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Corvette E-Ray Prototype Burns To The Ground In Spain (Updated)

Update: GM has reached out to tell us that the prototype in question did not have electrified components. See the details here.

With the debut of the 2023 Corvette Z06 behind it, GM has turned its focus to the next Vette variant in the pipeline: the E-Ray. The automaker has been seen testing Corvette E-Ray prototypes both on public roads and at the Nurburgring in recent months and was recently seen testing the vehicle in hot weather conditions in Spain.

It appears as though this recent visit to Spain went a bit awry, as the charred remains of a Corvette E-Ray prototype allegedly caught fire during testing by supplier Bosch. From what we’ve been told, the fire started in the prototype’s engine bay following an oil leak, leading to a runaway blaze that eventually ignited the hybrid sports car’s battery pack, as well. Photos and video of the fire’s aftermath show a pile of burnt Corvette components sitting on the side of the road in the southern European country. It’s safe to say that this prototype was rendered a total loss after the blaze.

While this fire will no doubt be a setback in the Corvette E-Ray’s development, it’s doubtful it will have a big impact on the vehicle’s launch timeline. The hybridized Corvette E-Ray is expected to make its formal introduction in 2023 as a 2024 model year vehicle, arriving on the heels of the recently launched C8 Corvette Z06.

Under the hood of this future Corvette model variant will be GM’s naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 LT2 gasoline engine from the standard C8 Corvette Stingray, which will be paired with a front-mounted electric drive unit. That means the Corvette E-Ray will feature all-wheel drive, contributing to superior launch and corner grip. The Corvette E-Ray will also share a widebody stance with the Corvette Z06 and rock meaty 345-section rear tires.

 

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We’ll continue to cover the development of the Corvette E-Ray as its 2023 debut approaches. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more mid-engine Corvette newsCorvette C8 newsCorvette newsChevy news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. Lemme guess….they’re blaming it on LG.

    Reply
    1. Read the article!!!

      Reply
  2. Hahaha!!! That’s the perfect meme for the current future of the auto industry.

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    1. Crash & Burn!

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  3. Los fanáticos del Chevy Corvette compartiremos ese minuto de silencio por la pérdida del prototipo. España no tiene la culpa del fuego.

    Reply
    1. English or don’t leave a comment

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      1. Says Lets have a moment if silence for the corvette Spain is not responsible for the fire

        Reply
      2. Hi-light it and click Translate. Oh, and get outta your basement once in a while. It’s a great big world out there

        Reply
  4. Thank you. I was wondering when you’d get around to reporting on this.
    Hopefully for GM, this was a gas/oil leak or something. If it turns out to be the pouch cells, they might really have a problem.

    Reply
    1. Read the article!!!

      Reply
  5. I know it’s “just” a prototype, but I’d feel more comfortable if these catastrophes were mitigated before the car was built and put on a test track.

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    1. Yeah, it makes you wonder if they know what they hell they are doing.

      Reply
      1. This is why they test them. Duh.

        Let me guess. Your an automotive engineer and your cad work is PERFECT! Your creations never fail and your perfect in all ways.

        A hose came loose and HIGHLY FLAMABLE OIL squirted ALL OVER A HOT ENGINE. Not like the Ferrari has this problem? See Vehicle Virgins toasted F430 I believe.

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        1. “Your” needing to work on that English a bit Smart Guy

          Reply
          1. His English is fine for me. “Your ” needing to work?

            Reply
  6. Check your sources. Other sites state this was not an E-Ray.

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    1. “A Corvette development vehicle undergoing extreme testing by one of our suppliers this week had a thermal incident. All who were involved are safe as this is our top priority. We are investigating the situation with the supplier.”

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      1. UPDATE: Chevy confirmed this prototype did not feature any electrified drivetrain components.
        So, perhaps this was an E-Ray “mule” being used to test supplier components, but it was not an E-Ray in the sense that it had batteries or electric motors.

        Reply
  7. Europeans are glad that gm left europe. What a pile of crap.
    They can’t compete with the big boys.
    No ugly crappilacs to spoil the view, or chevy’s to burn the land.

    Reply
    1. GM did not leave Europe are you high?

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      1. GM largely did leave Europe. Especially once they sold off the Opel and Vauxhall brands.
        You can easily look this stuff up, even if you don’t follow automotive news.

        Reply
        1. They have not left Europe dolt. Chevrolet is still pressent, but their all imports GM Europe was really hampered by the 2008 recession as they pulled recourses needed to keep Opel alive and competitive. Opel/vauxhaul already we’re not selling great, but the went further to the wayside and started loosing money. GM tried introducing the newer Chevys over there to keep GM profits up, but opel investors called foul. Causing Chevy to pull most their affordable units (Cruze/Orlando) and opel and vauxhaul were sold of shortly thereafter.

          Now Chevy Europe is what Mercedes’ is over here. Luxury and sport. And last I saw, Ferrari can’t beat the vette in lemans, GT it GT3 races

          Reply
          1. Calling people names when you’re the one that can’t read.
            I said they largely left.
            Yes, they sell a handful of Corvettes and Camaros.

            Reply
    2. Mr. positive. You must be fun t parties.

      Reply
    3. Really, the Corvette can’t compete, What are you smoking??

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      1. Seriously, the C8 is in a class of one. The Europeans couldn’t touch it for twice the price and if gm built a $300K Corvette, there would be nothing in the world to hold a candle to it. Nobody’s ever built a car with the Vette’s capabilities anywhere near its price. Credit where credit is due, Adolf, err Alex.

        Reply
  8. If it was an E-Ray… maybe, a new model variant called the Corvette Heat Ray. Could be made for the CIA, NSA, MI5 or said type of agency. No evidence left behind.

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  9. Battery fires are so difficult to extinguish. Burn baby burn.

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    1. Not with proper fire suppression you must use foam!! Water don’t work skeeter..

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      1. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I do not believe that foam is readily available on most fire calls. Probably should be as we get deeper into EV proliferation.

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      2. Foam is for oil….. I don’t think there exists a solution to lithium fires. Lithium reacts with anything

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  10. How do the greenies explain that “carbon footprint” ??

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  11. “The pain in Spain burns manly on the E-Ray !”
    Bummer.

    Reply
  12. Love it already blaming it on an oil leak. So does the Corvette as it stands now have an oil leak problem? Unreal do anything to protect the EV future.

    Reply
    1. Another conspiracy lover. If its on he internet it must be true.

      Reply
  13. From carbuzz.com:
    “A Corvette development vehicle undergoing extreme testing by one of our suppliers this week had a thermal incident. All who were involved are safe as this is our top priority. We are investigating the situation with the supplier,” a Chevy spokesperson told CarBuzz.

    UPDATE: Chevy confirmed this prototype did not feature any electrified drivetrain components.

    Reply
  14. GM should consider a vendor collaboration with Ansul and offer an onboard fire suppression system using Halon as the extinguishing agent on their high end cars.

    Let’s face reality folks, high ambient temperatures have a negative affect on rubber and polymer based materials. I lived in Phoenix for several years and can attest to premature tire and battery failures.

    The aircraft industry, Lockheed Martin and Boeing as examples, had to develop special compounded rubber and window gasket materials for their military aircraft.
    Read Ben Rich’s book on the development of the SR 71 Blackbird and the compounded rubber gasket materials they used for the window seals.

    Reply
  15. Well, this should have been no surprise…not the fire or the location, but that “Murphy’s Law” has raised it’s ugly head and of course we can see the aftereffects of “something going wrong and at the worst possible time”. I think that just about every auto manufacture has gone through a series of trials and tribulations as they continue developing their products for the public, and yes, “things” can go wrong and as we can see, the end results were predictable, a total loss of a vehicle.
    So, now that no one was hurt or injured, hopefully an exact reason for this E-Ray Flambé’ can be determined and that this never happens again. If you think this is something to see, you’ve got to see something like a modern military aircraft or a Navy ship catches fire and all you can do is to just stand there and watch it burn, and when every attempt is made to extinguish the fire but every attempt fails and the vehicle is a total loss, sometimes costing billions of dollars! Day-Am!
    Anyway, time to move on and lets keep that C-8 development program going, sometimes you’ve got to pick up your losses and continue on…and I believe that is what GM and the Corvette Development Team is going to do, more power to ’em!

    Reply
  16. It wasn’t an e-ray. GM reported there were no electric drive train components. The car was undergoing testing by Bosch. The fire apparently was due to an oill leak the drivers knew about and ignored.

    I hope GMA publishes a correction, but they probably won’t.

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  17. Of course. You had to get your 2 cents in.

    Reply
  18. They meant E-Waste

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  19. Now that EV’s are becoming mainstream how long before the first wrongful death law suit from someone electrocuted by one.

    I say less than 2 years

    Reply
  20. So – a General Motors product then. Thanks, Mary.

    Reply
  21. Why does every car make feel like they bae to have a ‘Black Carbon’ edition.

    Reply
  22. When my mother’s brand new Northstar Engine in her Cadillac Deville Concours, had an oil filter adapter stress crack, as the shape of the adapter did not match the shape of the side of the engine casting it was being mounted up to and the stress of the bolt cracked the adapter splitting it into two pieces, it pumped all the oil out of the engine under the pressure of the oil pump, on it’s maiden voyage home from the dealership leaving the engine with an oil light on as if pulled into our driveway, GM tried to tell us it was fixable, and that the internal damage wouldn’t affect the engine’s lifespan. That car could have burned in the way home in the same manner if the oil had sprayed the exhaust manifolds. I see history is just repeating itself and GM has learned nothing since this incident with the Northstar in that 1996 Deville Concours. We used the lemon law in Ohio to have them replace the vehicle and build another exact duplicate for my mother. We made sue it wasn’t the same Vin Number. They probably repaired it and used it as a Company Executive car for 20-30K and then sold it off with a big discount. The car has 21 miles on it when it was towed back to the Cole-Valley Cadillac dealership in Warren, Ohio.

    Reply

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