By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Detroit. GM President, Mark Reuss made a special announcement on LinkedIn on Monday (4/25): “Some time ago we moved the Corvette team into the EV space in Warren, Michigan, and when we revealed the new mid-engine Corvette, I said there would be ‘more to come.’ This morning I sat down with Phil LeBeau of CNBC and finally answered the question I’ve been asked countless times. Yes, in addition to the amazing new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and other gas-powered variants coming, we will offer an electrified and a fully electric, Ultium-based Corvette in the future. In fact, we will offer an electrified Corvette as early as next year. Details and names to come at a later date. In addition, we also announced today Ultium Platform’s energy recovery system, a patented onboard system that takes the heat generated by EV batteries and uses it to warm the cabin, create more efficient charging conditions, and even increase vehicle acceleration. And it can boost the vehicle’s range by about 10%. It’s a perfect example of how developing a ground-up EV platform like Ultium enables unique features not easily done with a retrofit.” Watch the teaser video in On The Table.
An electrified Corvette? Yes, and it was inevitable. Those in the know around this town knew that GM’s Best and Brightest, the True Believers responsible for the three greatest ICE cars in the company’s history – the mid-engine Corvette, the Cadillac CT5-V Series Blackwing, and the Cadillac CT4-V Series Blackwing – had been moved to GM’s EV development programs two years ago. The significance of this move did not go unnoticed, and it underscored GM’s all-hands-on-deck commitment to electrification.
The Mark Reuss announcement confirmed what was already known around GM, and that was the fact that a Hybrid C8 was already nearing the final production development phase, and that the ninth-generation Corvette would be fully electric. Now, before anyone starts wailing about the “end of the ICE Age for Corvette!” let me be clear: I can safely say that the ICE Corvette – in all of its upcoming iterations, including the Z06 and more – will be around for a long, long time. The Corvette will be available in an ICE version, a hybrid and eventually a fully-electric machine. And they will all be built in the same Corvette manufacturing facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
To me, this pragmatic approach for the future of the Corvette makes excellent sense. Rather than turn off the core Corvette buyers, you give them propulsion options of their choosing going forward. Having experienced a 2022 Corvette over the past week (see On The Table – WG), I called it “one of the most seductive combinations of power and overall performance that money can buy.” The sound of that high-performance V8 in the Corvette is mesmerizing and addictive. Longtime readers know my predilection for V8 power, and I must say that the new Corvette offers everything I want and more. The sound alone is worth the price of admission, and the scintillating overall performance is just icing on that V8-powered cake.
But that’s what I prefer. For many others – and especially for the buyers new to the Corvette brand – a hybrid version makes perfect sense. You only have to consider the spectacular new Ferrari 296 GTB to understand where all of this is going. This new Ferrari offers a combined 819HP from its mid-mounted V6 and 6.0-kWh electric motor. You can assume that a Corvette competitor to this machine is a given, especially given the talents and capabilities of GM’s True Believers.
But they aren’t stopping there, because a fully-electric Corvette is “what’s next” down the road. The biggest challenge by far for GM engineers will be to deal with the one thing about EVs that puts a damper on overall performance, and that is the huge weight penalty that comes with the mass of the batteries. GM’s proprietary Ultium platform bristles with many design breakthroughs and technological advances, but it’s also burdened by the one thing that plagues all EVs, and that is its crushing weight.
But I wouldn’t bet against GM’s “best and brightest” when it comes to solving these challenges for the next-gen Corvette. After all, the pundits “out there” said that designing, engineering and manufacturing a mid-engine high-performance sports car that adhered to the Corvette’s cost-effective mission couldn’t be done. “They” were proved wrong of course, as the new Corvette delivers on its mission and then some.
And with lighter-weight batteries and other BEV-related technology progressing at a furious rate, I have no doubt that by the time a ninth-generation Corvette makes its debut, it will deliver on its high-performance mission as well.
The Mark Reuss announcement today confirmed a lot of known facts and rumors about Corvette’s future plans. And for current and future Corvette enthusiasts, the news has to be encouragingly optimistic.
I share that enthusiasm and optimism, because after experiencing the 2022 Corvette, I have no doubt that GM’s True Believers are up to the task at hand.
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.
