Mid-engine Corvette powertrain leaked in revealing CAD images

NEW CAD drawings have surfaced online which confirm the next-gen ‘C8’ Corvette will be mid-engined - and these computer-generated pics give us a solid look at what’ll motivate Chervrolet’s new hero.

Posted to – and then quickly removed from – corvetteforum.com, the images purport to show the C8 Corvette’s rear subframe, engine, and part of the suspension setup.

What can we deduce from the pictures? The design of the exhaust manifolds is the biggest give-away yet that the C8 Corvette will be mid-engined, along with the layout of the big cast-alloy cradle that it sits upon. Meanwhile, savvy forum commenters identified the bent-eight as the LT1 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated unit from the current front-engined C7 Corvette.

The Corvette is also likely to retain its transaxle gearbox – obviously without a torque tube given the mid-engined application - with manual and automatic transmissions to be offered.

Double A-arm suspension will use coil springs with what appears to be an integrated nose-lift system, which is a departure from the transverse leaf springs that have been used many generations of Corvette.

The images have been uploaded and taken down numerous times over the last day, fanning speculation these are legitimate CAD drawings, with GM scrambling to stop them being distributed.

The images have been photographed from a computer screen with a phone, instead of a traditional screen-shot, hinting this could be a GM employee or engineer who has gone rogue and leaked the information.

Wheels has previously reported the C8 Corvette is being engineered to be right-hand-drive capable, and will be sold in Australian showrooms badged as a Chevrolet after it is finally revealed.

A mid-engine Corvette is a major departure from the car’s heritage, which until this point has always had the V8 in front of the driver. One thing that won’t change is where that V8 sends its grunt: every Corvette to date has taken power to the rear wheels exclusively, and despite a shift to a supercar-style mid-engine layout the all-new C8 doesn’t look like it will depart from that formula any time soon.

2