“The Great C7 Taillight Incident” – Will Round Lights Return?

The business of remaking an automotive legend is a daunting challenge for any manufacturer and especially for General Motors when it came time to design the C7 for 2014. Add Corvette owner’s fierce loyalty and somewhat stubborn ideas about what “heritage” means and a tricky situation becomes even more complicated.

Styling wise, the C7 mixed it up with rear, side quarter-windows (last seen on 1962 models,) that eliminated the old school rear “hoop” B-pillar. This paved the way for C6-R inspired cooling inlets vents on top of the rear fenders, and extraction vents in the rear bumper cover. To top it all off, the taillights were NOT round and were morphed into Camaro-esque squared off units.

GM Design took a big risk with this rear end treatment. Time has been kind to the C7 but there is a lot of fuss over the taillights.

Folks went crazy. Chat rooms exploded. Some people said the car looked like a Camaro from the rear and they would NEVER buy a Corvette again. Really? Detractors glommed onto this issue too, probably because they were knocked out by how good the C7 was right out of the box.

That’s all back in the mist now. The C7 is a grand slam hit, the Z06 intro added more excitement and it seemed like the “The Great Taillight Incident” was long forgotten. Well, time flies and believe it or not, the C7 is nearly due for a mid-cycle refresh and we think it’s time to speculate whether Chevrolet will revisit this once prickly issue. Check out these rear end proposals for the C7 that might quell the only beef people have with the new car. They come to us via The Corvette International Facebook Community Facebook page.

This is probably a photochop and shows a GT-R like rear end with a four taillight treatment with larger outboard lights. We think this is a “miss” as the taillights are grouped too close together, making the rear look tall and beady-eyed.

 

Next up is the “Ferrari” style idea. This is another photochop, the giveaway being the old school C3 “Stingray” script pasted between the taillights. It looks good and makes the car look wider and lower. Whether Vette fans will want to trade Camaro taillights for Ferrari lights is a question mark to say the least.

 

The most successful is a taillight housing that incorporates round LED lights that update the look of the rear without messing up the functional airflow management system that was engineered into the OEM cover. This photo shows the exhaust relocated to outboard position and we think it looks cool but unrealistic as the C7’s exhaust plumbing is very tight underneath. www.supervettes.com

 

Speaking of aftermarket suppliers, our last pic comes from an Italian outfit that was the first to offer a C7 replacement cover although upon investigation, it’s unclear whether this product ever made it to production. Nevertheless, this is the most “OEM” looking rendering and we think it looks good. www.corvetteitalia.it

Finally, what would you like to see when the Corvette gets a styling tweak in the coming years? Would you like the round taillights to return? How much would you pay for a replacement cover? Or would custom taillight assemblies with round LED’s do the trick? Should Chevrolet offer them as OEM? Let us know below.

About the author

Dave Cruikshank

Dave Cruikshank is a lifelong car enthusiast and an editor at Power Automedia. He digs all flavors of automobiles, from classic cars to modern EVs. Dave loves music, design, tech, current events, and fitness.
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