Although a mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette has been constantly churned out of the rumourmill, there was a decent amount of credibility added to that recipe recently with news from Saab that their engineers had been tinkering around on a dual-clutch wet gearbox for a mid-engined configuration.
General Motors has been quick to put out that fire before it spread to far and wide, with Karl Stracke, GM’s Vice President of Global Engineering, downright denying that the next-gen Vette’ will have its engine aft of the driver. Now will it be swapping cogs with a wet-dual-clutch tranny.
Although there have been many concepts wearing the Corvette moniker with their engines behind the cockpit, the actual production versions have always had their powerplants at the traditional end.
Furthermore, GM tore up the wet-dual-clutch gearbox story by explaining that most manufacturers were moving towards the dry clutch setup as it was more efficient and cheaper to produce. It’s interesting to note though that Stracke made it very clear that just the wet-clutch setup was out of the question, not a dual-clutch system entirely.
He also confirmed that the next generation Corvette will still have a small-block V8 under its hood, albeit with direct injection for improved emissions. However, a hybrid is very much on the cards as Stracke mentioned that a number of competitors are going the same way, such as the Porsche 918 that was recently cleared for production.
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