Corvette Grand Sport Coupe

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
Coupe

It was inevitable that the next generation Corvette (or any other muscle car for that matter) would eventually see their gargantuan power plants downsized in an effort to keep them compliant with regulatory plans to keep costal cities above water. Images of the new 'Vette's engine leaked on Twitter through an account by a man named Michael Accardi confirm that the C8 Corvette will not only see this theory become reality, but it will lose its precious displacement in the most sacrilegious way possible.

The leaked images are CAD drawings of the V8, which has been dubbed the LT7, and though no official size has been released the block does look quite a bit smaller than the 6.2-liter V8 under the hood of the current Corvette. The Internet is guessing this unit's displacement could lie somewhere between 4.2-liters and 5.5-liters. Evidence that GM is seriously chopping away at the size of its small block can be seen in the first element of disrespect to the Corvette's heritage: the inclusion of two turbochargers. Despite a wide angle between the cylinder banks, the spools flank the outer edges of the power plant instead of using a hot vee configuration like Mercedes' latest AMG cars do.

That makes the LT7 similar in design to GM's 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 LGW engine that's used in the Cadillac CT6. Our experience at the helm of that ship taught us that GM has a ways to go when it comes to eliminating turbo lag, but hopefully the LT7 will serve as proof that The General has done that so the C8's driving experience isn't grenaded. Making the LT7 even more blasphemous is the fact that it pauses the Corvette's storied relationship with the pushrod configuration in exchange for dual overhead cams. "The internet has revealed the C8 Corvette will include a DOHC twin-turbo V8," read Accardi's tweet. "It's called the LT7 and it will likely form the basis of GM's next-generation V8 engine architecture…"

Of the world's collection of rumor mills that won't stop spinning, the C8 Corvette's is one of the most sonorous. Every story from a mid-engine configuration to hybridization has been spun, and though the LT7 leak only serves to bolster previous engine rumors, it mainly confirms what we all knew was coming: that we'd have to make sacrifices if we want to have our cake and eat it too.