Lightly camouflaged versions of the mid-engine Corvette have been running around for a few months now, so anything to be gleaned from new photographs is likely details. Cases in point: the steering wheel and gauge cluster seen here.t
This isn’t the first time we’ve gotten a peek inside the C8. Back in January, CarScoops managed to get its hands on several shots that showed almost the entire cabin. The design proved controversial, but the materials themselves at least looked more high-end than what you find on the current Corvette. Sadly, much of that was covered up on this prototype, so we can’t tell how much has changed in the interim. But we can now see most of the instrument cluster.
Instead of physical gauges, it appears that Chevrolet has gone fully digital this time around and almost certainly will be customizable based on driver preference and drive mode. In these photos, the tachometer dominates the center of the screen, with a digital speedometer in the center. On the left side, you can see a g-force meter that goes up to 1.25 g, and on the right side, it looks like the display for car and infotainment information.
This is also the first time we’ve seen the C8’s digital rearview mirror in action. Since rear visibility looks almost nonexistent on the prototypes, we hoped Chevrolet would borrow the camera-fed rear display from Cadillac and here it is, showing a wide, clear view of what’s behind the car.
Like the one we saw before, this prototype has a two-spoke steering wheel. If you look closely, however, many details have changed. The controls for cruise control, for example, aren’t quite the same, and the black plastic on each spoke has a slightly different design. The signal stalks also look a little more downmarket here than they did the first time around. What that means, though, isn’t entirely clear. Maybe the other car was a higher trim level. Maybe this prototype has an earlier version of the interior—you never know with test mules.
It’s also not clear when we’ll actually see the new Corvette, although August at the National Corvette Museum’s 25th Anniversary celebrations is currently circled on our calendars. Development issues have reportedly pushed back the C8’s reveal, and hopefully they’ll be worked out by the time the silk is pulled from the car—including whatever caused this particular prototype to fire up its check-engine light.
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