2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray's price and features draw gasps

Mark Phelan
Prices for the new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray will start under $60,000, astoundingly close to the outgoing model’s $55,900 base price.

TUSTIN, California – The crowd audibly gasped as General Motors president Mark Reuss said prices for the radically new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray will start under $60,000, astoundingly close to the outgoing model’s $55,900 base price.

Reuss also said Vettes with even more performance than the 495-horsepower model GM revealed in a World War II-era blimp hangar are coming soon. He dodged questions about which names from Corvette’s storied history the cars would have, and what technologies they’d use to beat the 2020 Z51 model’s already announced sub-three-second zero-to-60-mph time.

The new Corvette is the most radical engineering change in the car’s 66-year history. Its engine is mounted behind the passenger compartment. The layout helps the car put its power on the road and improves handling.

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Other crowd-pleasing features:

  • An adjustable suspension with a GPS-linked memory to recognize and raise the car’s nose when the Stingray approaches steep driveways, familiar speed bumps, potholes, etc. The memory can remember up to 1,000 places and raise the nose 1.6 inches in 2.4 seconds at up to 24 mph. Like a lot of sporty cars, previous Corvette’s low-slung nose trim was frequently damaged by parking blocks and other obstacles.

  • A new electronic system that will enable features like GM’s Super Cruise system, which allows hands-free driving on more than 3 million miles of roadway.

  • Video that showed the new 'Vette’s two cargo compartments — one in the nose, one behind the engine — holding two golf bags or a five-piece luggage set that was designed to fill the previous model’s roomy hatchback.

  • Slides showing a choice of six interior color themes and 12 exterior colors.

Dealers are taking orders now. Chevy may deliver a few cars late this year. Dealers should have good stocks on hand early in 2020.

Contact Mark Phelan at 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray price and features revealed