When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Here's the list of areas where I believe there are fake panels/masking of features on the car. Some are obvious, some are not.
First, the obvious ones that most have observed:
The side scoop overlay masking the final shape is an obvious one. It is seen in track testing videos that that overlay is either being forced inward or ballooning/swelling out taking turns around the track. You can also see the discrepancy the way the fake panel lays over to real body panel one up front by the door line. They are hiding the shape. That triangular piece on the actual door is part of the final design. It is not fake and will be part of the main molding of the door.
The front grill. They have done a fat tape job on the front grill to hide design features. Obviously.
The quarter window. They have an obvious fake piece trying to hide that shape. Harder to discern on the convertible, but on the coupe you can easily see the actually body contours through the camo wrap from certain angles. C8.R doesn't even try to hide it.
Not so obvious:
The Hood: The spy photos do not show any hood features, but a couple frames of the videos stopped at just the right frame and angle reveal that the wrap is hiding key hood details. 1) the double line that divides the hood down the middle. 2) Potential aero vents in the hood.
In this pic, you see the hood has the two lines near the windshield but they disappear as it goes towards the front bumper. These two lines extend all the way to the front of the front fascia (visible in the leaked red front bumper pic from long ago). You can clearly see a clear trapezoidal shape on the middle of the hood. This is a fake panel underneath the wrap concealing the features. I don't think it's just tightly wrapped camo, I think they have an actual panel held down under the camo wrap
These lines are also somewhat visible on the C8.R proto pictures that was testing, although I think the C8.R hood will have additional/different features the street car does not have.
The rear quarter:
This one required some additional insight to catch. I believe they have a fake panel concealing the rear quarters and possibly on the whole rear deck. The images I saw have a very distinct "hip" bulge between the roof's rear rake and the edge of the rear fender. When the C8.R pictures came out, I commented on the C3-esque bulging rear hips and posted this picture:
The street cars do not reveal that distinct rear hip bulge. The following image shows a very flat rear deck.
Look closely at this picture. They have tons of small piece of camo "taping" down a fake panel(outlined in green). The approx. area in black is being concealed.
This got me thinking to then analyze the C8.R photos again because I know that something is not being shown on these street test cars that should be there. I found what I was looking for, but it's slightly difficult to see. Look at the right rear fender. It has a distinct bulge where the semi-transparent "6" watermark is. I highlighted it in the following picture.
They are hiding more than we think we can see and are being more clever than we realize. I may have even missed something else.
Those who are "on the fence" about this design, just hang tight until we get to see the full reveal. The car is amazing and IMO will be without question the best design that Corvette has had yet.
GM would not spend the money to produce fake panels so what you see is probably the final design.
Not correct.
We know for a fact GM produced fake panels to conceal the 2019 Camaro. They did a whole video on how they did it.
Not full fake body panels that are wrong. But slim, skinny panels to go over the top of the real ones to mislead people from seeing what the real thing looked like.
Good points, realize that these are body panels that can be changed so to the OP's point of what we see may not be what we get. GM knows these cars will be scrutinized when on the road. So I can imagine it's a big game to them to see how much they can fool us. Pieces of Styrofoam for example can be added here and there to change shape. I think most people will be pleasantly surprised once we see the final design.
Also keep in mind GM doesn't have to please everyone, this is a low production model around 40,000 a year so the percentage of people having to like it is extremely small. In fact the last thing GM needs is for a million people to like or want this car.
Good points, realize that these are body panels that can be changed so to the OP's point of what we see may not be what we get. GM knows these cars will be scrutinized when on the road. So I can imagine it's a big game to them to see how much they can fool us. Pieces of Styrofoam for example can be added here and there to change shape. I think most people will be pleasantly surprised once we see the final design.
Also keep in mind GM doesn't have to please everyone, this is a low production model around 40,000 a year so the percentage of people having to like it is extremely small. In fact the last thing GM needs is for a million people to like or want this car.
Sorry but I don't agree with the above part. GM has to please a lot more people than cars they will sell. Plus, if you don't think GM would like to sell more than your number, 40K/year, I believe you're mistaken. Can they ramp up? I say, yes, Others say, no. If the time comes that more than 40K people want to buy, we will see (or even 40K since that's high)..
Back in '03, about 2 years after the Infiniti G sedan was intro'd and in production, the G37 coupe came out, with internal anticipated sales of about 9K units/year. In a few months of sales, they were at 10K and growing. Carlos Ghosn, the CEO, halted production of all 4 door sedans and ordered only coupes for the next few months. That first year they sold close to 30K coupes and filled every order + their sedan sales.
Interesting insights. I sure hope you are correct, because the difference between the C8.R and the regular C8 are pretty stark IMHO. The C8.R looks awesome, while I think the camo C8 looks pretty uninspiring.
Interesting insights. I sure hope you are correct, because the difference between the C8.R and the regular C8 are pretty stark IMHO. The C8.R looks awesome, while I think the camo C8 looks pretty uninspiring.
EXACTLY Day & Night differences - that said GM might have to deal with legalities on height of bumpers etc.
One thing I've noticed , maybe it's been brought up, is that during the close up pics while fueling, the driver and passenger seem to be blocking the side coves. Maybe it's just coincidence or maybe on purpose. Make any sense?
Sorry but I don't agree with the above part. GM has to please a lot more people than cars they will sell. Plus, if you don't think GM would like to sell more than your number, 40K/year, I believe you're mistaken. Can they ramp up? I say, yes, Others say, no. If the time comes that more than 40K people want to buy, we will see (or even 40K since that's high)..
Back in '03, about 2 years after the Infiniti G sedan was intro'd and in production, the G37 coupe came out, with internal anticipated sales of about 9K units/year. In a few months of sales, they were at 10K and growing. Carlos Ghosn, the CEO, halted production of all 4 door sedans and ordered only coupes for the next few months. That first year they sold close to 30K coupes and filled every order + their sedan sales.
Corvette is just a marketing tool to get people into their showrooms, the husband grabs the wife to go check out the cool new sports car but walks out with a minivan. GM doesn't want to sell a lot of Corvettes, if it did it would price it as such. Selling too many would only dilute the value and uniqueness of the car
Can GM ramp up? Sure to a point to what the current factory can handle which would be adding a second shift which GM has always said they didn't want to do. So maybe they could push the volume from 40,000 to 80,000. But the real question is should they?
FYI I owned both a G35 and one of the very first G37's. It was their unveiling car.
I believe there is alot of fake being showed in these test cars. Not so hard today, autocad, industrial 3D printer and ya have about whatever ya want to throw off prying eyes.
The sky is not falling. GM is using the camo to hide and even misdirect us as to the final look. If one looks back at the C7 mule, there was similar concern that it would be ugly. Even the C7 tailight haters are off their rocker - there is no way the C6 or C5 tailights look anywhere as good as the C7. Given the design team and the fact the corvette is the halo car for GM, there is no chance this car will not be a stunner. Every corvette generation has been visually appealing, some have aged better than others, but I've never seen one that was not progressive and design forward for the time. The designers and engineers at GM are on par with any other car company (if not better) - they may be more constrained in the unit cost than a ferrari but if you look at what they have done since 1997, it is clear there is real talent styling and designing these cars.
The car is going to look much closer to the C8.R. The C8.R gives us an idea of what a wider body version might look like. I for one would love to see the wider front fenders and ducting of the C8.R but it is clear this is going to be a great looking car.
The sky is not falling. GM is using the camo to hide and even misdirect us as to the final look.
The car is going to look much closer to the C8.R.
Completely. These are great and detailed observations by the OP. There's no way the rear deck will be flat like a carboard box in the back, completely devoid of any contours. I too think the contours and look will be more similar to the C8R, albeit with a narrower track, higher stance, etc.
One thing I've noticed , maybe it's been brought up, is that during the close up pics while fueling, the driver and passenger seem to be blocking the side coves. Maybe it's just coincidence or maybe on purpose. Make any sense?
I thought they were trying to also block the camera man from getting a shot of the interior through the window. Probably both of those things.
laying it all out point by point...I was kinda looking all over trying to make sense of the stick on stuff... this points out a lot of stuff wasn't looking for...
Just remember that the rear deck pic is very distorted from a wide angle fisheye lens making the rear deck area look HUGE.
There seems to be beveled areas at the rear corners tipping down, slimming the rear.
Its not that big an area. No more flat surface than the C7.
According to the CAD there should be a Nacca style intake ala c7 but neither this or the C8R show anything there.
Last edited by firstvettesoon; 09-10-2018 at 08:26 PM.
The more one looks at this camo cars, you start to realize that black/white mish-mash of camo material does a good job of hiding slow contours. The very first set of photos coming out of Germany showed GM was definitely "pinning" some additional panels onto the car to hide major design features. GM has done a good job.
09-10-2018, 01:10 PM
Fake panels on the test vehicles
Day & Night differences - that said GM might have to deal with legalities on height of bumpers etc.
Completely. These are great and detailed observations by the OP. There's no way the rear deck will be flat like a carboard box in the back, completely devoid of any contours. I too think the contours and look will be more similar to the C8R, albeit with a narrower track, higher stance, etc.
