SPY PICS: Best look yet at 2020 Chevrolet Corvette

UPDATE 05/09/2018 9:00am: A day after we published these spy pics, the first shots of the 2020 Chevy Corvette testing at the Nurburgring arrived in our inbox ... enjoy!

We’ve seen it in patent drawings, on track in GT3 race trim, on the road in heavy disguise and even in stylised renderings.

Now the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette supercar has been exposed in road-going production form without any black cladding and wearing only a camo wrap — from every angle, on the road and in the car park — revealing its low-slung, wedge-shaped cab-forward design in full for the first time.

General Motors hasn’t confirmed its eighth-generation C8 Chevrolet Corvette for right-hand drive production, but it’s almost certain to be released as a global model next year and one of the 24 new models Holden promised to deliver in Australia between 2015 and 2020.

In North America, the first mid-engine Corvette will be positioned above a revised MY20 version of the current C7 Corvette, but still priced lower than chief European rivals like the $400,000-plus Ferrari 488 and Lamborghini Huracan, and even the Porsche 911 and Honda NSX.

So when GM’s new flagship sports car joins the Chevrolet Camaro coupe and Silverado pick-up in selected HSV/Holden showrooms Down Under in 2020, expect a price tag of around $200K.

These road-ready photos show much of the detail hinted at it the spy pics we published in May this year. Although the rear window is covered, the C8’s mid-mounted powerplant will be visible under the glass hatch, just like its exotic rivals.

As we speculated in August, it looks certain that although the road-ready C8 Corvette will retain the cabin shapes and dominant side-scooping of the race car, the whole body will be lifted to set it up for comfortable road use, including the provision of reasonable approach and departure angles to help protect the carbon-fibre bodywork.

It looks as though the front air-intake arrangements will differ too, with some suggesting it’s a throwback to the old C3 Corvette.

Rather than the wide central air intake featured in the race car, it will use dual nostrils either side of the licence plate area, plus big outrigger vents. And the rear wing will be downsized considerably from the race car’s – though it’s still substantial enough – and integrated more into the deck lid.

Expect the most radical Corvette in its 65-year history to be launched with a development of GM’s current LT1 6.2-litre V8, with naturally aspirated and twin-turbo versions of a new 4.2-litre DOHC V8 to follow.

Later on, a plug-in hybrid version with an electric motor powering the front axle could deliver all-wheel drive and a total output of up to 750kW (1000hp).

A new Tremec dual-clutch rear transaxle is expected in non-hybrid versions (so no manual), and staggered-size wheels and tyres will measure 245/35 ZR19 at the front and 305/30 ZR20 at the rear.

Despite GM’s sale of Opel/Vauxhall and its European operations to the PSA Group last year, the new Corvette’s active aero is being developed partly at the Nu¨rburgring Nordschleife.

Exotic materials will be limited to keep the base cost under $US100,000 in North America, but the C8’s chassis is believed to be an aluminium spaceframe and it will wear composite bodywork like previous Corvettes.

Expect a traditional convertible version to follow the initial C8 coupe, but a targa-roof derivative as seen with the C7 Corvette is unlikely.

If its development goes to plan, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is due to debut in the US some time after the Detroit motor show next year, before becoming available in other markets including Australia by the end of 2020.