Manoli Katakis 
Shortly after 2020 C8 Corvette Design Director Tom Peters told MC&T that the mid-engined Chevrolet supercar almost had a retro-inspired split rear window, we were informed that its overall design and shape wasn’t primarily directed towards the Corvette’s graying traditional audience. Instead, it’s hoping to be on the bedroom poster of the future automotive performance enthusiast.
“We listen to our (current) customers as close as anybody does, but also you have to get the young new buyers. So I told my team to design it for the 10 year old kid,” said Peters. “Where I got that philosophy from, and one of the reasons I’m in the business, is that I can trace it all back to when I was about 10 years old and saw a Corvette Sting Ray for the first time. It had such a lasting impression, and I formulated a passion around that car. We wanted new customers and to break away from tradition, so I think that was a powerful way to approach it.”
No doubt, many of us can understand this exact feeling. Many of us remember the moment, or the car, or truck, or SUV that transformed the automobile from another customer appliance, to something much more.
“We’re keeping the current customer in mind, yeah, but we’re really focused on a younger customer with the C8 Corvette,” Peters noted.
Mr. Peters retired from General Motors earlier this year. His role overseeing the C8 Corvette capped an extraordinary career that included the radical Pontiac Banshee Concept, the iconic Cadillac Sixteen Concept, the fifth-gen and sixth-gen Camaro, the mighty C7 Corvette, and the rugged K2 Chevrolet Silverado. He is a 2019 inductee into the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame for his work on the American sports car over the years.
The 2020 Corvette Stingray launches late this year, with 490 base horsepower and a starting MSRP of around $60,000.
