2022 Australian Chevrolet Corvette Stingray tested: Right-hand drive monster 'feels weird' - in a good way...

Australian Corvette Stingrays are getting closer to launch.

The Australian Corvette Stingray is getting closer to launch, and the car's engineering team is testing the first right-hand drive examples in the States.

And there's some good news from the team: Test drivers report that while the Corvette behaves "very strangely" right-hand drive, Australian drivers will get exactly the same experience as their American counterparts.

Those are the words of Corvette chief engineer Taj Juhter, who told local media that the first right-hand drive vehicles are being road tested before being exported to Australia and other similar markets.

“Yes, some of us actually ride them. It's very strange to drive a right-hand drive Corvette," he told Corvette Blogger. “We have built some of them and now we will be doing some of our pre-production testing in the US.

“The car sold out in Japan almost as soon as we introduced it. This will be our first experience with a right-hand drive."

In other good news, Chevrolet promises there will be no downside in right-hand drive markets as our Corvettes will feel just as driver-focused as their left-hand drive siblings.

“In our car, everything is driver-oriented, everything is turned towards the driver, the cabin wraps around you, so when you drive right-hand drive, we didn’t want to sugarcoat it, we wanted these customers to have the same experience, whether it’s Japan, the UK or Australia. ”, said Uechter.

“We wanted them to have the same driver-focused interior and so we actually made all those unique pieces that are shaped like a mirror so we could flip it to the other side and it would be an accurate mirror. rest of the world cars are left-hand drive vehicles.

Chevrolet promises there will be no downside for right-hand drive markets.

While Australians may not be overly familiar with the Corvette product, they will be instantly familiar as the car's engineers ensure there's a bit of Australian flavor in every C8.

“I really like the Australian car, because everything is localized, and the navigation, and the voice, she has a great Australian voice. It's a lot of fun," said Harlan Charles, product manager for Corvette.

The Corvette will be a key element of GM's new GMSV strategy in Australia. In other words, rejoice because the Corvette numbers are really hard to believe. The base mid-engined C8 will hit a staggering 312 km/h thanks to a powerful 6.2-litre LT2 V8 engine capable of delivering a hefty 370kW of power and 640Nm of torque. high speed dual clutch automatic.

The Corvette is expected to be launched next year.