The button waterfall inside is replaced by conventional strip of hard keys below an improved infotainment display on facelifted sports car
April 30, 2025 at 09:11
- The 2026 Corvette replaces controversial console buttons with a more intuitive design.
- A new digital screen left of the gauge cluster should provide useful real-time info.
- The center console divider is lowered, giving passengers easier access to the touchscreen.
The updated 2026 Corvette interior has been caught in new spy shots, and it’s clear that the GM design team is listening to feedback. The controversial button line on the console? Gone. The gauge cluster? Now with an extra screen for good measure.
Related: 2026 Corvette Gets Two New Colors, New Interior Still MIA
When the C8 Corvette debuted in 2019, it was met with rapturous applause for switching to a mid-engined layout (finally!) and sticking to its big-value roots. But there was one quirk that some fans really didn’t like, and the Corvette designers are using the 2026 facelift as a means to get rid of it.
Goodbye to the Button Wall
We’re talking about the exaggerated divider between the driver and the passenger, and in particular, the weird long line of buttons that ran along the top of and made it look like someone had glued a piece of old cine film to the console.
For 2026, the buttons have gone, replaced by a far more conventional set of hard keys located below the infotainment screen. Their new location should make it much easier to tweak the climate control settings while driving, and they also, in our opinion, improve the look of the interior.
But the Corvette design team has done more than simply delete the old line of buttons. The spine they were fitted to, which rises at a 30-degree angle from behind the cupholders to the top of the dash, is now lower and slimmer, which will be welcomed by passengers who could feel a bit shut out of the action in the original C8 and unable to easily operate the touchscreen. A cutout means those riding shotgun also get something to hang onto when the driver’s in the red-mist zone.
Tech Upgrades and a Subtle Facelift
The infotainment screen appears to be larger than the old one, and for 2026, the C8 has grown an extra screen on the left side of the digital gauge cluster. A close-up image shows it displaying icons for oil and water temperature. Other changes include the deletion of the cupholder lid and a recessed starter button, but the square steering wheel looks to be unchanged.
As well as the new interior, the 2026 facelift should bring some subtle exterior design tweaks, but none of those changes will generate as much attention as the long-awaited Corvette Zora. A flagship performance model named after Zora Arkus-Duntov, the engineer who put the Corvette on the map in the 1960s, it’ll combine the best bits of the ZR1 and AWD E-Ray hybrid and could make over 1,200 hp (1,217 PS). These spy shots show the Zora in convertible form, but a coupe will also be available.
There’s no official debut date yet for the updated 2026 Corvette, but with GM teasing two new colors named Roswell Green and Blade Silver, while phasing out Sea Wolf Gray and Rapid Blue Metallic earlier this week, the reveal should happen sometime this summer. Sales are expected to follow closely behind.
Images: Baldauf
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