Vette This

We talk a lot at CocoMats about how the past intersects with the present and the future. So much of our clientele is the classic car crowd, but we also spend a great deal of time focusing on current vehicles and looking ahead to future trends. With that broad perspective, we try and stay aware of how past successes inform current decisions. So it’s through this same lens that I viewed the newly leaked photos of the upcoming C8 Corvette,which Chevrolet is set to unveil on July 18th.

Mid-engine sports cars and exotics have long been a staple of the field, but this is the first time that Chevrolet has toyed with the design in the Corvette. For the current-gen C7, Chevrolet broke with a half-century of tradition and replaced the Corvette’s iconic circular taillights with rectangular lenses to present brand unity with the Camaro. This was the first time Chevrolet altered the familiar layout since the late ‘50s Vette’s elongated lamps, and only the third time if you don’t consider the original Corvette’s comical lights as truly circular. The response from the community was decidedly mixed at the time, with many enthusiasts hoping that GM would reverse course for the C8 and produce a car that was far more distinguished from its lesser sibling.

However, it seems that the engineers and designers have gone all-in on the new aesthetic. Although we still have 10 days before this photo is truly confirmed, the rear end in the picture does not match anything in the current Chevrolet lineup, and without a new Camaro or any other sports car on the horizon, it is almost certainly the real thing. Some other odd design choices include an underwhelming rear wing, cheap-looking ‘vents’ covered with black plastic inserts reminiscent of the latest Honda Civic, and a massively and unnecessarily indented license plate area.

Keep in mind that nothing can really be considered a hundred percent legitimate until Chevrolet makes their official announcement, but it stands to reason that long-standing members of the cult of Corvette may be less than enthused if this is, in fact, the final product. For now though, we can only wait and hope that the new 2020 C8 lives up to its significant pedigree.

- Trey Fennell