Tom McMahon

The man in charge of styling the next Chevrolet Corvette says the pressure is on to make sure one of America’s most iconic sports cars continues its successful lineage.

Former Holden design boss Mike Simcoe – now based in Detroit and the head of design for General Motors – is believed to be entrenched in the final design and sign off of the Corvette expected to be known as the C8, replacing the current C7 generation.
Simcoe also led the design of the born again Holden Monaro – shown as the Commodore Coupe concept in 1998 before going on sale in 2001 – and says styling a Corvette is a monumental task.
“You’re dealing with an icon that’s been successful, consistently successful, and you don’t want to be the one who blew that,” said Simcoe, being careful not to give any details on the next generation Corvette, which is expected to switch from a front engine to mid-engine layout.
“Being part of a Covette design is very exciting for everyone involved and there certainly will be a next generation Corvette at some point.”
Simcoe said the level of excitement in designing a Corvette was similar to any other car in the General Motors broad portfolio but that the pressure was on for the legendary two-seat sports car.
“Certainly there’s a lot more emotional pressure when you’re doing something like a Corvette.”
He said the pressure was more intense and different to that heaped on when the top secret Monaro project was being developed behind closed doors in Port Melbourne.
“The Monaro, the emotional pressure there was that in its early days nobody knew about it,” said Simcoe.
The Corvette C8 is expected to be produced in right-hand drive and sold in Australia.
Holden has already confirmed it will sell a V8-powered sports car in future, with insiders pointing to the Corvette as that car.

Source: Wheels Magazine.

jagamajajaran

Thanks for posting!


I hope he isn't trying to design it with that thought in mind. Playing the game to not lose instead of playing the game to win is often the reason teams lose. I doubt that will happen, but I wish he would have said something like, "You're dealing with an icon that's been successful, and you want to be the one that takes it to the next level!"

Tom McMahon

^^^^ New Corvette will probably leave us speechless.

Patches

If the Monaro is his calling card, I'm worried. The Monaro was the Holden alter-ego of the Pontiac GTO which, IMO, didn't live up to the heritage of the nameplate. Hope they have raised the bar much higher for the C8. I'm looking forward to the C8 and hope they nail it like they did with the C7.

2001 Holden Monaro

Tom McMahon

^^^ The new car will be exciting as opening that prized gift on Christmas morning.

Steve Garrett

I've seen this article in a few places. He has big shoes to fill...Ed Welborn.

mksz51

Should be very interesting. It's hard to imagine the "next thing" would be as revolutionary (and successful!) as the C6 to C7 transition was. Hopefully it won't be a debacle analogous to what Chris Bangle did to BMW.

AORoads

Sadly, I agree.

AORoads

I hope not, too. But just recall how many cars copied first the "butt" then the big round button on the console.

Rebel Yell

It's going to be difficult to beat the C7. But I said that about the C6, and GM proved they could do the job.

dvilin

^^^

HPT

If missionary sex was a car...it would be this.

Bill Dearborn

The Holden worked great. However, by the time the car was redesigned to meet US Specs it fell flat on its face as a GTO. No luggage capacity due to fuel tank relocation and it became too bloated and too heavy to go around corners well. Every one I ever rode in was an understeering pig if you didn't slow down to speeds far less than other cars before you turned the steering wheel. The front tires did an admirable job of braking when they were sliding sideways and squalling their way through a turn.

It wasn't the designer's problem, it was the corporation's problem for trying to make a car designed for one market work in another that had much tighter regulations.

Bill

AORoads

While I agree the HOlden/GTO was an abysmal failure in sales and some might say, looks, the weights are the same as the newest hot Camaros. The end came in '06 I think, but handling tech was up to snuff then. Maybe there was something more inherent in the design that prevented it from turning well, but it wasn't weight.

Supersonic 427

The Holden Monaro was about as sexy as Jane Hathaway with Glasses!
Too bad because, the GTO might have been a big hit if it wasn't for it's styling.

tony58

"You're Fired"

mschuyler

Isn't this the same with every new generation? I remember listening to a woman from Britain who was instrumental in the new design. She talked about being a woman in a male-dominated industry and a Brit besides working on the iconic American sports car with the constant feeling that "I can't f this up."

Z06 1of38

Round tail lights?....

jagamajajaran

Just remember, Tom Peters designed the Aztek before he designed the C7 Stingray.

16sedanSS

And it shows.
The C6 ZO6 will forever be a classic design.
The C7 is a clown car and a flash in the pan.

Bring on the C8 ASAP.