Back in May, GM Authority was first to report that General Motors filed an application to register ZR1 as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Since then, we have discovered that the filing has been progressing through the USPTO’s registration process on its way to registration.
The latest on the filing is as follows: on July 22nd, the application has been marked as “approved for publication” — meaning that the USPTO has completed final review of the application prior to publishing it for opposition — a 30-day period during which time anyone can oppose (or object to) the registration of the trademark.
| EVENT DATE | EVENT DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| 2016-05-19 | NEW APPLICATION ENTERED IN TRAM |
| 2016-05-19 | NEW APPLICATION OFFICE SUPPLIED DATA ENTERED IN TRAM |
| 2016-05-20 | NOTICE OF PSEUDO MARK E-MAILED |
| 2016-07-19 | ASSIGNED TO EXAMINER |
| 2016-07-22 | APPROVED FOR PUB – PRINCIPAL REGISTER |
For the last few years, it has been an ongoing rumor that General Motors’ Chevy Corvette team is working on a new Corvette to take on the ZR1 moniker that’s currently in the trademark process. As it stands, the rumormill pegs the ZR1 to be either the highest-performing variant of the current-generation C7 Corvette, or an all-new model with a mid-engined layout unofficially referred to as Zora.
Stay tuned to GM Authority for further coverage of the ZR1 name, the next-gen Corvette and other GM news and GM rumors.
Comment
Hmmm…when the Z-06 debuted with the 650HP Supercharged 6.2L V-8 engine, engineers said that it had a hard time putting all that power to the pavement and that any power increases would be better suited for a mid-engine lay-out. So if there is a ZR-1 coming out, it could be the mid-engined Zora that everyone has been speculating about.
On the other hand, GM should have given the C7 Z-06 a naturally aspirated V-8 engine like the one that is rumored to debut in the forthcoming Camaro Z-28 model. Then the C7 could have fielded a ZR-1 model with the 650HP engine.
While at it, GM should have given the C7 Grand Sport a higher-output 6.2L V-8 engine at 480HP or so to give it a distinct upgrade over the Z-51 model.