If you thought the announcement that the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be sold locally was a big deal, hold onto your pants; we’ve received word from Holden itself — the local arm of GM — that the newly unveiled Chevrolet Corvette C8 will be sold new on the New Zealand market, and, for the first time ever, it’ll be right-hand drive!
The hype around the next generation ’Vette has been wild, with consumers and media alike fizzing over the possibilities of an all-new layout. What was unveiled, the C8, represents perhaps the most out-the-gate shift from the ’Vettes that came before it that we’ve ever seen, with the power plant mid-mounted and a cab-forward design.
“Like anyone with a hint of petrol in their veins, we were glued to our screens watching the reveal of the new Corvette,” said Marc Ebolo, managing director of Holden New Zealand. “The news that Corvette will be built in right-hand-drive for the first time ever — and will be exported to New Zealand — is hugely exciting for our team at Holden and [for] any Kiwi who loves high-performance cars … We look forward to taking on the European and Japanese performance vehicles with some highly sophisticated American muscle.”
The key difference between the right-hand drive Camaros we’ve already seen hitting our roads and the new right-hook ’Vettes on the way is that, while the former are shipped out of the States as a left-hook build and converted by HSV at its Melbourne facility, the Corvette is designed and manufactured as a right-hook from day dot.
We’d like to think that, in terms of local pricing, it won’t be too far gone from the US$60,000 starting figure, although Australian media have reported an estimated figure of anywhere between AUD$100,000 and AUD$150,000. Release dates and New Zealand pricing are yet to be confirmed.