The car industry has few secrets, at least when it comes to car designs. Any dramatic new vehicle you see debut was usually previewed by a concept car a few years before. So if we know a mid-engine Corvette is due, there’s gotta be some concept car from a couple years back that previews it. And this might be the one.
There’s a lot that doesn’t match up with this concept, which we know because we finally got a clear view of the C8’s basic styling today. We saw the C8.R test car running around, with a much more realized set of fenders, taillights, headlights, silhouette and face.
So I went looking through Chevrolet’s more recent concept cars to see if anything matched up in places.
Oddly the last Corvette concept really doesn’t. This is the 2009 Stingray concept, which did more to preview the C7 than anything else.
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What’s not a Corvette is the 2011 Miray concept.
This was a product of GM Korea, it was pitched as a couple steps down from what we’d think of as a Vette-level sports car. The press release recalls the Corvair:
The Miray pays tribute to Chevrolet’s sports car heritage. It is small and open like the 1963 Monza SS, and light and purposeful like the 1962 Corvair Super Spyder. Its expressive, aerodynamic fuselage is reminiscent of modern jet fighters.
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And yeah, this was no V8-powered machine, instead running off a 1.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid.
What immediately doesn’t match is the face, which lines up with the rest of GM Korea’s output rather than anything Corvette-ey.
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So it’s a size or two down, the face doesn’t line up, and there’s nothing Corvette-grade in its branding. My coworkers think I am crazy for thinking this has anything to do with the C8, and all spent much of this afternoon stuffing me into a recycling bin for even suggesting it.
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But I still feel like the basic styling of this car is what most closely matches to what we’re going to see unveiled at an auto show any day now. But hey, time will tell.
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