How the heck do you service a Corvette C8 in Australia?

We know the mid-engine C8 Corvette is coming to Australia. It’s a cause for celebration for any die-hard GM fan. But how you buy the circa $150-170K supercar and service it here is yet to be determined. In fact, it’s still unclear in America.

After threads on Reddit suggested US Chevrolet dealers would be up for US$50-60K in tooling and training costs just to service the new C8, it had us wondering how many dealers in Australia would be willing to cough up even more than that to service the handful of Corvette's sold here.

But soon after Jalopnik reported on the thread, Corvette spokesperson Chris Bonelli reached out to clarify with the US publication.

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“Corvette has always been a vehicle that requires advanced training and service tools beyond the requirements of the other vehicles in the Chevrolet portfolio. The process to become a certified dealer has remained the same from the seventh generation,” he said.

“If the dealer is not a current Corvette dealer,” he explained, it would be “under” $20,000 to buy C8 servicing tools.

That equates to around $30,000 in local currency, before factoring training costs spent on Holden technicians to fully understand the new mid-engine supercar. Still a lot of money for a brick and mortar Holden dealer to spend to be able to service a few vehicles.

Furthermore, it’s believed that US dealers will have to “opt-in” to be a “certified Corvette dealer”, complete online courses and driver training, maintain a dedicated sales specialist on staff and purchase the necessary tools to service the C8.

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A press release from Chevrolet suggests that specialised dealerships will be created to handle the workload, stating “Corvette Signature dealers will also have special training on servicing the new supercar, reinforcing Chevrolet’s commitment to the complete ownership experience”.

For Australia, Wheels understands that it’s likely you’ll be able to take delivery of your Corvette in just about any dealership in the country – if you’re willing to pay the delivery costs, of course. Given the low volume projected, though, it’s doubtful you’ll be able to walk into any Holden dealership and view the Corvette, with metro areas the target.

You might be wondering what all the fuss is about, right? After all, Holden is and will be servicing Commodores with kinds of Chev V8s for years to come. However, we understand that the Corvette will be treated as a bit of a different beast in Oz. Remember, it’s also made out of aluminium and has parts specific to it alone. Much like the Holden Volt, the Corvette isn’t a one-size-fits-all car that any dealer can service.

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The atmo 369kW/637Nm 6.2-litre V8-powered C8 Corvette is expected to land down under before the end 2020.