General Motors has already built
prototypes of the RHD C8 Corvette, and the cars are currently undergoing
testing. According to Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter and Corvette
product manager Harlan Charles, RHD cars already exist and they are currently
being tested by members of the engineering team. However, the American sports
car isn’t currently being tested in a country that drives on the left, but in
the USA, which drives on the right.
So, the first country that will get the
RHD Corvette C8 is Japan, which reportedly bought 300 units in just 60 hours.
Also eagerly waiting are Australians, who will get their supply from the
newly-formed General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) arm, now that GM’s Holden
is dead there. But it’ll apparently only reach Down Under earliest by the end
of 2021, a slight delay from 1H 2021.
The latest Vette’s dramatic, driver-focused
cockpit will be mirrored for the RHD car. “In our car, everything is
driver-focused, everything is angled towards the driver, the cockpit wraps
around you, and so when you do a right-hand drive, we didn’t want to dumb that
down, we wanted those customers to have the same exact experience whether it’s
Japan, UK, Australia,” Tadge added.
With official RHD Corvettes in Japan and
Australia, there is a chance of some reaching Malaysia as private imports, but
don’t expect grey market Mustang GT prices – the C8 is much higher up the
performance car pyramid, is sold in much smaller numbers, and is hot in demand.
Powered by a 6.2L LT2 small-block
naturally-aspirated V8 with 495 hp and 637 Nm of torque, America’s sports car
does the 0-97 km/h sprint in under three seconds when fitted with the
Z51 Performance Package. The gearbox is an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. There’s also a
convertible version.
