You may have heard the term form over function before. It’s when an automaker sacrifices the functions or features of a vehicle in order to make it look better or cleaner.
An example of this would be Tesla making the Model 3/Y with no buttons or knobs, just a big 15″ LED screen at the center on the car. The Model S/X even got rid of the turn signal and gear selector stalk. While certainly a clean design, it’s not exactly the most functional.
While most car makers will chose form over function, there are a few who will go with function over form. The C8 Corvette is such an example. The mirror arms on the new C8 Corvette are not the same length. The passenger mirror is longer than the driver mirror. It’s a difference that you may never notice, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Had Chevy made the passenger side mirror the same length as the driver’s side, the view would have been blocked by the A pillar. Had they made the driver side mirror the same length as the passenger side, the car would have been wider than the designers wanted. So the C8 ended up with two different lengths mirror arms that’s very functional, but sacrifice form.
It’s not that surprising that the engineers of the C8 would chose function over form. The Corvette is a high performance sports car built for speed, and it’s not afraid to give up some looks in order to achieve that. Unless C8 owners come across this blog post, they may never notice the difference.