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Through a source I obviously cannot mention, I have gotten a look at 2 C8 images. Basically, all I need to know. It wasn't a GM employee, but a supplier employee that is under NDA.
I can answer questions on looks but I'm not going to reveal anything that shouldn't have already been seen or assumed. However, it seems a couple things that are now obvious to me are clearly discernible in the CAD and spy photos have been missed that I want to point out.
First, some of the renderings here have generally represented what the car looks like. None of them really show how beautiful the car really is though. Goofy perspectives with misplaced and malproportioned pieces placed together on the car in renderings I have seen here look awkward and unbalanced. The car's flow and stance is not accurately represented in any of the renders yet. There's just not enough full information from spy photos to get it completely right obviously.
I can give you descriptions and comments on specific renderings that have been posted here if you want and correct them verbally, but I won't give away anything that isn't already obvious (IMO) from what spy photos and CAD images have revealed.
I will give you a couple comments on the things that you should have already realized in the leaked photos that nobody has seemed to catch yet.
First of all, the rear tail lights are not going to be round so don't get your hopes up. The already leaked CAD image of the rear shows the tail lights in full view, but the display mode is in "transparent" .
The entire taillight shape is on full display. There is a lot of depth to them. It's somewhat difficult to discern with CAD images like this, but for those of you who work with CAD like I do and are familiar with it, you can easily see the details.
Follow the perspective of the image, and also what we know of the rear Fascia photo leak, and you can fully see exactly how the tail lights are shaped, and heir proportions in relationship to the rear of the car.
This isn't a mystery if you really looked at it closely. I penned it out here to give you an idea of what you're really looking at. The lines are hard edged, but you get the idea of the shape and dimension.
Everyone is apparently speculating the rear inlets or "scoop" behind the door. What you CAN'T see is the profile of the inlet if you were to look straight into it from the front of the vehicle. This is the difference in why the scoop inlets in these rendering all look a bit goofy. If I were to give a VAGUE comparison to an existing car, it would be the LaFerrari inlet. I said VAGUE because the LaFerrari's aesthetics are quite a bit more dramatic than what is on the C8 in the area. If you look at the LaFerrari and how the upper and forward portion of the scoop begins on the door skin of the car, this is also true of the C8 and I think that has been pointed out.
The padding on the car protects from view how narrow the mid section of the car is at the bottom. The doors panels gradually turn inward and downward from the front to the rear, as is indicated by the side skirt pictures that you can see towards the rear 3rd of the midsection that skirt come back towards the wheel well abruptly at a dramatic angle. The car is tucked and tight in the middle, and by nature makes the rear scoop inlet look pretty large of an opening.
I'm guessing that die-hards are a bit uneasy about going to a mid-engine platform and losing the corvette's traditional profile and identity. Some still cry about non-round tail lights. The car, IMO, looks exactly like a mid-engine corvette. Sounds obvious, I know. However, it does not look like a mid-engine C7. It is COMPLETELY redone from the C7 aesthetic. The design is both evolutionary and revolutionary, it has to be by default with the engine placement. I will buy one the second I can because I think this car is as sexy as a 488GTB and that is my all-time favorite car.
Corvette badge is on the nose just like always, FYI...
From C6 to C7, we saw round features go to more sharp and straightlined body design. The C8 feels like a mix of the two, a perfect mix.
Thank you very much. You provided some new info, yet confirmed what many of us have believed and earlier posted, that:
1) The final design is not going to be anything like the C7 (even discounting the proportional change we all know about);
2) It is going to be beautiful;
3) The tailights are not going to be round;
In short, those of us have been optimists all along, appreciate your strong verification. Thank you very much c7pimp!
Honestly, nobody should have thought any different from the beginning. Once GM went mid-engine, you can throw out all your preconceived notions of what should be. It appears that they wiped the slate clean and started over to re-define what a revolutionary corvette is and means.
It's like all these butthurt Star Wars Last Jedi fans that were mad that the movie wasn't what they wanted. (No round taillights for example)
What's weird to explain as I said before, but you will only understand once you see it though is, it doesn't look like a Ferrari, it doesn't look like a McLaren, it doesn't look like an NSX, or any other mid-engine vehicle. It looks like a corvette. They retained the recognizable identity that is pure to the corvette. I suspect GM was very particular about not doing something that would be contrary to that.
Wow, I am jumping up and down in my seat right now! Thank you sir for reaching out and giving us some great information! I literally cannot wait for this car! Jan 2019 cannot come fast enough!
Thanks so much for the "inside edition" information! Very interesting/exciting descriptions regarding the side inlet and the contour of the midsection.
Also, with the sighting of a Corvette badge on the nose, is it safe to say (definitively and once and for all) that this will not be a Cadillac?!
I have said all along that this car will be a game changer for GM and the future of the Corvette, they know it has to be. Big thanks for your insight and now you better go and hide! lol....
I'm counting down the minutes until someone starts whining that square taillights will make it "look like a Silverado".
Jeff, the taillights are not square. Look at the direction of the rear bumper triangle that goes into the side of the tail light, and at the angle of the corresponding matching contours that divide each tail light segment in the CAD image. They are angled.
By the way... are any of the renderings close to depicting the headlights and the front fascia accurately?
Not really. The way the headlights sit up over the wheels/fender, and its flow into the body/hood lines and how it marries to the front fascia are going to be impossible to know without seeing the whole thing. The whole front as a complete design is really something special IMO. The hood is going to be polarizing IMO but I love it. I feel like I peeked early on Christmas and ruined the surprise, haha.
The headlights aren't super unique, they just look right. Which is a really good thing, I hate it when they try to go crazy on headlight designs then it looks out of place.
I saw someone with the yellow rendering trying to match lines of CAD images and transferring it to the headlights/front. It's not really that accurate. The points of reference they were using just don't really help.
I have said all along that this car will be a game changer for GM and the future of the Corvette, they know it has to be. Big thanks for your insight and now you better go and hide! lol....
It certainly is a game changer. I have no idea what target MSRP is for the base vehicle, but if they keep it close to the C7 price I think people will be ditching their C7's as fast as they can. I sold my C7 a year ago, and I can tell you right now that I will be buying one of these as soon as finances allow, even if used.
You know how you see something amazing for the first time and you almost get high and disoriented from the shock of amazement? Ya, this is what this car will do to people.
You think the C7 first year availability was rough? Wait lists are going to be nuts IMO.
Thanks c7pimp, for conveying your total excitement! Glad we have been on Mike Furman’s ME priority list since Feb. 1, 2015. As a result of your review, my wife and I just put more money in our ME savings account.
Thanks c7pimp, for conveying your total excitement! Glad we have been on Mike Furman’s ME priority list since Feb. 1, 2015. As a result of your review, my wife and I just put more money in our ME savings account.
Really is nice to hear the raw excitement. Tells a lot.
Thank you very much. You provided some new info, yet confirmed what many of us have believed and earlier posted, that:
1) The final design is not going to be anything like the C7 (even discounting the proportional change we all know about);
2) It is going to be beautiful;
3) The tailights are not going to be round;
In short, those of us have been optimists all along, appreciate your strong verification. Thank you very much c7pimp!
Honestly, nobody should have thought any different from the beginning. Once GM went mid-engine, you can throw out all your preconceived notions of what should be. It appears that they wiped the slate clean and started over to re-define what a revolutionary corvette is and means.
It's like all these butthurt Star Wars Last Jedi fans that were mad that the movie wasn't what they wanted. (No round taillights for example)
What's weird to explain as I said before, but you will only understand once you see it though is, it doesn't look like a Ferrari, it doesn't look like a McLaren, it doesn't look like an NSX, or any other mid-engine vehicle. It looks like a corvette. They retained the recognizable identity that is pure to the corvette. I suspect GM was very particular about not doing something that would be contrary to that.
Jeff, the taillights are not square. Look at the direction of the rear bumper triangle that goes into the side of the tail light, and at the angle of the corresponding matching contours that divide each tail light segment in the CAD image. They are angled.
The folks who were comparing the C7 to the Camaro don't seem to care about details like that.
I don't personally care what shape they are, as long as they've got a nice sculpted look. And maybe a bit more of the light pipe effect that everyone is borrowing from Audi lately.
Even though I love the looks of C7, I'm glad it will be a clean slate design. Also glad to hear it won't look like the renderings going around. I appreciate the time those have put into it; but this is encouraging and also explains why GM is keeping this one tightly guarded.
It looks like a Silverado! No, a bummer to be sure, but it was expected. And as I stated previously, it just might work given the new car layout.
Any comments on the hood scoop/inlet?
Any comments on the headlight design?
Lastly, some of the spy photos indicate the hood emblem is encircled. Any comment?
I touched on it in another reply but I'll reply to you directly because it's always reassuring.
There is something on he hood in terms other than a panel. Even as the Base C7 has heat extraction, there is something more going on here than just a contoured body panel. Obviously it's not a heat extractor, but it must be aerodynamic/aesthetic purposes o it. Not like the 2005 mustang with the fake hood scoop, hahaha.
The headlights aren't anything noteworthy, really. They just look right for the car. They flow well with the front just like the C7 does with it's body lines. No substantial deep 3D contouring or anything. It has a lens covering jut like the C7 does.
Kind of like from 458 Italia to 488 GTB, it's just an updated look t match the lines but not anything foreign looking. I didn't have a close up of a headlight so I don't know if the close details have any individual details for each LED.
I see some people speculating the indicator light might be separate from the rest of the headlight. They are not. The indicator is not isolated from the rest of the headlight.
02-14-2018, 03:00 PM
I got a sneak peek!
