You've all heard that the next chapter in
the Corvette's timeline will mark the introduction of a mid-engine model into
the lineage. We don't know what it will look like yet, but we wouldn't mind one
but if it was very close to the real-life concept you see here.
In case you have no idea what this car is, we'll
start by telling you that it was designed by the Aria Group, a California-based
design and fabrication company, as an homage to GM's late designer, Ed Taylor,
also known as Fast Eddy.
Aria says it wanted to build a car that Fast Eddy
himself would have loved to drive; a "mid-engine Vette." The
company's co-founder, Clive Hawkins, told Car & Driver that when they
started making this concept, they made sure not to step on anybody's toes over at
GM - which is why you can still call this design "unique", despite
the Corvette connection.
You can definitely spot a few
Corvette-like features, especially from the rear. In order
for you to actually see the taillight graphics, the lights have to be on, which
is a neat little trick, we'd say. Another thing that sets this concept apart
are its satin black custom wheels, courtesy of HRE that shared some of these
pictures, and which feature a 5 double spoke design, and can be ordered in four
different sizes (20", 21", 22" and 24".)
The car doesn't have an actual engine
installed, being a static a concept, but according to Hawkins, if they had to
put something in there, it would definitely be the engine from the Z06, the one
with 650 HP and 881 Nm of torque.
He also said that the chassis is ready and that
overall, the car would weigh about 1,360 kg - so here's hoping
somebody makes this thing drivable really soon.
