Corvette's aren't a frequent sighting here, the C8 is the only model to ever go on sale officially, the rest being private imports. However, the last couple of days, I've seen three out on the road, one in Black, one in Arctic White and one in Torch Red. The white and black examples caught my attention, but I didn't look back. The red one instantly caught my eye and for a second, I though it looked quite good. Looking back in the mirror, I then thought nope, that rear end completely ruins the design.
What's so sad about the C8 is how management ruled how the car looked, not the designers. At the time, GM crowed on about how they needed to take Corvette into a new era for a new generation. As in, they wanted to attract younger customers. Which, when you think about it, makes complete sense as older Corvette fans stop buying, and new generations start to become the target customer. But then what did they do? The marketing department insisted on being able to fit golf clubs in the trunk. Why? Why on earth would you buy a mid-engined sports car and take it to a golf club? I can almost guarantee that a potential Corvette customer is buying one as a second vehicle, so they'd have another vehicle to transport gold clubs with.
So, the whole golf club thing ruins the potential of the mid-engine layout by compromising the overall chassis and styling balance. They may as well kept it as a front engine platform. And that makes me annoyed because it's both arrogant and contradictory to the original intent. Seriously, do they really think someone wouldn't buy a Corvette because it wouldn't carry a golf bag?
That C5 sure had a lot of utility!
