, gray, black, tan, caramel, and, interestingly, blue. Additionally, there are three seating options GT1, GT2, and Competition, which go from most open and comfy to most likely to hold you in place under hard cornering.

The interior is very driver-focused, almost as if the cabin was divided into two separate pods, with almost every control wrapping around the driver. The instrument panel is a fully-digital configurable display, and the infotainment screen appears to about 10-inches in size, also canted towards the driver. All of the HVAC controls run along a spine in the center console. The internet seemed rather divided over this, and, to be frank, it does look a little odd. However, actually sitting in the car, the controls all fall to hand in a natural way, and, within two minutes I had it all figured out.

Pray for Porsche

With a sub-$60,000 starting price, and, likely, around $75,000 for an optioned up Z51 car, the 2020 C8 Corvette represents tremendous value. The audience notably gasped upon hearing the pricing announcement. It’s a big deal for the brand, managing to jam all of this technology into a new package for such a relatively small amount of cash.

Everyone pray for Porsche, oh, don’t worry, they’re fine, for now. However, with pricing that takes on the Porsche Cayman, and performance that will likely trounce the 911, it’s going to be a shaky couple of days in Stuttgart.

Chevrolet is hosting a media drive event in October, which coincides with when owners can expect deliveries to begin. Way to go, Chevrolet.

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Images and video by Jake Stumph

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