Chevrolet will reportedly launch a sub-brand of high-performance electric vehicles wearing the Corvette badge. They’ll include a sporty 4-door, a high-performance SUV, and an electric coupe like the Corvettes we know and love today.
Corvette Variants First, Then Other Vehicles
The report comes from Car and Driver, which says the effort starts with a slew of new Corvette variants. They’ll include “a possible E-Ray hybrid, the revived ZR1 and the even more extreme Zora hybrid named after Zora Arkus-Duntov,” creator of the 1953 original.
An all-electric Corvette electric vehicle (EV) will follow in 2025 or later. It will ride on the same Ultium architecture as many of GM’s other upcoming EVs.
Ultium is a skateboard-like combination of batteries, motors, suspension, and steering that engineers can scale up or down to build vehicles of different sizes. It powers everything from the upcoming Chevrolet Equinox EV (target price of about $30,000) to the ultra-luxe, Bentley-fighting Cadillac Celestiq (target price of around $300,000).
A Corvette Sedan, a Corvette Crossover?
For the ‘Vette sub-brand, Ultium will be the foundation of “a four-door ‘coupe’ and a sporty, high-performance crossover,” as well as the expected Corvette EV, according to C&D.
The Corvette name has prestige. It has half a century of beautiful designs and many international race wins under its belt. It stands for a specific style of American performance. Car and Driver believes “it currently only pulls a small percentage of the potentially huge profit.”
But some of its prestige undoubtedly comes from the fact that the name has only ever adorned 2-door performance cars. Chevy faces a risk of diluting its appeal.
Risk and Opportunity
Ford has had success with its Mustang Mach-E, an all-electric SUV that wears the pony badge of its own fabled Mustang performance car. And, C&D points out, “Ferrari and Maserati and Porsche are all offering one or more SUVs — the antithesis to the hard-core sports cars that put them on the map in the first place.”
GM may simply be taking the same step as everyone else. But that will, undoubtedly, displease some long-time ‘Vette lovers.
Chevrolet will try to prevent that impression from building by keeping the brand exclusive. Car and Driver reports that the Corvette lineup “will be positioned well above its rivals,” likely rarer and more expensive than Ford’s stable of Mustangs.
