GM’s Dream of Mid-Engine Corvette Not Off the Table
December 20, 2007

By Bill Visnic 

With General Motors Corp. unveiling the ultra-high performance ZR-1 and its six-figure price, the possibility of the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette moving to a more exotic mid-engine configuration still is being discussed at the highest levels of GM engineering, planning and marketing, sources close to the situation tell AutoObserver.

The iconic Corvette has used a classic front-engine/rear-drive layout since its inception in 1953. But some factions within the company believe the car should migrate to a mid-engine design for a variety of reasons, not all of them engineering-related.

It is a virtual assurance, however, that a mid-engine design would dictate a price point well in excess of $100,000 – a matter many at GM believe jettisons the Corvette’s heritage for quasi-affordability.

Earlier this month, Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter told AutoObserver a mid-engine Corvette is being studied – but couched the confirmation by adding that at this point, the very broadest engineering possibilities still are at play.

“Nothing is off the table (right now),” Juechter says. But, “You hear ‘mid-engine’ every time there’s going to be a new-generation Corvette,” he laughs.

Juechter says arguments against moving the seventh-generation Corvette to a mid-engine layout are “not necessarily a cost issue,” however. But another well-placed GM source indicates some marketing scenarios for a mid-engine Corvette appear to be based on questionable divergence from today’s Corvette sales model.

The 2008 Corvette has a base price of $45,285 plus $825 destination. Last year, Chevrolet sold 36,518 Corvettes (that number is certain to drop this year, as the company sold 30,771 through November).

Some at GM believe a mid-engine Corvette at more twice or even three times the price of today’s car would drastically alter the car’s potential sales volume. Exotic-car maker Ferrari sold just 1,635 cars in North America in 2006; Porsche’s 911, often cited as a competitor for the Corvette (despite the fact it costs much more) found 12,045 buyers in the U.S. last year.

More direct indicators of the prospects for an expensive, semi-exotic mid-engine car  might be Audi AG’s recently launched R8, a V8-powered, mid-engine coupe starting at $109,000. Audi figures it will sell about 1,000 units in the U.S. annually. Or Ford Motor Co.’s mid-engine GT. A total of 4,038 were sold from 2005-2006, started at $139,995 – a price some sources outside GM believe would be more realistic for like-designed Corvette.

Moreover, critics of the decision to build the GT are certain it was not profitable even at almost $140,000.

Others outside GM question not only the possibility the company could produce a mid-engine Corvette at any price close to $100,000 – but the very wisdom of edging the Corvette into extremely low-volume, “exotic” territory with a mid-engine design.

“To take the Corvette off the market trajectory it’s been on for the last 50 years, you’d have to be insane,” insists John Coletti, former director of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team and longtime Ford engineer who led development of the GT. Coletti says at a consistent 30,000-40,000 units annually, the Corvette has the segment virtually to itself, and the Corvette is profitable at those volumes.

“What’s really the motivation for this?” he asks. “It can’t be to increase market share.” He says history suggests the potential market for high-priced, mid-engined cars tends to be small, and as such, cost amortized over such low volume ultimately dictates a high price – and that goes against the Corvette’s heritage for affordability.

Coletti says if GM’s true desire for a mid-engine Corvette is, on the other hand, to make a statement about engineering capability – many mid-engine Corvette concept cars of the past suggested just that purpose – today’s technology means “doing a midship car is not the technological statement” it was perhaps 25 years ago, he insists.

Several major auto-industry suppliers who might have insight into GM’s ability to develop and manufacture an “affordable” mid-engine Corvette adamantly refused requests to discuss the subject. Coletti believes the manufacturing of a mid-engine Corvette also would be a hurdle to cost-effective production.

“I don’t know of anybody who can build a mid-engine and a front-engine car on the same line,” he says of one suggestion GM perhaps could build both a limited-run, mid-engine Corvette and a conventional-layout “standard” model at the company’s existing Bowling Green, KY, assembly plant. “You’re going to end up having a unique build facility for such a car,” Coletti says. 

Corvette chief engineer Juechter, for now, won’t be drawn out about such details, although some sources suggest GM’s waffling about layout has contributed to pushing back by a year the launch of the seventh-generation ‘Vette, to the ’12 model year.

“There’s no firm decision. It’s still far enough out that we’re not even working on (a decision on configuration),” Juechter says, adding, “My job is to find the correct technical solution.”

Photos from General Motors

1- 4 - 5 Chevrolet introduces the 2009 Corvette ZR1, the fastest, most powerful automobile ever produced by General Motors. The Corvette ZR1 features an all-new LS9 supercharged 6.2L V-8 engine targeted to produce 620 horsepower and approximately 595 lb.-ft. of torque. The ZR1 is expected to be the first production Corvette to achieve a top speed of at least 200 mph.

2 - 1974 GM “Aerovette” Experimental Car showcases mid-engine layout. Copyright 2007 GM Corp. Used with permission, GM Media Archive.

3 - Corvette concept in GM Advance Vehicle Concepts studio, circa 1973, used 2-rotor Wankel engine in midship location. Copyright 2007 GM Corp. Used with permission, GM Media Archive.

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