More details: Mid-engined C8 Corvette

More details about Chevrolet's first ever mid-engined Corvette — one of two future GM models that could become the 'V8 sports car' Holden has promised to release in Australia after it kills off the homegrown Commodore V8 next year — have emerged from North America.

News of an all-new mid-engined supercar from GM has circulated since before engineers were spotted testing a mid-engined development mule based on a Commodore ute at Holden's Lang Lang proving ground years ago.

Now, according to

Citing "multiple sources familiar with the company’s planning", TDN reported that the first mid-engined Corvette, spy shots of which have emerged from GM's Milford Proving Grounds in recent months, is codenamed Emperor.

It remains unclear whether the C8 super-coupe will not only be the first powered by a mid-mounted V8 but also the first to be produced in left- and right-hand drive form for global consumption.

However, it remains a strong chance – alongside the midlife upgrade of the current Camaro coupe – to eventually grace Holden showrooms in Australia, a market with which global GM product development chief and former Holden boss Mark Reuss is familiar with.

"It’s happening. Mark Reuss wants it. It’s the worst-kept secret in town," TDN quoted a former GM employee as saying.

Another TDN source claimed Chevrolet will continue selling Z06 and Grand Sport versions of the current front-engined C7 Corvette until 2021, after which the C8 – the most radical Corvette since its inception in 1953 – would remain the only model available.

While the standard C8 Corvette is again expected to be powered by GM's latest small-block V8, the mid-engined layout would see a potential plug-in hybrid version become a rival for supercars like Honda's new NSX and the Porsche 918 Spyder.

Car & Driver reported in May that the next Corvette will be produced in both traditional V8 and electrified powertrains — the latter codenamed ZERV — after General Motors trademarked the 'Corvette E-Ray' nameplates to go with its previously registered ‘Corvette Manta Ray’ name.

It's not clear whether the plug-in version will be all-electric or petrol-electric, but the C8 Corvette is expected to debut in full production form at the 2018 Detroit motor show with a mid-mounted pushrod V8 delivering 500hp (373kW) and starting price of around $US80,000 ($A110,000).

C&D quoted an “impeccable source” as confirming the C8 will then be presented at the 2019 Detroit show with new, more expensive DOHC 32-valve V8, followed in 2020 by the first electrified — and first all-wheel drive — version incorporating electric motor-powered front wheels.

According to car blog thetruthaboutcars.com, GM’s latest trademark filing was made on December 16 — three weeks after it applied for a patent for a “Hybrid Powertrain and Modular Rear Drive Unit” — making the e-Corvette likely to be a plug-in hybrid rather than a pure EV.

TDN said the revolutionary new Corvette could appeal to younger buyers and that Chevrolet has been concerned about the aging demographic of its halo performance model for some time.

"The median age of the Corvette buyer got three years older while I was there, which scared the hell out of us," Tom Wallace — Corvette’s chief engineer between 2006 and 2008 – was quoted as saying.

US media speculation is that the starting price of the mid-engined C8 would rise to about $US80,000 – up from about $US56,000 for the C7 — which would price it well above $100,000 in Australia.

According to Automotive News, to July this year Chevrolet has sold 16,827 examples of the current Corvette, which was introduced in 2014, in the US – down 20 per cent on the prior year.

Expectations of an all-new Cadillac sports car based on the mid-engine Corvette – which would echo the chassis configuration of models like Ford's born-again GT and Ferrari's 488 GTB – have also been raised since Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen told Motor Trend last year that it was a possibility.

"It has to be one of the options that we consider. In the future there are going to be some architectures inside the corporation that will remain purely Cadillac, but then there are others where it just isn’t economically feasible to enter segments by trying to do a unique Cadillac," he said.

"Then you look at what’s available in terms of corporate assets and I’m sure you’d agree that a new, very advanced Corvette platform wouldn’t be a bad place to start."

Bob Lutz – GM's head of global product development until 2010 – revealed to TDN that the company approved plans for a mid-engine Corvette in 2007, but said the program was axed under GM’s government-led bankruptcy in 2009.

GM recently announced investments totalling nearly $US800 million in its Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Kentucky, where the Corvette is built. Lutz told TDN the figure is consistent with what he asked for in 2007.

"The program I got approved in ’07 was $900 million and included a Cadillac XLR with a supercharged Northstar engine," he told TDN. "If the current program is $800 million, I’d bet it includes a different-bodied Cadillac again as well.”

Lutz said a plug-in version of the C8 Corvette with 15-25km of electric-only driving range "would only require a 5kWh battery, or $1300 at today’s lithium-ion prices, plus motors and control hardware.

"It would be enough to give it a 50mpg city label and the electric motors at the front would enable limited AWD capability."

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