Z06 Corvettes Modified with Right-Hand-Drive for Australia

Whenever the Z06 Corvette is exported to a new country, the mystic of the Corvette legend goes along for the ride. Most blokes in Australia just don’t see them with the regularity we are accustomed too because they’re expensive to import and the steering is set-up American Style: Left-Hand Drive. But now a small business in Queensland has managed to do what the biggest car maker on the planet, General Motors, cannot: build a right-hand-drive version of the Chevrolet Corvette. With an allocation of roughly 24 new Z06 Corvettes per year, Corvette Queensland has engineered a custom right-hand-drive system that looks so good, you’d be convinced it was built that way. The cost of importing and converting a Z06 isn’t cheap. They are $240,000 Australian Dollars once the Ausssie Government gets its share of import duty, luxury car tax and GST. That’s the equivalent of $186,000 US Dollars. The conversion from Left-Hand-Drive to Right-Hand-Drive takes about three weeks. Interior tweaks also meant moving the gear shifter over to the right side of the center console which eliminated the cup holders. Other exterior modifications are needed for the Corvette to comply with local regulations. Side indicator lamps from the 2005 Holden Commodore have been added under the Z06 badge while the fog lights house aftermarket parking lamps. So how is Corvette Queensland doing so far? Three Corvettes have already been sold and demand appears to be high. GM’s Bob Lutz indicated last year that with the next incarnation of the Corvette, the C7, GM does intend to engineer a Right-Hand-Drive version for export.
Source:
Drive.com.au via GMInsideNews.com Related:
Corvettes For Sale Down Under? Technorati Tags:
Corvette | Z06 | Australia