Brits can now get a fresh right-hand drive C8 Corvette Z06 for £180k

Want a new supercar but don’t fancy one of Europe's finest? It’s good news day, because Shropshire-based Lumen Automotive is now the first dealer to officially sell right-hand drive versions of the C8 Corvette Stingray and Z06.

Price? That’ll be £94,625 for the entry-level Stingray and £179,791 for the snortier Z. It sounds expensive, but you do get an awful lot of car in exchange; one that’s been red-facing a fair few European alternatives since its launch back in 2020.

Opt for the cheaper one, and you get a 6.2-litre ‘LT2’ V8 pumping out 490bhp and 465lb ft - good for 0-62mph in 3.4s and a top speed of 194mph. And since the engine’s been repositioned to the middle for the C8 gen, giving its designers more freedom in the process, you’re buying arguably one of the best-looking supercars on sale right now.

Other basic amenities on the Stingray include a 12in infotainment screen (pivoted in the driver’s direction for easier use), a 14-speaker Bose audio system and many leather upholstered seat finishes to choose from.

Considering you can get one of these and still be five grand better off than choosing a base-spec AMG GT 43, which is less powerful, has fewer cylinders and is nowhere near as dramatic on the eye, we’d say it’s a good showing.

And then there’s the Z06, which bumps pricing up to mildly used Ferrari territory. It gets a totally different V8, a 5.5-litre dry-sumped flat-plane crank dubbed the ‘LT6’, which shoots the power up to 670bhp (albeit with a bit less torque). It’s actually the same powertrain used in the C8.R Le Mans racer, which means it’ll rev to 8,600rpm when you let it loose.

It also moves things on from the Stingray on the style front, gaining sharper fixtures along the body kit, a slick carbon fibre rear wing, carbon ceramic brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. You also get eight-way adjustable seats in even fancier ‘Mulan’ leather (no, it’s got nothing to do with that fearsome young lady from medieval China) and an eight-inch touch-screen display.

No word of an impending right-hand drive version of the wonderfully mad 233mph ‘ZR1’ - which our readers voted as the best performance car of 2024 - but we’ll let you know if and when we find out more.