Initially, the C8 Corvette Z06 was set to arrive in the second half of the 2022 model year. However, due to delays stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the C8 Corvette Z06 has now been pushed back to the 2023 model year.
Unfortunately, the delays go beyond the model launch. Rumor had it the C8 Corvette Z06 was originally set for a reveal this summer, but now, the reveal has likely been pushed back as well.
As a result of these delays, it now looks as though there will be no new variants of 2022 Chevy Corvette beyond the recently revealed Stingray IMSA GTLM Championship Edition.
Despite the delays, the new C8 Corvette Z06 certainly looks as though it’ll be worth the wait. The heart of the machine will be the naturally aspirated 5.5L V8 LT6 gasoline engine, featuring a 32-valve DOHC design and flat-plane crank. Output is estimated at 600 horsepower (one report puts it at 617 ponies) and between 480 and 550 pound-feet of torque, with an eight-speed automatic transmission in place to route it all to the rear axle.
The C8 Corvette Z06 will announce its go-faster presence with unique styling, as previewed by a series of spy photos captured over the last several months. Standout exterior features include a massive rear wing, as GM Authority reported on previously, offered as part of the optional Z07 performance package, plus lightweight carbon fiber wheels as well. The wheel spec will also include a wider contact patch, with 275/30ZR20 rubber in front, and 345/25ZR21 rubber in back. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R rubber will be on the options list for traction duties.
Back in May, the 2022 Chevy Corvette Z06 logo leaked, showing the updated badge slated for use with the upcoming go-faster model. Details include squared lettering, rounded edges, and an italicized script slant, with a stylized “Z” made up of two mirrored arrows.
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Comments
Bummer, but not a surprise, Z06 is typically introduced after base corvette’s sales plateau, this has not happened due to Covid and parts shortages, GM still has a long runway of C8 orders to fill before they need to generate more excitement with the Z06.
C6 introduced 2005, C6Z in 2006. C7 in 2014, C7Z in 2015. Hardly waiting for sales to plateau before introducing.
For the C8, with ’21 allocations sold out and and likely a year out to get a ’22, at least sales might drop to MSRP levels before it comes out.
Go back and look at your dates, and sales numbers again… C6 Z06 arrived at dealers as sales of the base C6 (which started sales Summer 2004) had started to fall off, Good Car Bad Car has monthly sales numbers, you can see in Summer 2005 sales of the base C6 were dropping like a rock, then in the Fall 2005 Z06 showed up and sales too back off.
C8 still has a long backlog of sold orders, Z06 will show up as that backlog is worked through, just watch and learn… GM is not run by dumb dumbs, they will not slow lines to launch a variant when they already cannot keep up with sold orders.
It has surprised me that in all I’ve read about the upcoming C8 Z06, NO ONE has questioned WHY the engine is identified as an LT6!
The LT engine family is a PUSHROD block, yes?
The LT6 is a DOHC engine, yes?
Sooo…
Why is it an LT???
Is it based on the pushrod LT block?
Is there a counterbalance shaft where the camshaft would have been?
It just doesn’t seem to fit the idea of an LT engine.
The LT5 in the C4 ZR1 is a 32v DOHC motor. Kind of blows your entire theory up – and it came out BEFORE the GEN-II LT1/4, let alone the GEN-V motors.
I remember that LT5, that was really something when it first came out, built by Mercury Marine as I recall..
Without a 3rd pedal its a complete disappointment. I have a C7 ZO6 M7 and its so much more engaging to drive. I’ve owned 12 Corvettes over the years all manuals. Recently drove a C8 and was bored to tears with the automatic. I get that on the track it shifts quicker but I drive on the roads and prefer to decide when to shift myself. I hope the boys and girls at the Chevy asylum come to their senses and build a manual ZO6. i will order it now!
Outdated approach, old man. If Corvette is going to compete with European sports cars in speed and drivability, it needs a DCT. I hope they never put a manual in it again, it degrades the brand to the old, unsophisticated stigma that GM appears to have finally broken away from with the C8. Get a manual Camaro, and let America compete with Europe.
Typical no nothing wannabe car guy . You think your getting a Ferrari but wake up junior its a Chevy with an automatic nothing more. Boring!
Ready? I’m a Chevy salesperson. I don’t sell Ferrari’s, I sell a Corvette that costs 1/4 of the price and provides 3/4 of the features, and thanks to this shortage, probably about the same portion of the prestige. Up to you if you want to have a value-based ferrari competitor or an old-man car with a manual that is fast in a straight line.
Your a car salesman why am I not surprised! The C8 is a good car for what it is but no matter how you slice and dice its still an automatic and boring to drive without a 3rd pedal. So its a few tenths of a second faster 0-60 so what! The skill and thrill of mastering the manual transmission cannot be duplicated. It’s the difference between driving the car or the car driving you.
Quoting performance numbers and making comparisons to European super cars is typical salesman fluff and absolutely irrelevant.
Am I trying to sell you a car? No. Go buy a manual C7 and stay in the past. My customers (most of whom are well over 40) have plenty of fun shifting gears with the paddles. Say what you will about the 3rd pedal (I’ve driven and do occasionally enjoy manuals), but there’s also a thrill to an instant shift and the immediate performance of a DCT, and whine as you might, corvette is not going to take a step backward in terms of performance and technology just to keep a dying customer base happy. Also, why would you think that “quoting performance metrics” is “typical salesman fluff and absolutely irrelevant” when we are literally talking about PERFORMANCE CARS. The primary thing that GM cares about is delivering performance at a relatively low price with Corvette. (Not to mention the fact that I have not quoted a SINGLE performance metric yet).
“ fun shifting gears with the paddles” Well that says it all.! What is so fun about squeezing an appendage on the steering wheel with your right foot buried on the gas? No skill or coordination needed. It’s still an automatic and BORING to drive and to me always will be. The DCT is purely track focused and if I made my living on the track then I would want every tenth of a second in my favor but the vast majority of corvettes will never see the track so what’s the point. Let’s be real it’s a marketing decision based on the limitations imposed by the mid engine layout. We will have to agree to disagree. Makes me cherish my C7 ZO6 7sp and my 66 427/4sp even more. Save the wave!!
The mid engine layout itself was chosen for performance capabilities. There’s no way to frame it where your preferences make any economic, marketing, or performance sense. Enjoy your C7.
Thank you I do enjoy it.
U so wrong motor mouth
Sounds like you are a broke, in debt millennial or younger. Entitled babies who think they are “special” because they breath air. That they deserve “income equality” without earning it. Zero work ethic. Offended by everything. Scared of the world. Living with Mommy. Can’t wipe their behind without posting it online.No social skills, Obsessed with taking picture of themselves. Self worth is based on how many followers and likes they get on their pathetic social media platform. Of course they need an automatic transmission. They have never had the pleasure of shifting gears themselves. Most can’t even think for themselves.
You’d be wrong. I’m not much different than you, I just know how to embrace the future rather than fight it kicking and screaming only to have it shoved down my throat anyway. It’s a better car, and it’s not going back to the way it was. A lot of people like it that way.
I don’t understand. I drove the 2020 c8 with manual mode engaged and had a lot of fun with the paddles.
You obviously know nothing about the TC autos, and wet TC autos, all of which shift much faster than the manual. Manual trannys are outdated, and most of the high end end performance sports cars from Ferrari toPorsche, to Shelby, and Corvette now go with the TC. When the base C8 can do 0-60 in 2.8 sec, your not going to beat it with a manual. This is a new, next generation Corvette, you need to wrap your head around that………………
I get your point. Many purest love the manual. I have driven them most my life also. Its not just about 0-60 or lap times. Everyone knows DCT are faster, launch control and all the goodies. I love my 16 ATSV auto. Cold starts from outside is so rewarding. However, what all these “Superior” children commenting on the above stats fail to comprehend is the pure enjoyment from a well timed heal-toe while hitting the braking zones. Any monkey and right foot down then left foot down, then right foot down. There will always be those like us, whom enjoy the manual transmission for what it is, and whom have the proper skills to utilize it as it was intended.
All the ones that are complaining are newbies and most likely never owned a REAL car. Don’t bother commenting because they are the idiot that are wait years for a Johnny come lately car. Spend the money go buy a Ferrari, Porsche, etc. Like you I have owned 35 Corvettes and todays cars are sofas on wheels. Try a real car.
Tom, I enjoy manuals also. Sadly, they are not cost effective and people just dont purchase them enough to pay for the R&D. I too drove the C8 on track at NCM and with the DCT in manual mode I was enjoying myself. Yes there is a noticeable loss for heal toe trickery. However, people just dont buy manuals enough to market the cost to build them.
I had to switch to a automatic after destroying my clutch ankle by ripping the ligaments for the last time. too much pain and the brace digs into my foot. So I use the auto ATSV for my track days and canyon runs.
I do understand the joy of a perfect heal/toe and faster is not always as fun.
take care and you deserve your opinion as much as everyone else gets to say theirs, and nobody is right either. We cant say that the enjoyment you feel from the manual is better than the quicker lap time of the DCT and vice versa.
Marketing 101! Why change anything, when the demand is outpacing the supply. Just raise the price!
Exactly right…
For those bored by allowing the car to shift, why not run it in manual mode and shift yourself? Seems like a viable option.
Your wrong about the wheels and tires………the fronts will be 275/30 ZR 21’s on 21 inch wheels…not sure if this will be a CF wheel option only…..and 345/25ZR 22 on the rear with the Sport Cup 4R’ available….
Since your in the business, you need to stay on top of it from ALL sources……..i.e. Corvette Blogger, C8 News, C8 Forum, Horsepower Obsessed, Brink of Speed………all of them…
The base will most likely have the above mentioned and the Z07 track pack the CF or Mag wheel options.
What is the exact source of your info, or are you speculating like everyone else…………
Any chance we could hear something new. We have known about the motor and wheels for about 2-3 yrs now. Is there any chance that until IMSA knows what the classes will be they aren’t sure what the car has to be. I could be wrong but I thought they have to build a street car that the race is based on. Maybe that is the hold up. Also I think they r working on a manual shifting DDC trans. The wait will be worth it if they would throw some HP at it. By the time we gat our cars our DD pick ups will have 600 hp. By the time the ZO6 comes out we should be getting the ZR1. I have deposits for the first ones of each at our local dealership.
Maybe they should just forget the ZO6, come out with the ZR1 instead, and offer the ERay with the electric motor delete option.
Thank you GM for building such incredible cars, but it is getting very embarrassing for all the people who have had money down for over 2 yrs and still don’t have a car. COVID was an uncontrollable thing, but enough is enough. If u can build cars for other countries u can build ours. Don’t mean to be negative but getting very frustrated. Thank you
Dude, move on , there already is a awesome Z currently!!
Are dealers accepting orders for the C8 ZO6? I can be very patient!!!
Stingray Chevrolet in FL has my $500 deposit on a Z06 . I’m number 269 on that list. Patience is a virtue.
The Lord told me to wait until Jan 22 to put $ down. I’m rarely the 1st to have a new product, but this was on my hot list. I’m learning patience, but it’s a long process.
Put my order in 10 months ago number 12, at least I can be happy a got a good spot, kinda bummer they pushed it off, I guess I can wait another year
What dealer did you put your deposit with? I’ve been waiting since March 2020 and I’m 63 on my list for the first high performance model that comes available
Stingray Chevrolet in Plant City Fl. High volume dealer. Never over MSRP
For sure, put down a deposit on one almost two years ago! I’m just fine waiting, having a ball driving my 800 HP Bolt on Z06 and 1000 HP 98 stroked and blown C5, both of which I’m going to keep…
No. There r no allocation for them but they retaking deposits.
OH YIPPY, try producing what you what you have first.
Why doesn’t rate this comment show up with a number? Too many comments with 0’s beside them. I tried to do several and no number showed up. I would love a manual and so many men that never wanted a corvette in their life knows nothing about a manual transmission that are buying the C8’s. That has been stated in many comments, corvette forum everywhere. This is a lazy man’s car so they can just sit there and doing nothing. The thrill of shifting is fun as I shifted many corvettes in work traffic on the worst highways and never got out of 1st but never bothered me. I still loved shifting my cars. I know one Corvette Manger that made that statement traveling with other corvettes and the highway backed up and he complained about the traffic in an automatic. Said he wouldn’t have a manual. The manual goes back to the beginning of time with the corvette in 1953 with Zora Duntov and his wife Effie that I had the pleaser of knowing. I shifted old corvettes muscle cars and the new ones and still have 2 now. If corvettes with a manual transmission option were sold all those years and I bought many of them. The pleasure of owing a corvette is part of the fun on the take offs with gears on the new ones. This world has now turned into nothing but most people racing their corvettes that I would never do. Their choice. I love to watch drag racing and I loved being in the muscle cars drag racing but I would never have done that to mine. I learned with determination to drive a 4 speed in a 426 Hemi when I was barely 15 years old. My goal to do and never stopped. I think the problem with these new corvette buyers now is they probably most don’t even know how to shift gears. I think it should still be an option. Part of the word Corvette!!!!
No.
I really don’t care for people like yourself that try to tell people like me what I should like and dislike. Like my Daddy used to say..If you don’t have anything nice to say… don’t say anything at all.
Wow what a collection of machines. Very impressed. Just wondering are they matchbox or Franklin mint! Lol!!!
What a joke.
Leo. Any chance u could post something that makes since.
Leo. What is your problem. Why are you so rude to people you don’t know anything about.
Why are there so many a$$ holes on this forum. All the majority of you do is cut down other people. I have never seen anything like this. None of us know each other and have no reason to judge each other. What makes some of you call people “Car Guys Wanna Be’s” when you have no idea about them. You sound like a bunch of jealous people who shouldn’t even be on here, but now I’m judging and that is wrong.
Maybe having a 57 Rag Top, a 71 Camaro RS/Z28, a Camaro ZL1, a C5, and a C7 doesn’t make me a car guy. I have a vary large deposit on our dealers first C8 ZO6 and there first C8 ZR1. All but the 57 are manual trans. I’m sure that some body will say I’m a “ Car Guy Wanna Be” who can’t shift a car. Maybe your right, cars aren’t really my thing. I’m more into motorcycles and offshore race boats. Just looking forward to getting the C8s so I can stop being on GM Authority. To the nice guys on here thank you for your input and comments.
Not rich, but bought a new 19 M7. OMG it’s a base model. Double black, no rear wing. I like seeing everything that’s out there. Have several friends well off enough to have many toys. Not jealous either. Last time I checked this is a free market society and capitalism rules. I don’t get all the hate either. Nobody looks down at my cheap, base, no option C7, or should I say less expensive. I don’t care how fast it or anyone elses goes. Most are not driven on a race track. Have a friend with a Z06 and its door numbered for track, but never gets tracked. People should be able, if they are fortunate enough, to buy what they want without criticism. What was I expecting when I got this brand new Stingray for $43 k ? I just didn’t see spending extra, I didn’t need 600 hp, I only drive the speed limit, most days. Tickets arent getting cheaper. Enjoy your collection and wave. I still do.
Put my name on the list for the C9. WORTH THE WAIT.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The C9 will be all electric……..the C8 is the last of the ground pounders…..
Tricked out. Funny how you have to laugh at your own stupid ass jokes. Just another GM Authority Dick Head. Give it up, your making an ass out of yourself.
The only ass on this forum is the one who keeps calling others an ass. Your a keyboard warrior probably living in your parents basement with your collection of toy cars, motorcycles and offshore racing boats and posters scotch taped to the wall. LMAO!! Typical wannabe car guy. Good luck junior you’ll need it!!
Tricked out. How come you only comment on people and not cars. I’m 64 and don’t live in my parents basement, they both passed a long time ago. Stop jerking off and grow up.
I won’t stoop to your level but please keep in mind that Profanity is the crutch of an illiterate. Go back for your GED and you might feel better about yourself and stop your personal attacks and disgusting metaphors. Could care less about your age or your family situation.
Dicked out. If you couldn’t care less about my age and my family why did you say I’m young and live in my parents basement, and play with toy cars. Can’t you remember that far back. For no reason you attacked me about something that is none of your business and know nothing about. This is about cars, why do you make it about people. You started this for no reason. Get a life, and focus on cars, or is that the one thing you know nothing about. It’s so sad that you have nothing better to do.
Yes I’m sure you believe every word of what you say. I’ll bet you received participation trophy’s your whole life. Congratulations you are a winner!!
Dicked out. Your amazing. Put your Dick away and get a life. Your really making a fool of yourself. Why are you so jealous ? Not our fault you never amounted to anything. Take your Model T to your local car club and have some fun. I’m sure there are some really nice people there. Not sure why I’m still getting these, I unsubscribed last night. There are some really nice people on here, but then there’s you. Again, this is about cars, not sure why some people try to stir up things by saying things that aren’t true about other people. To bad the people that run this forum don’t pay more attention to what is really going on. I will try and unsubscribe again. Thank you.
There you go with the profanity and disgusting metaphors again for no reason other than your own apparent insecurities and frustrations. Retreat behind them and feel strong as you type away on your keyboard !! You seem to have an obsession with the male genitalia. May I suggest seeking professional help in that area.
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Waited two years for this car to show up and it is still at least a year out. Time to move on to something else….no joy…just aggravation.