Earlier this month, Jalopnik received an anonymous tip with two photos of what looked to be the key of a future mid-engine sports car from General Motors, the only snag is the car is supposed to be a Corvette and the key had a Cadillac badge. Now another key has cropped up, which is virtually identical except for one thing: a Corvette badge.
The new image of the mysterious Corvette key was posted on Road & Track yesterday, with identical buttons to the mysterious Cadillac key we posted a couple of weeks ago.
The buttons on both keys show what appears to be a convincing profile of a mid-engine car, with buttons to lower the roof, open a rear hatch cover, and the kicker is the button that shows a front hood release, which you wouldn’t typically find on a car tucking a engine in the front, but you would be likely to find on a mid-engined car. Road & Track’s article also found an FCC application indicating the car the key is for would be a 2020 model year.
While we’re pretty certain we’ve seen the mid-engine Corvette in the flesh plenty of times already, news of a mid-engine Cadillac sister-car would be a big deal, as nobody seems to expect it. Other than, like, hardcore fans of the Cadillac Cien, or The Island.
Back in September, Cadillac’s new CEO Steve Carlisle hinted that the company was exploring electrification for its upcoming lineup, noting the attractive performance of electric cars in a conversation about a new halo car.
Maybe GM is throwing Cadillac a much-needed bone with some sort of hybrid flagship based on the mid-engined Corvette. By the same token, maybe the Cadillac key was just weird misdirection for the testing process and it will only be a Corvette.
Either way, preparing to debut one, maybe two mid-engine sports cars four years behind your main competitor and just a few months after announcing plans to layoff over 14,000 people is what we would call here at Jalopnik a strong look. But I’m sure we’ll all be able to push all of that aside and judge the car(s) based on merit alone. I’m positive.