Or they'll expect those headlights only to see something different when the production car comes out.

 

No but the general public will make a snap judgement. As a car company GM always wants their cars seen in the best light. This pic shows the car unfinished and thus not up to full potential. The same reason why you would probably not want to have visable defects in a home your trying to sell. If judgements or first impressions are to be made you would want them done so on a finished product.

 

Why is the G8 GXP is expected to almost $10,000 more than the GT model in the motortrend mag? Thats kinda steep for just LS3.

 

I dont know if this would be the right thread to finally ask this, but hear it goes: What are the chances of hidden headlights being an option?

 

0% its not legal and would be expensive to implement.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a lot more than just the LS3. There's differences in the suspension and brakes. Front castor, camber, and toe are adjustable and the rear camber and toe are are adjustable. Coil-over rear suspension. Upgraded anti-roll bars. Brembo 14-inch rotors/4-piston calipers up front and 12.8-inch rotors/single piston calipers in the rear. GXP seats are different from the standard GT seats. Different wheels and front fascia. There's some other, smaller stuff as well. My understanding is the GXP will come pretty much loaded and won't have a whole lot of options other than transmission, tires, and sunroof most likely. I agree $38,000 is a lot of money (to me anyways) but that's still quite a bit less than a new M3 sedan or an M5.

 

Just for my own info, why is it illegal?

 

I know that pop-ups are illegal in some countries because they are a little harder on pedestrians if you hit one. So it is unlikely that any manufacturer will spend money to design two radically different front clips for the same car.

I think that doors to cover the headlights when they are off should be fairly cheap to implement. And if some markets won’t allow it, the GM only needs to leave out a few pieces and maybe redesign the plastic around the lights to omit the gap for the door.

 

Expensive. They would have to contract another supplier and make all of the necessary changes to the structure up front and electronics to incorporate it.

You don't understand how much bean counters nitpick this kind of stuff. When I was working for a GM supplier we were able to eliminate one screw from the ~30 in our manufacturing process which came out to a worthwhile savings.

Also, how would that work where DRLs are required? Or with the turn signals in the front which are expected to be located right beside the headlights?

 

The aftermarket will probably make different grills and hopefully light covers.

 

God I hope so, its such a great look.

 

I could be wrong, but i think they were made illegal because WAY WAY WAY too many idiots, lazy and / or poor people don't bother to fix them one fails.