Two Right-Hand-Drive 2022 Corvette Prototypes Spied Testing
The right-hand-drive 2022 Corvette will be sold in the UK, Japan, and Australia as early as late 2021 for big money.
We’ve known for a little while now that GM was planning on building and selling a right-hand-drive version of the C8 Corvette in countries including Australia, the UK, and Japan. The automaker is already testing prototypes of its RHD 2022 Corvette as well, as we can clearly see in this video from YouTuber and Corvette guy Rick Conti.
The video shows spy shots of two different right-hand-drive 2022 Corvette prototypes testing in the United States. One C8 is finished in Accelerate Yellow with a black interior, while the other is painted black with a red interior. While we’ve seen renderings of the right-hand-drive C8 interior in the past, this is the first time we’ve seen it in the flesh.
Like the renderings, however, the real thing is pretty much a mirror image of the left-hand-drive C8 Corvette, albeit with the cockpit swapped to the other side. It may seem like a lot of trouble for GM to go through to sell in niche markets in small quantities, but from what we can tell right now, these things won’t be cheap.
Australia is slated to get the RHD 2022 Corvette in late 2021 through the brand new General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) division. The car will feature a base price of $149,990 AUS ($116,668 USD), however, which is obviously a lot. But that’s to be expected in a place when imported vehicles routinely sell for huge premiums, and GM only plans on selling around 200 of them per year Down Under.
Meanwhile, over 300 buyers lined up to plunk their money down for a RHD C8 in Japan in just 60 hours. There, the car will start out at 11.18 million yen ($104,616 USD) in 2LT trim and 14 million yen ($131,003 USD) in top 3LT trim. Japanese buyers can also opt for a convertible at a cost of 15.5 million yen ($145,023 USD). The coupe and convertible will cost $86,150 and $91,850, respectively, in the UK.
The right-hand-drive 2022 Corvette will be powered by the same 6.2-liter LT2 V8 as its left-hand-drive counterpart, producing up to 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque with the optional performance exhaust. It will also be built alongside the left-hand-drive model in GM’s Bowling Green, Kentucky plant when it enters production later this year.
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