When the C8 Corvette first came out, many people disliked the car’s taillights, especially given how similar they looked to the Camaro’s. To remedy that, Competition Carbon has come out with an alternate design that owners can retrofit to their car, but we’re not sure how to feel about them.
Rather than taking a step back to the widely praised C7’s rear lights, which are still somewhat in keeping with the C8’s styling, they went back even further, cooking up a round taillight design more associated with the C6 and prior. As the company’s name suggests, the housings will be made from carbon fiber, and Competition Carbon has already developed a working prototype of the lights with orders set to begin next week.
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Aside from the fact that the circular taillights clash heavily with the angular design of the car, the lights themselves are just circles inside the normal housing, just in body color. This leaves them looking out of place, and is only exacerbated by the chamfers framing the lights, which serve as a constant reminder of the old design even with the new circles in place. It would have been nice to see Competition Carbon blend the new housing into the rest of the body rather than leave the contours of the old lights, which were a separate design feature unto themselves.
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An earlier prototype of the lights had larger, more integrated circles, which were set into a black carbon housing that functioned more as a trim piece than bodywork. This design (which can be seen on the orange Corvette in the Instagram post below) worked better in our opinion, as not only did the lights themselves look more polished, but the trim tied in with the car’s intakes below. Unfortunately, that design was scrapped after Competition Carbon decided to pursue a “change of direction”.
If there’s anything good we have to say about the new retrofits. it’s that the lights themselves look to be of good quality, and the mirrored “infinity” effect is a nice touch. But despite our feelings, the comments section of the announcement posts seem to be overwhelmingly positive. We’d like to know, though – what do you think of these taillights? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Images: Competition Carbon on Instagram