Will all Future Corvettes Be Mid-Engine Corvettes?

There is tons of rumor and speculation about the next-generation of Corvette. One of those rumors has seemingly always been that the new Corvette would be mid-engine. While the rumors seem to have been circulating since I was born, the signs do seem to be pointing to one coming soon. But could it be that all future Corvettes are mid-engine only? Maybe.

According to the Detroit News, and picked up by Motor Authority and TTAC, the current 7th-generation Corvette will run its course and end production sometime in 2021. In the meantime, the mid-engine Corvette will hit the streets in early 2019. Expect the car to be revealed to the public sometime in 2018.

Detroit News is also claiming that the mid-engine Corvette has a codename, and that codename is “Emperor.” It’s common for codenames to not actually make it to production, though.

People have already put deposits down on the 8th-generation Corvette, even though nothing is official at this point.

It appears that the mid-engine project was approved back in 2007, and money was set aside for the upgrade of the Bowling Green plant to handle it. Additionally, a mid-engine Cadillac was to be made featuring a supercharged Northstar V8. Considering the investment recently made in the plant for upgrades, the Detroit News is expecting there to be a Cadillac variant with the new car.

But does it make sense for all future Corvettes to be mid-engine Corvettes?

GM is desperately trying to lower the average age of a Corvette buyer, and it’s believed that going mid-engine is a way to do it. One of the reasons why we think it hasn’t happened yet is that a mid-engine Corvette will simply be more expensive than the front-engine currently available. The Corvette has always been a value proposition, and skyrocketing prices take away from the performance bargains they offer.

From a production standpoint it might be a bit more expensive to build a front-engine car alongside the mid-engine one, but unless GM can get the price of the mid-engine car in the same price range as the front-engine I can’t see them discontinuing the front-engine.

It’s also been a staple of the car. It would be totally against heritage to ditch the platform that made them famous in the first place.

I can definitely see both sides of the argument. Building a mid-engine car opens the door for even more high-performance options, all-wheel drive, and even electrification. All of those are great things that would help the Corvette compete on an even more competitive playing field. But that competitiveness comes at a cost, and if it raises the price of the Corvette too much, you run a serious risk of losing the sales you already have.

While it might lower the purchaser’s average age, it won’t help the company’s bottom line.

via [Detroit News]

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