Chevy Engineers Aren't Done With the Corvette After the ZR1X
Every Corvette generation sees the inevitable march of ever more powerful performance variants, but the eighth-generation cars may take things to a new level. We just learned about the Corvette ZR1X, a massively powerful hybrid car, but Chevy’s engineers don’t think it’s the end of the road for hotted-up mid-engine Corvettes.
“The ZR1X is not the end of the story. It’s just the latest chapter,” chief engineer Tony Roma told Top Gear. “I think we are going to continue to make the car faster for those bragging rights, because our customers appreciate that. It’s the same with any performance car manufacturer – we push each other with Nurburgring lap times for that reason.”
For now, the Ford Mustang GTD holds the record at the German track, but Roma thinks Chevy has more runway to compete. “We’ve done some testing, and all I can say is… stay tuned. We want to be the fastest American car – that’s an accolade we’d love to have. Again, it comes down to theory. None of our customers will go and run a sub-seven-minute lap time, but they want to know if they could.”
While none of that is an explicit confirmation that another, more powerful Corvette is coming, it’s exciting to hear that Chevy’s team is still looking at ways to push the envelope. That said, the newest Corvette variants are testing the car’s reputation for affordable power, though none have yet come close to the Mustang GTD’s more than $300,000 starting price – yet.
[Images: Chevrolet]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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I’ll miss the Corvette, shame they only made 7 generations of it
none of these matter until they make a manual one
Vanity project ? I mean for real? Who will buy one besides suppliers and employees. Only a nutter would buy it over a 911 or ...... They build this and the Celestiq de hideous for a few dozen buyers. Why not fix the 6.2. Build a new Xterra. Build a true Blazer instead.