The "what do you expect" Detroit-bashing reflexes kick in soon after Car and Driver shows this partly stripped Corvette C8 Stingray at an east-side curb.
The vandalized vehicle on Parker Street at Coe Avenue was company-owned and signed out by a Chevrolet employee for test-driving, a GM representative tells the Free Press.
Car and Driver senior editor Joey Capparella posts with an amused tone about the street crime about four miles from GM headquarters at Renaissance Center:
Looking for a set of Corvette C8 wheels and tires at a steep discount? Check Craigslist in Detroit, because we can verify that there's a set missing from this black 2020 Chevy Corvette C8 that someone spotted on the street in the West Village. . . .
Oh, and if you're thinking of buying a Corvette C8 yourself, let this be a lesson to opt for the wheel locks that cost $90 from Chevrolet. You can even get black-painted wheel locks for an extra $30 on top of that. Trust us, it's worth it.
The auto magazine journalist estimates that the missing tires "cost around $1,000 alone, and the wheels are likely worth thousands more."
A blame-the-victim comment on the theft is tweeted by Nat Zorach, a 32-year-old Detroiter who's a real estate development consultant. "Thoughts and prayers for a car that someone parked on the street worth a few times more than the median income of the city they parked in," he posts.
Here's his reply when questioned:
Means I'm not 100% sympathetic when someone parks a $60,000 car on the street in a city where a third of the residents live in poverty and said car gets vandalized
— Nat M. Zorach, AICP (@nzorach) January 24, 2020
Production of C8 consumer models starts next month.
Here's a half-minute local news segment: