mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

Burnt Down C8 Corvette In Spain Wasn’t An E-Ray, GM Says

Late last week, GM Authority published photos of a C8 Corvette test vehicle that had burned down while undergoing testing in Spain. Rumors alleged the vehicle involved was a prototype for the upcoming C8 Corvette E-Ray hybrid model, however GM has now disputed that claim.

Chevrolet spokesperson, Trevor Thompkins, reached out to GM Authority shortly after our article was published to correct the record on some of the rumors that were circulating about the fire. Thompkins says the prototype that burnt down did not have any electrified components in it and is instead a pure internal combustion engine vehicle. Additionally, the automaker notes the test mule is not in a configuration that customers would receive, as it’s equipped with various diagnostics equipment and other components that would not be found in a production model, so this unfortunate situation is not indicative of the Corvette’s fire safety.

Lastly, GM notes the safety of the engineers who were driving the vehicle at the time of the fire is its top priority here and that it is investigating the situation to better understand how this happened. It was originally reported that a pair of Bosch engineers were in the vehicle when it caught fire and were conducting tests on behalf of the OEM in southern Europe.

While this burned-down test mule is not for the upcoming C8 Corvette E-Ray, development of this model variant is still ongoing. In fact, we recently caught it at and around the famed Nurburgring racetrack in Germany.

The E-Ray is expected to pair the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 LT2 gasoline engine from the standard C8 Corvette Stingray with a front-mounted electric drive unit, giving the hybridized sports car all-wheel drive. The Corvette E-Ray is also expected to share a widebody stance, and various other exterior body pieces and components, with the high-performance C8 Corvette Z06.

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.

[nggallery id=1109]

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

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Now, this is what doesn’t make sense. When news first hit about this, it was said that GM made a statement that it started from an oil line, and spread to the BATTERY PACK. Which doesn’t make sense in the first place, as it burned to the ground and there’s no way to determine that from a pile of scrap and soot on the ground. but I digress. NOW they come out and say “Oh yeah, that wasn’t a hybrid vehicle, it didn’t have any hybrid components in it!” Yeah, definitely believable from a company that has a 0-2 track record for EV vehicles that don’t catch on fire.

    Reply
    1. The report on the battery pack wasn’t from an official gm statement, but it’s generally very strange to see any ICE vehicle burn down like this. You’d think there would be a fire extinguisher at the ready for any test vehicle.

      The only way I can make sense of this is to surmise that perhaps all of the diagnostic equipment contained batteries and they contributed to the conflagration.

      Reply
    2. There certainly is plenty of flammable stuff in all cars to burn to the ground. The energy in just the oil and fuel is large. The Corvette’s construction exacerbates the situation with the plastic resin in the body and the aluminum frame. Doen’t forget all the ancillary bits like the tires, brake fluid, transmission fluid, and interior plastic.
      I do hope those engineers discovered the fire in time to pull over and exit the car without being injured.

      Reply
    3. GM was probably pressured to lie about it by LG.

      Reply
  2. Of course they would say this. But really? Why would they have Bosch engineers testing in an ICE car? Bosch is all about the electronics, right? And why does GM need to test an ICE car like this anyway. Finally, the photos of the pile of rubble left from the melt-down does not look the remains of a V8 to me. Does it to you? It just makes little sense and sounds very fishy all around. I smell a coverup.

    Reply
  3. Well. While this probably won’t change GMA’s tendency to speculate and “report” on unverified news, they do get credit this time for issuing a correction. Kudos !

    Reply
  4. There was no fire…let’s see if that sticks. No? Let’s say the investigation is ongoing and hope people lose interest. If that doesn’t work, let’s blame China…oh wait, we can’t do that…let’s blame Russia…yeah, it was Putin’s hypersonic fire machine. I’m being a smarta$$, but they’re drawing attention to themselves with the BS’ing.

    If the car was filled with diagnostics, they know exactly what happened from the telemetry…saying anything else is all BS.

    I would have more respect for a response that said something along the lines of “this was a test mule that included experimental equipment and designs not yet in-market in any GM car…due to the proprietary secrets contained in this test vehicle we will not disclose any further information on this incident beyond what is required by law” …have the lawyers bless that release and then it’s done.

    It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, but agreed that most important was that everyone was ok.

    Reply
  5. Is it just me but wouldn’t a fire extinguisher be a reasonable item to carry in any test vehicle?

    Reply
  6. So the burnt wheel in the photo looks to be a stock wheel from a Stingray. Given that the recent spy shots and video of the test mule E-Rays running around the Ring have totally different wheels…. it’s possible that this was just a garden variety Stingray that burned.

    Reply
  7. What is going on with the E-Ray, seems it has fallen off the radar?

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel