There’s been a lot of talk of future Corvettes as of late, between the long-rumoured hybrid E-Ray version of the C8, to a potential battery-electric ‘Vette crossover riding on GM’s Ultium platform. More ‘Vettes are indeed coming, the rumour mill tells us — and the brand expansion won’t stop at an SUV.
Here’s the deal: Muscle Cars & Trucks says that the first electric Corvette we’ll actually see — likely next year, based on comments GM President Mark Reuss made to CNBC in April — will actually be a sedan, intended to compete with the Porsche Taycan. This four-door ‘Vette will supposedly be derived from the architecture that makes the Cadillac Celestiq possible.
What’s more, there won’t be a pure-electric C8, the site reports, as the mid-engine sports car’s platform isn’t fit for the job. The C9, as you’d guess, will likely spurn gasoline entirely. Until then, GM will experiment with electrifying the current ICE model.
And that SUV is happening too, but not out of the gate. MC&T reasons the manufacturer is starting with the sedan first because a Corvette SUV would overshadow the Blazer EV SS, with its almost 560 horsepower. The SS will hit 97 km/h in under four seconds, so from a performance standpoint, GM probably doesn’t need to make a tall-roof version of the Corvette. (But since when has “need” mattered to modern automakers? Have you seen BMW’s SUV lineup lately?)
This of course isn’t the first time we’ve caught wind of a Corvette “family” of vehicles, and it seems GM has green-lit the brand’s expansion. This was pretty inevitable once Ford put the Mustang badge on a crossover, which outsold the pony car in short order. Lamborghini, in case you missed it, is an SUV company now. Brands aren’t specific to products or categories — they’re formless. The future of America’s sports car will be formless, too.