2026 Chevrolet Corvette update brings less quirky cabin
The Chevrolet Corvette's bridge of buttons is gone!
The distinctive interior design detail, comprising a strip of climate control buttons placed on a divider next to the passenger side of the centre console, has been removed.
The climate controls are now positioned below the infotainment touchscreen, one of a number of changes made to Chevrolet's supercar for 2026.
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We've contacted GM Australia and New Zealand to confirm when the updated Corvette will come here.
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The changes apply to the whole range, which comprises Stingray, Z06, E-Ray and ZR1 variants. All bar the latter are sold in Australia, for which the ZR1 has been ruled out because it's not produced in right-hand drive.
The 2026 Corvette updates centre on the interior, which gains an extra screen – a 6.6-inch auxiliary touchscreen on the opposite side of the steering wheel from the infotainment touchscreen, which displays configurable information like trip data.
Said infotainment screen is now a 12.7-inch unit, up from 8.0 inches, and features Google built-in which allows you to download apps like Google Chrome and HBO Max through the Google Play store. This means you can stream movies and browse the internet while you're parked.
The digital instrument cluster has grown from 12 inches to 14 inches and can be had with a carbon-fibre display hood.
The E-Ray's Performance App, which shows live power and torque flow, has now been made available across the entire Corvette lineup.
Viewable on the auxiliary display and infotainment screen, available information now also include gauges for G-force, tyre pressure and oil pressure, as well as temperature for the oil, coolant and transmission fluid.
Chevrolet also says you can send these gauges from the app to the digital instrument cluster in Tour and Sport mode 'for further customisation'.
Hardware and software updates bring revised graphics with sharper colours and fresh animations to the screens, including to the Performance Data Recorder.
Chevrolet has made improvements aimed at making crucial controls more accessible to the driver, with the drive mode selector redesigned and relocated.
Instead of a wheel underneath a wrist rest, a somewhat finicky arrangement, there's now a rocker switch in line with the gear selector.
A wireless phone charging pad now sits in the place of the old wrist rest and drive mode wheel, and a cover keeps your phone in place.
The volume knob has grown larger and features an illuminated base, while the cupholders have been redesigned and feature ambient lighting. In 2LT/2LZ and 3LT/3LZ trims, these cupholders are highlighted with real aluminium.
While there's a row of physical buttons under the touchscreen for the climate control, the heated and ventilated seat functions have moved to the touchscreen as part of an anchored bar at the bottom of the display.
Head-up display controls have also moved to the touchscreen.
The 2026 Corvette also debuts four new interior colourways, available on all variants. These are:
Jet Black and Adrenaline Red, which Chevrolet calls its first asymmetrical interior
Sky Cool and Medium Ash Grey with Habenero accents
Santorini Blue
Very Dark Atmosphere, a chocolate brown with Jet Black, Natural tan accents
Ultimate Suede
The latter sees a Jet Black suede across 'nearly all interior surfaces', and is customisable with stitching and seatbelts finished in either Adrenaline Red, Santorini Blue or Competition Yellow.
If you opt for the Adrenaline Red interior, you can specify a mixed seating option with a 'racing-inspired' Adrenaline Red Competition driver's seat and a Jet Black GT2 passenger seat.
Finally, the E-Ray's Charge+ button – which activates a mode intended to replenish battery charge more quickly – has been moved to the steering wheel, while a new USB-C port has been added to the passenger side of the cabin below the grab handle.
It's not just interior changes that Chevrolet has delivered for 2026.
The Performance Traction Management system gains a new PTM Pro mode, which turns off the electronic stability control and traction control and leaves anti-lock brakes and, in the E-Ray, certain front axle controls active.
The Corvette ZR1's ZTK performance package gains a new brake package with 10-piston front and 6-piston rear calipers plus carbon-ceramic discs which are the largest ever fitted to a production Corvette.
The Corvette is the latest GM product to get an electrochromic roof, allowing you to toggle between three tint options for the targa roof glass at the push of a button.
There are two new metallic exterior finishes – Roswell Green and Blade Silver – plus a new asymmetrical exterior centre stripe, available in Edge Red/Carbon Flash.
Body-colour rocker panels are standard on the E-Ray and available on the Z06, while the blue brake calipers previously exclusive to the ZR1 are now available on the E-Ray and Z06.
Australian deliveries of the current C8 Corvette – the first mid-engine generation of Chevrolet's sports car – commenced in 2022.
The E-Ray and Z06 joined the Stingray in 2024. All are built in right-hand drive at GM's Bowling Green, Kentucky plant in the US, unlike other Chevrolets sold here which are remanufactured locally in right-hand drive.
GM Specialty Vehicles delivered 225 Corvettes in 2022, rising to 338 in 2023 and 441 in 2024.
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