GM President Kills Rumours About a Standalone Corvette Brand
The Chevrolet Corvette’s lineup recently added an explosive fourth member. Joining the Stingray, Z06 and gas-electric E-Ray is the all-new 2025 Corvette ZR1, which cranks out no less than 1,064 horsepower and aims to ridicule many of the best sports cars on the planet.
A fully electric Corvette is also part of the plan, as General Motors previously confirmed. But what about turning the iconic model into a standalone brand? It will never happen, president Mark Reuss says.
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Rumours have started to spread soon after the eighth-generation Corvette hit the market. Back in the summer of 2021, a number of people claimed the automaker was seeking to emulate the success the Ford Mustang Mach-E with the Corvette.
In November 2022, an employee at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan told U.S. magazine Car and Driver that a Corvette sub-brand would launch in 2025 and include not only an SUV but also a four-door liftback coupe. And both would be fully electric.
Then, in April 2023, another report from Car and Driver suggested the Corvette SUV would debut with gas engines, possibly ranging from a turbocharged four-cylinder with 300+ horsepower to a 6.2-litre V8 producing nearly 500 horsepower.
Of course, we’ve seen none of that yet. Maybe Chevy’s plans have changed, who knows? Reuss put an end to all those rumours in a conversation with former talk show host and avid car enthusiast Jay Leno :
Basically, Chevrolet and the Corvette will always go hand in hand. Now, what’s the next step? Spy photographers recently spotted a camouflaged prototype of what could be the future Corvette Zora (the name has yet to be confirmed) lapping the Nürburgring in Germany. Again, Car and Driver is speculating that the ZR1-based model will feature an all-wheel drive hybrid system, generate over 1,200 horsepower and allow sprints from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in two seconds.
Zachary “Zora” Arkus-Duntov wouldn’t believe it.
