Tadge Tells All, Part Three: C7 Yields to a Mid-Engine Revolution

Corvette Interview Tadge Jeuchter part 3
Hagerty Media

Welcome to the third and final installment of Hagerty’s interview with Tadge Jeuchter, executive chief engineer of the Corvette from 2006 to 2024. The roundtable discussion was led by Hagerty Media editor-in-chief Larry Webster, along with Jerry Burton, a Hagerty contributor, Corvette Hall of Famer, and the founding editor of Corvette Quarterly magazine. Alongside Jeuchter was longtime Corvette marketing manager Harlan Charles.

In part one, the gang talked about guiding the Corvette though the financial crisis of 2008 and GM’s subsequent bankruptcy, which delayed a mid-engine model. Part two delved into the origins of the C5 Z06 and the racing triumphs that followed. We pick up the action with the C7 Corvette—the pinnacle not just of front-engine Corvettes but of front-engine performance in general—and how it came to be in the wake of GM’s money woes.

It was the accountants who greenlit that car’s development. “You want a viable business, trucks and Corvettes are a pretty good bet,” Jeuchter recalls them summarizing. Given the company’s financial constraints, however, an all-new mid-engine platform was still off the table. A clean-sheet front-engine car, however, was not.

“We cut our teeth on the C6 Z06 with aluminum structures, and we said ‘It’s gonna be aluminum. Aluminum for everything.’” From the off, Corvette designers were enthusiastic about approaching the C7’s styling differently, breaking with tradition when it came to long-standing features, such as the roof’s “halo,” instead giving the C7 a rear quarter window. The taillights, too, were a break from the traditional round units.

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe
Chevrolet

“The other thing we wanted to do, once and for all,” adds Charles, “was get rid of the complaints on the interior.” To that end, he and the rest of the team wanted everything you encountered on the new car to feel premium. Mission accomplished there, but none of that would matter if the C7’s engineering wasn’t up to snuff. Jeuchter saw to that. 

Beyond functional aerodynamics, a big focus was weight distribution in order to eke out as much performance as possible. “We put as much weight in the back as we could,” Jeuchter says, including the heat exchangers, “which tend to pile up in the front.”

Having driven and reviewed countless Corvettes over the years, Webster addresses what he considered to be the C7’s greatest achievement: With past Corvettes, you were conscious of the car’s performance. “You knew it handled well, but you didn’t feel it instinctively. The seventh generation changed that.” Jeuchter’s response here, illustrated through the minutiae of steering compliance, is magical.

2016 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 white front three quarter dynamic cornering
Chevrolet

With the mid-engine platform finally—finally!—on the horizon, everyone within GM who saw the new C8 during internal presentations couldn’t believe their eyes. “They’d go ‘Oh my god, I’m sweating. Are we really doing … I can’t—’” Jeucther recalls. And when it hit the market in 2020, it really did have that effect on people.  

In South Florida, previously proven territory for European exotics, it took over the market, and today some of the Corvette’s biggest volume dealerships are in that region. 

Jeuchter goes into some of the C8’s engineering details, with Charles providing color commentary on many of the details the team wanted to incorporate—things that would surprise people about a mid-engine Corvette. “People were going to assume it would have less room in it. We wanted to have more room in it.”

Tadge Jeuchter Larry Webster C7 C8 Corvettes
Cameron Neveu

Naturally, they wanted more horsepower, too. And as you may have heard, they got it in spades with the 1064-hp ZR1. Watch the video to hear more about the C8’s development, the engineering involved in arriving at such a bonkers number, and Jeuchter’s thoughts on being tasked with ushering in each subsequent Corvette generation he was tasked with. 

To listen to the interview in full, check out the Never Stop Driving podcast:

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Comments

    A nice end to the interview. It’s nice to hear the struggles and success they had along the way. Tadge’s attitude is great.

    I’m happy for GM that the new mid engine Corvette worked out, but for me it’s not really a Corvette. A Corvette is a traditional American front engine coupe or roadster. I get it, they wanted something more “with the times”, more modern supercar. I just wish they could have kept a legacy model going also. I know, a repro 53 with a modern drivetrain… Too bad the Atlas straight six isn’t still made, that would be perfect!

    Other than the new C8’s , people buy for high dollars any and all retomods!! For better handling, reliability, etc. over the cheap old crap that purists claim are so good!!!

    I drove a friend’s C7 (with a manual transmission) a couple of times and was very impressed. I might have been impressed with the C8 as well, but I refuse to drive an automatic.

    Harlan and Tadge are just plain amazing. Hall of fame dudes for sure. Great interview. Wish the Hagerty person was more knowledgeable about Corvettes though.

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