Late last week GM made a big announcement: the all-new mid-engined C8 Corvette will debut on July 18. No more delays. All questions will finally be answered. On the same day as this announcement, GM CEO Mary Barra and Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter took a spin around New York City in a camouflaged C8 advanced prototype. For all intents and purposes, this C8 is as close to the production version we've seen so far. Aside from the camo, it's the final product.

And leave it to a rendering artist to take one of those images and de-camo it, essentially. The folks at MidEngineCorvetteForum.com received this rendering from forum member FVS, who previously created other C8 renderings. We've also seen several other impressive renderings over the past few months, but this latest one goes a fe steps further to reality.

We can't see how the rendering you're looking at will differ all that much from the production car. Although some of the angles are a little hard to decipher, FVS has done an overall excellent job of cleaning them up, so to speak. However, there's still a chance GM added some fake body panels throughout in order to fool us.

For example, some areas around the lower front fascia are a little hard to make out under the wrap. Even the precise shape of the side air vents are only a "best guess" at this time. Aside from those things, this rendering is nearly the real deal. We even like FVS's choice of red for the body color. Despite its Big Apple cruise, Chevrolet has remained mum on any details, such as what'll be under the hood (or rather behind the driver) and how much power it'll generate.

Chances are, the C8 will initially come offered with an updated and slightly more powerful version of today's LT1 6.2-liter V8. Later in the C8's life cycle, electrification will happen. Don't expect an all-electric Corvette just yet, but sources claim this new platform was specifically engineered to accommodate batteries and electric motors.

Eventually, a newly-developed twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 will arrive that will be linked to a hybrid system with an electric motor powering the front wheels. There's a rumor this could produce somewhere around 1,000 hp, thus placing the Corvette into official supercar territory.