The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette has had its first public crash test

General Motors debuted the 2020 C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in San Diego about three weeks ago. Last weekend, further north and west in the California hinterland, a GM test driver crashed the C8 Corvette. On Saturday, Jalopnik noticed that Instagram user Wrecked_Musclecars (name checks out) posted a photo of a C8 Corvette that looked like it had just finished an IIHS small overlap crash test. This Corvette, however, had made its mess on a winding mountain road. The caption with the photo said, “The first of I’m sure many 2020 Corvette Stingray wrecked on the road. Wife spotted on her drive to Yosemite here in Ca. The car was apart of a rally with GoPros mounted on the vehicle. Took a wide turn and the rear wheel off an SUV with a family in it heading opposite direction around a turn.”

Beyond that, we have no idea how the accident happened, but most important, every human involved appears to be OK.

Not long after, a Jalopnik reader submitted video of the aftermath, pinpointing the location to CA Route 120 between Moccasin and Groveland. The beginning of the video shows what we assume are GM team members toiling around the back of a Silverado. After that comes the Corvette, then the other cars involved in the accident. There’s an early model red Ford Ranger that’s had some serious nose work done, then a late model silver Chevy Equinox that was the first vehicle hit and took the brunt of the force. We can’t see the driver’s side of the Corvette, but the impact to the crossover was so strong that it sheared off Equinox’s left rear wheel and jacked the back of the crossover onto the guardrail. 

There’s no need to pine for the Elkhart Lake Blue Corvette itself; as a pre-production model, it was likely destined for the crusher anyway. We wouldn’t mind seeing some stats on crash rates of blue Corvettes on official business, though. Last year, GM EVP Mark Reuss crashed a 2019 Corvette ZR1 while leading the parade lap during the IndyCar race at Belle Isle, Detroit. That car was Admiral Blue. In February 2013, a GM test driver crashed one of the C7 Corvette prototypes on a mountain road in Arizona. The color of that car? Laguna Blue. And remember the sinkhole at the Corvette Museum? What color was the 2009 ZR1 car sitting atop the rubble, in the middle of the carnage yet looking like it hadn’t been touched? Jetstream Blue. Just sayin’.