The mid-engine Corvette is coming. Spy shots, sighting and rumors galore have made that it rather clear that the next Corvette will have the engine in the middle of the vehicle, rather than in the front. But outside of technical questions such as the upcoming supercar’s performance, specifications or pricing attributes, possibly the biggest question is what it will be called. Current theories have included everything from “Corvette” to Corvette C8, mid-engine Corvette, and Zora.
While first three names are self-explanatory, the Zora name would be in honor of the first Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, who campaigned making a mid-engine Corvette for the overwhelming majority of his career at General Motors. And that brings us to today’s discovery: GM has filed trademarks for the Zora name in intellectual property offices in nine countries (in the case of the European Union, unions) around the world, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, as well as the United Kingdom and the EU.

The front three quarters of a mid-engine Corvette prototype undergoing testing in May 2018
So, we decided to go on a scavenger hunt of sorts to look for Zora trademark filings in various intellectual property offices around the world, leading us to compile the following summary of GM’s applications for the name.
Global Zora Trademark Status Summary
Country: | USA | China | European Union | United Kingdom | Japan | South Korea | Australia | Canada | Mexico |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Organization: | USPTO | CTPO | EUIPO | UK IPO | JPO | KIPRIS | Australian Government IP | CIPO | IMPI |
Name: | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA | ZORA |
Application Date: | June 2, 2014 | June 27, 2014 | June 13, 2014 | June 13, 2014 | June 16, 2014 | June 13, 2014 | June 13, 2014 | June 6, 2014 | June 17, 2014 |
Trademark/Application Number: | 86297324 | 14636460 | 12992715 | EU012992715 | 2014-049496 and 5713006 | 4020140039791 and 4010917420000 | 1628345 | 1679368 | 1571991 |
Type/Class: | Standard Character Mark | General Trademark | Word Mark | Trede mark | Trademark | Trade mark | Word | Word mark / Trade-mark | Trade mark |
Status: | Not Registered | Registered | Registered | Registered | Issues and Active | Registered | Registered / Protected | Allowed | Not provided |
Goods, Services & Products Categories
All of the filings were filed at some point throughout June 2014 and contain the word mark in all caps. They’re also assigned to the similar categories of goods, services or products, as follows:
- United States: “Motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles”
- United Kingdom: “Motor vehicles and parts thereof”
- Japan: “Automobiles and their parts and accessories, motorcycles and parts thereof and their accessories” (translated from Japanese)
- South Korea: “Transportation machinery; Terrestrial, aerial or waterborne” (translated from Korean)
- Mexico: “Terrestrial motor vehicles” (translated from Spanish)
United States Registration Lagging
It’s worth noting that GM has been granted trademark rights to the Zora name in seven of the nine offices we surveyed, with the two exceptions being Mexico and the United States. The Mexican office simply does not show a status for the mark, while the USPTO will not allow a trademark to be registered unless the application (in this case, GM) files an official document called the Statement of Use (SOU) wherein it demonstrates to the office how the mark being applied for is being used on a real-world product or service.
Since GM currently has no real-world product or service utilizing the Zora name, it can not provide such a document, in turn preventing the application from being granted and registered. As we explained when covering GM’s most recent Cadillac-related trademark filing spree, GM is likely extending its deadline to file the SOU document until it has an actual product on hand with the Zora name, at which point the USPTO will grand it the rights. That, ladies and gentlemen, will likely take place this upcoming January at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. In the meantime, stay tuned for further:
[nggallery id=966]
Comments
It will be a befitting model name for the C8 Corvette. Since the 50’s Mr. Arkus-Duntov was pushing for a mid-engine Corvette.
This means say Corvette Zora will sold in all markets; European included?
No…This just means GM plans on OFFERING them for sale in all of those markets! The customers won’t materialize (they never do) and it will most likely be made left hand drive only, so why would anyone buy them in RHD markets?
POSSIBLE THE MID-ENGINE CORVETTE MAY FALL INTO THE CADDY LINE. C7 MAY JUST STAY IN CHEVROLET. THE MID-ENGINE MAY BE MORE LIMITED PRODUCTION AT A MUCH HIGHER COST.
Thanks FormerGMfan:
I live in Spain and would like a lot see for sale this future Corvette here………
Yay! This is what I was hoping for and I think it provides support for my theory/hope that the mid-engine model will supplant and not replace the front-engine car. Otherwise, no new name is needed; it would simply be the new Corvette. The fact that Zora has been trademarked suggests a two-tier lineup consisting of the Corvette Zora (mid-engine RWD) and Corvette Stingray (front-engine RWD). I have believed for some time that GM brought back the Stingray name for the C7 in anticipation of the mid-engine car. Up until C7, Stingray hadn’t been used since 1982 on the last C3s. At the launch of the C7, Ed Welburn said they’d waited for a product that had the design gravitas to live up to the Stingray name before resurrecting it. That always struck me as odd and as not being fully forthcoming. I think this plan was in the works back then.
I could be wrong obviously but I believe this suggests a two-model strategy for Corvette going forward and therefore the traditionalists who love the front-engine, RWD, OHV car have no need to fear the upcoming “CM1” because there will be a true C8 coming in about 2024 and it will still use the classic formula.
So then this begs the question where the Manta Ray name fits in…
You do realize that supplant means to replace, right?
Google is taking over the site, the 30% of the right hand side of pages cannot be seen no matter I do.
Let’s clear some things up.
It is not off base to register names and images globally to protect the name and merchandise image.
Second this new C8 will be sold in more markets than the present car. GM is looking to move the Corvette and future Camaro to more markets.
Third the C8 will be RHD as that is one advantage of the Mid Engine as it is much easier to do so. Look for the next gen Alpha also to be RHD for the Camaro and Cadillac.
Fourth the Front engine car will live only a couple years mostly in the ZR Model till they get the higher lever models out. The C8 will be built like the C7 with a new model each year to spread out marketing and development cost.
Fifth no the Corvette will not be a part of Cadillac. The platform may at some point be packaged as a Cadillac but it will be as different as the Lambo vs Audi.
Six the C8 will start much cheaper than some of you expect and will offer a number of models over a wider price range. The more you spend the faster the lap times. But the base model will be very close to the present GS is now.
This will be one of the highest volume mid engine cars in history and that will make it more affordable and available.