KEITH CORNETT
It was just last week that our own Alex Sommers was asking when we would learn about the changes to the 2021 Corvettes and the answer is sooner than GM expected. Late Saturday night saw the options posted to a C8 Corvette Owners Group on Facebook and they quickly exploded across the popular Corvette forums. The leak is credited to Aaron Adams of Sims Chevrolet and to us it reads much like the Order Guide summary that shares additions and deletions to the new model year.
The big news is that two exterior colors, Long Beach Red and Blade Silver, are being swapped out for a new Red Mist Tintcoat (GPH) and Silver Flare (GSJ). The rumors are that Red Mist is similar to a Magnetic Red Metallic and Crystal Red Metallic, while Silver Flare could be hiding in plain sight on the No. 4 C8.R. There has been some speculation that the new Silver Flare is what we’ve been seeing on the No. 4 C8.R race car. Chevy and Corvette Racing did that back in 2016 with Corvette Racing Yellow so it wouldn’t surprise us if they did again.
Inside the car, two new seat combos in 3LT are on the horizon. They are (HFC) Trim Suede Strike Yellow/Sky Cool Gray and (HT7) Leather Jet Black with Sky Cool Gray. Chevy is also bringing a new Wireless CarPlay that will be standard on 1LT/2LT/3LT packages and you can add WeatherTech all-weather floor liners with a Jake Logo.
Another major change is one that Chevrolet will uncouple the Magnetic Selective Ride Control from the Z51 requirement so that it can be ordered as a standalone option.
Chevrolet is also bringing a slew of new racing stripe colors with seven full-length stripes and four Stinger graphics offered for 2021:
Full Length Racing Stripe – Orange
Full Length Racing Stripe – Red
Full Length Racing Stripe – Yellow
Full Length Racing Stripe – Carbon Flash
Full Length Racing Stripe – Sterling Silver
Full Length Racing Stripe – Blue
Full Length Racing Stripe – Midnight
Stinger (Center Hood)
Stinger Stripe – Carbon Flash / Edge Yellow
Stinger Stripe – Carbon Flash / Midnight Silver
Stinger Stripe – Carbon Flash / Edge Red
More carbon fiber accessories are coming in 2020. The LPO High Wing and Door Intake Trim will be available in Visible Carbon Fiber. Unfortunately, the 5VM Visible Carbon FGround Effects are currently unavailable so it looks like that constraint will continue into the 2021 model year.
Chevy will be offering a C8.R printed car cover for 2021, but we think there is something more in the works. The leaked document calls for a “Stingray R” theme which has us strongly believing that a special edition or design edition is waiting for Corvette buyers in 2021 and for this, we may be able to connect some recent “dots” that showed up on our radar.
At the beginning of March, Chevrolet attended the Work Truck Expo and one of the interesting displays featured this 2020 Corvette Stingray dressed up as the Gray C8.R. However, that car was really just a Silver Stingray with a Yellow Racing Strip and IMSA graphics.
Our friend Travis found this image back in February that lends even more credence to Chevy offering a C8.R graphics package for the Stingray. This image appears to come from the Chevy visualizer and it shows a Silver Stingray with Yellow graphics in the same places as they appear on the race car. For us, we believe it makes sense for Chevrolet to focus on a “C8.R replica” as owners are very passionate and supportive of the race team and they want to dress up their Corvettes to look like those on the track.
Overnite, we received a comment about this rendering which comes from an enthusiast over at the MidEngineCorveteForum.com:
Just to clarify info about that render — I drew that up last October just after the silver C8.R was unveiled, adding my suggestions on top of an image from the GM site. Also tried a yellow version and an example of adding a ghosted Jake to the waterfall speaker inside. BTW, I’m the same person who did that funny “birth announcement” you mentioned earlier. ??
Here is a copy of the leaked RPO/LPO options for 2021 as it appeared on Facebook and the forums: