Purists, shield your eyes because this space is about to get a little green. We reported on the latest spy shots of the proposed 2018 C7 Corvette ZR1 just yesterday, but recent photos from AutoGuide have the internet in a fury of new rumors. The biggest piece? It sort of, maybe, kind of looks like there’s a hybrid system sitting in the rear hatch of the 2018 Corvette ZR1.
According to LSXtv, Chevrolet was pretty adamant about staying clear of the rear hatch area of this prototype vehicle, but an overhead shot clearly shows battery packs of some sort and plenty of wires showing face to the camera’s eye. Is it possible the ZR1 will utilize a hybrid system of sorts? Or is this a new Corvette variant altogether?
It’s certainly possible this ZR1 prototype could be simply testing a future hybrid application for the Corvette, after all, General Motors has trademarked the E-Ray name. But it’s equally as possible the 2018 C7 Corvette ZR1 could use a system to help boost power ratings and increase efficiency somewhat. We know it can be done, simply look at the Porsche 918 Spyder.
As for the old-fashioned equipment, we’re still expecting a larger supercharger to find its way under the hood, and the bulging hood seems to agree with us. One thing is certain: this will be one hell of a Corvette, and possibly a swan song before a mid-engine Corvette shows face to the world in just a couple of years.
Comments
Well, that would help put some weight and therefore traction on the rear wheels if this is true.
You can tell from commenters on previous pages here that hybrid = hillary and there’s no way they are going to let liberal-loony batteries anywhere near their post-truth Corvette. Corvette Corrals at IMSA races are indistinguishable from Trump rallies.
For those who aren’t post-truth, the batteries in the ZR1’s trunk are to power the test equipment, high functioning computers and multiple sensors that need electricity for power and for cooling. Look at most test-car shots and you will see the batteries, computers, and wiring all over the interiors.
Still, TrumpVettes don’t care about trivialities like reality, do they? They are so intellectually superior and such PC-killers that they for-sure-know that this is NOT normal testing, it’s clearly a deep-web Obama-Indonesia cyber-theft of Corvette technology…
I love Corvettes, but I also love my electric bike – a Specialized Turbo S. I have (really truthfully) enormous respect for Zora Arkus-Duntov, Tadge Jeuchter, and especially Doug Fehan. World-leading engineers each one of them. I will buy a Corvette as soon as possible because it is the best engineered car for its purpose for sale today. I just wish their customers could have a little more love for every American.
Wait, what just happened? Which one is Bernie? I’ll take a supercharged Berniemobile.
Tell me, how many P85D’s are being sold these days? More or less than the Z-cars?
Fewer eh? Crazy that GM is giving the market what the market is asking for, and buying, in greater numbers.
These c8 corvette will have a hybrid system.
Speedy you are spot on.
They could do a mild system in the new C7 but to do it right they have a lot more room to work in with the C8 and it would be much easier to integrate a packaged system in the car.
Anyone who has worked on a Callaway knows how tight packaging of a front engine Vette can be with added parts.
A EV Hybrid system is the only way they can keep the large big high powered engines in the cars. The first ones will be on the high end models and it will trickle down over time.
You know when Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren have moved to this they know the writing is on the wall and it was the only way forward globally to save their products.
While these systems will add cost they do have an up side as they can enhance power and it may be a path forward to an AWD system in the C8 too with out a ton of major mechanical weight and parts.
No need for some to make this political, In fact it is kind of sad and pathetic to see.
We will always have fast cars but we may just have to adapt to new ways to find speed. What is more a threat is Autonomous cars as they take the wheel from your hands and the enjoyment of a great sports car could forever slip from drivers at some point in the future.
+1 to you speedy!
wires, hmmm. dont test vehicles not have bolted on gauges and measurement equipment?
I hope this car improves traction. The last thing the vette needed was more power. The z06 is like a death machine.
But, as long as we’re dreaming of what could be… My dream for corvette is a 4.0L twin turbo H8 engine, with cylinders low for optimal weight distribution, parked behind the driver but ahead of the rear wheels hooked to a twin-clutch 7 or 8 speed. AKA a dream ferrari.
Then buy a Ferrari. Corvettes are Corvettes. I doupt that drastic mid engine and hybrid changes will be offered, and even less standard in the near future. It is a car that fits an niche, and load of people will but a mustang if corvette goes mid engine in return. Also, there has been mid engine concepts for the corvettes, but they never had much appeal to a buying market. They will figure out ways to make it faster without mid engine or hybrid drives. look at the C7 generation compared to the C6, and think of a similar leap
Brosef. If I could afford a ferrari, would i be describing my dream vette?
ALSO, until the C5, vettes didn’t have a rear-mounted transmission/transaxle. I say, just push the rest of the engine back there and be done with it! Charge us a few extra pesos and make the car a $60k ferrari competitor.
Moving the engine to the back does not make a car expensive. If that were true the Fiero, X1/9, MR2, 914 and Del Sol would not have been entry level sports cars.
The Vette already uses a transaxle moving it back would not be all that difficult. Just remove the torque tube. Bolt the engine to the transaxle.
The added cost would be cooling system for the most part. It would be minimal.
Tadge Juechter seems to differ:
Quoting Bob Lutz’s article on the price difference (which you can find online easily):
‘Jim Queen, came to see me and said, “The next one’s got to be mid-engine.”
Tadge Juechter had a PowerPoint presentation demonstrating, very credibly, that the C6 ZR1 was at the limit of usable rear-wheel-drive performance. The problemwas really the front-mid-engine layout—we couldn’t get the engine low enough and far back enough for proper weight transfer to the rear wheels under acceleration.
I didn’t want to move out of our price class, but Tadge explained that while the transmission would cost more, the list price would increase by no more than $5000. Imagine an American-built car with the proportions of a Lamborghini at that price point …that’s pretty appealing.’
$5K on a $60K plus car is nothing. That is only small details stuff. Ever price what it cost to add Ceramic brakes?
The reality is by the time they replace the Front engine car fully they expect to have an affordable version out by then.
This may be the way this goes down based on leaks.
#1 GM would build the C7 and C8 at the same time. Both cars would share the market hence them calling the C7 a Stingray. The new C8 would appear and be around $170K give or take $10K.
#2 GM would bring a cheaper versions to the market with less carbon bits and less HP than the mega engine. They would then slowly replace the Stingray with a Targa version that will be starting around $69K, Note by this time the price of the Corvette would be near this point anyways give or take $5K
#3 By 2025 Cadillac will be in a place to work on a version of this platform that would increase volume at the plant and some bits. The plan would be like how Lamborghini and Audi work today. Same platform but two cars that share little with each other. By this time Cadillac could even use their own engine.
This is the most likely path would move the Corvette forward. Once in place different models would be offered as today with varying price and performance levels.
Word has leaked that the Corvette team has tested over 1,000 HP and we all know that is possible as many tuners have reached this number already on the LT based engines. The key is they will only put in as much as they can get to the ground.
No word on Hybrid but we will see this enter the picture and it will trickle down to keep the car viable to meet regulations not just in America but globally.
With Audi and McLaren with cars in the $250K range and these cars already seen at the Warren proving grounds this is the target they are shooting for right now. Expect as good or better performance at a lower price as this is what Corvette has always offered.
The Del Sol was FWD. 😉
You are correct. It has been a long while since I saw one. They did not hold up well in the salt here. Sorry for the mistake.
Will go with a Fiat 850 Spider then.
My point was they can be made affordable the packaging is often the reason they were avoided.
Actually it will be mid engine very soon as that is the only way to get the mass more centered and lower in the car. Also they will have to employ a form of Hybrid to keep the kind of power they are putting out.
Here is the problem. The C7 was originally a Mid Engine car till Lutz put a stop to it as they did not have the money yet to do it right. Funds had to go to other higher volume and profit projects so it was delayed.
The C8 has really been on the back burner for a good while and is now coming to the front.
Lutz stated clearly in an interview that the took the C6 and lengthened the wheel base as much as they could to move the mass back. They did as much as they could with what they had. The set up they have now is good for around 750 HP before it gets to the point the car is not putting out faster lap times with more power.
Mid engine is more than just 50/50 balance it is about getting the most mass car in the center do it is on the center of gravity. This way the weight Is not pivoting out at the end of the car.
Here is an example Take two 5 pound weights and put them on a rod. First put them at the end of the rod about 3 feet from the center on each side. Now twist your wrist up and down. It Takes a lot of effort to move it and once moving it is hard to stop it. That is what the C7 is like.
Now move the weight in to the center next to your hand. Now twist your wrist up and down. Now this is much easier to control the weight as you have it near the center of gravity and there is no leverage on the bar like when the weight is out at the ends.
This is why the C8 is going mid engine. It is not just to copy others it is the fact they have gone as far as they can with what they have. Tadge has stated so. This is why the new car is getting so much down force as it needs it to use all the power for faster laps. Move that mass to the center of gravity less down force is needed.
The hybrid technology is a mush. If not you would have to go to a smaller engine and more efficient engines. That means no V8 engines and no 700 plus HP. You add the technology you can supplement the power and make a super car pretty easy. The 918 is one pretty amazing car and while it is expensive these technologies will get cheaper and cheaper as we go. Added volume make this happen over a short time.
We have enough evidence at this point we know this is not just another show car. Corvette guys even were jerking people around when they stuffed the driveline in a Malibu a couple years back by putting the crossed flags on the car and two C7 wheels. They like to plant Easter eggs for the faithful.
The auto industry is in for a major changes in the next decade. The products will change much more in this time than in the last 50 years. We will see 48 volt electric systems. We will see the Mid size truck be positioned to take the place of the half ton lines as the full size will focus on 3/4 ton. New technologies will be coming just as we see them on the smart phones.
If you like change this will be exciting if you are one to hold onto the past it will be a time of disappointment.
scott3,
Do you expect the C8 to be a V8 or a V6? We’re talking the first version to be introduced.
If I had to wager and with the past carry over engines I would expect the engine in the coming ZR1 to be adapted to this car out of the box.
GM would not spend the time and money for 1-2 years of this engine and not use it some place else.
This way they have a proven engine going into a new platform and it is one less thing to worry about in a major change like this.
As we go on I would expect at some point other engine options including non supercharged and even a possible TT V6 may be offered.
The smaller engines will be key to markets taxed by displacement and could even come into lay with some racing formulas. Ford went TT V6 for that reason in the rare GT.
There are going to be more changes in the corvette than we have seen since 1963.
As it always is half will love it and half will hate it and a year later 95% embrace it. It is always that way.
Just look at the changes to the head lamps and the tail lights. Many screamed and today no one cares.
Or the Corvette E-Ray?
I,’ OK take a stab and say that the reason it looks like if drive through avBest Buy is its data loggers and other testing equipment.
So scott3 these corvette c8 mid-engine will have a Twin-intercoolers larger supercharger v8 engine code name LT5, these same as in these ZR1 C7?