Chevrolet Launches $68,000 Mid-Engine 2020 Corvette Convertible

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible launched Wednesday night at Kennedy Space Center with nearly a dozen astronaut-Corvette owners in attendance. Like the hardtop coupe Corvette launched in July, it has a midship-mounted V8 engine and double-clutch eight-speed transmission. This is a hardtop convertible, not fabric-roof, with six motors that raise or lower the roof in about 15 seconds at speeds up to 30 mph. The folding panels store above the engine with no impact on the cargo-carry capacity that equates to two golf bags plus what you can fit in front.

The convertible weighs 77 pounds more than the eighth-generation coupe. That reduces the 0-60 mph acceleration to about 3 seconds versus “under 3 seconds.” The convertible costs $7,500 more than the coupe, making it $67,495 plus shipping ($1,095) — plus options that, if you check every box from a higher-performance engine to camera/data recorder to premium seat belt colors, it puts the C8 Corvette convertible very close to $100,000. The first deliveries will be in the first quarter of 2020.

The Corvette convertible runs staggered wheels — 20 inches in diameter in the front, 21 inches rear.

The C8 Corvette convertible, media, and dealers at Wednesday night's introduction.

The engine bay of the 2020 Corvette convertible.

Worried about damaging the low-slung undercarriage? A $1,500 option uses GPS to map and remember speed bumps and sharply sloped driveways, and raise the nose of the car in advance.

Rapid Blue is one of the Corvette's signature colors.

The Corvette C8 convertible in profile.

The Corvette Stingray convertible is the first hardtop and mid-engine convertible in Corvette history. The hardtop convertible offers the same storage as the Corvette Stingray coupe, even with the top down.

A front view of the 2020 Corvette convertible.

It's not a Suburban, but there's still passable space for luggage: two golf bags fit in back. There's also storage in front, where the engine was the first seven generations.

Convertible controls of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

A profile view of 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible in Sebring Orange Tintcoat ($995).

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible, top view.

The online configurator lets Corvette enthusiasts consider colors, wheels, upholstery and even seat belt colors.

The hardtop Corvette coupe, introduced in July, under the Saturn 18 rocket at Kennedy Space Center.

The first Corvette, 1953, was a convertible. Corvette fans who don't like the automatic-only gearbox of the C8 should recall the C1 was automatic-only.

Surprise guest: the Corvette C8 race car that debuts over the winter at the 24 Hours of Daytona, with driver Tom Milner.

With the top down, there remain buttresses behind the seats. They are a styling element, a receptor for rear window glass to make for a quieter top-down ride, and a measure of additional protection in an accident. The cockpit is essentially the same as the coupe, with a line of switches set in a rail separating driver from passenger and taking a bit of space from the passenger.

Since 1953, the Corvette has been known as America’s sports car. The eighth-generation — C8 — aims to make it the world’s sports car, too. Chevy has said that before, but now with the engine just behind the two seats, it’s more plausible. Even though the V8 gets its prodigious horsepower from a pushrod rather than an overhead camshaft engine. The car is loaded with technology standard or optional, including constantly adjusting MagneRide shock absorbs, a self-lifting nose that uses GPS to recall speed bumps and sharply angle driveway entrances, a data-recording camera, and a 12-inch LCD instrument panel.

The three trim lines are:

1LT, $68,590, with Bose 10-speaker audio, eight-way power GT1 seats, Driver Mode selector, and all-season performance tires.

2LT, $75,390, front curb-view cameras, Bose Performance Series 14-speaker audio system, heated/vented seats and heated steering wheel, and available GT2 seats in Napa leather.

3LT, $80,400, with 13 interior color options, custom leather-wrapped instrument panel and door, suede-microfiber upper interior trim, and standard GT2 seats in Napa leather.

The engine is the LT2, a 6.2-liter pushrod V8, producing 495 hp and 470 pound-feet of torque with a rev limiter set to 6,000 rpm. Some key options packages are the Z51 higher-performance package with summer tires, magnetic ride control in conjunction with the handling package that adjusts to road conditions every 10-15 milliseconds, a performance data recorder for track or back roads, a front lift kit that raises the car two inches in 2-3 seconds, and a head-up display. Essentially, if you can get it on the hardtop, you can get it on the convertible.

C8 Corvette buyers can even customize the last five digits of the vehicle identification number for $5,000, according to CarsDirect; the first 12 are generated by Chevrolet.