So The C8 Corvette Grand Sport Is Real—Told You So

The Grand Sport name has been at the center of speculation for months, and a recent sighting is the clearest hint yet that Chevrolet is prepping for its return.

Instagram user @njp_moto shared footage of what appears to be a pair of C8 Corvettes wearing distinctive Grand Sport design cues staged in the mountains during what looked like a commercial shoot.

In the short drive-by video, two Corvettes are parked at a turnout with film production support vehicles nearby, attempting to block the view. One car appears finished in Arctic White, while the second wears a deep blue that closely resembles Admiral Blue, a color long associated with Grand Sport Corvettes dating back to the C4 era.

The dead giveaway is the small, red hash marks visible on the Admiral Blue car—those are historically reserved for Grand Sport models. I will say, the hashmarks look very wrong relocated to the rear quarters instead of their traditional location on the front fenders. The cars also appear to have some unique badging near the rear intakes, along with black wheels that don’t match anything we've seen available for the C8, from the Stingray through to the ZR1X.

The car seems fitted with a center-exit quad exhaust layout, a design currently reserved for the flat-plane V8 Corvettes like the Z06 and ZR1. That doesn’t necessarily mean Grand Sport will adopt one of those engines; we know GM is developing a pair of new small-block V8s, including a larger-displacement 6.7-liter small-block said to carry the LS6 name.

Our Take:

Some reports have suggested this engine could eventually find its way into a future Corvette, and a Grand Sport model would make a logical place to introduce a new middle-ground performance package. Is GM planning to debut the Gen VI small-block V8s with the Corvette instead of the Silverado and Sierra 1500 models?

Better question: could the C8 Grand Sport finally deliver a manual transmission to enthusiasts after the mid-engine car has spent over five years without one?

Tremec has a new six-speed manual transaxle that just so happens to fit perfectly behind the C8's engine. A row-it-yourself option would be the perfect addition for a driver-focused Corvette model—no joke, the shape, mounting points, and overall dimensions of the manual transaxle are identical.

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