GM Considering Electric Corvette Sedan To Battle Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan
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The eighth-generation Chevy Corvette C8 is unlike any production Corvette to come before it, offering a mid-engine layout and, as is the case for the upcoming C8 E-Ray, an all-wheel drive hybrid powertrain. Now, GM Authority has learned from sources familiar with the matter that GM is considering a new electric Corvette sedan to rival the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S.
News that GM is thinking about building a new purely electric Corvette shouldn’t come as a surprise. Back in April, The General teased the new C8 E-Ray with a brief video showing the hybrid supercar spinning all four across a blanket of snow. That same week, GM President Mark Reuss confirmed that GM would also offer a “fully electric, Ultium-based Corvette in the future.”
Indeed, with GM poised the pivot to all-electric power across its new passenger vehicle lineup by 2035, the prospect of an electric Corvette model is, at this point at least, inevitable. Although Reuss declined to provide any specifics in April, GM Authority has already examined the various scenarios in which such a model could come to market, with the most likely scenario being an all-new vehicle beyond the current Y2-based C8, thus supporting GM’s head-first dive into the EV segment.
In terms of platform, then, the most obvious candidate is the new GM BEV3 architecture, likely the low-roof variant. Providing the motivation will be the next-generation of GM Ultium batteries and GM Ultium drive motors, which, as GM Authority covered previously, are expected to provide a maximum driving range of 500 to 600 miles.
The new electric Corvette will also be relatively large in terms of exterior dimensions, likely around the same size as the Porsche Taycan or Porsche Panamera, a requirement to fit the new, rather sizable batteries. The underpinnings will also share similarities with the upcoming range of Cadillac EV sedan models.
Further highlights for the new electric Corvette sedan will include a variety of different performance levels, as well as extensive weight saving techniques, the latter of which is particularly important for a performance-oriented EV.
Expect the new electric Corvette sedan to launch roughly mid-decade.
What do you think, dear reader? Does the idea of a new electric Corvette sedan entice, or repulse? Let us know in the poll below, and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more mid-engine Corvette news, Corvette C8 news, Corvette news, Chevrolet news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
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This is as bad as Olds naming everything Cutlass in the 80’s
Taking a model name and placing it on several unlike models is just a way to to destroy great name equity.
If the so called Corvette sedan and SUV were good enough they would create their own name equity. If you need to glom on the corvette name you had better see what you could do to improve the product.
This is as bad a Mach E using the Mustang name.
I can see why they are doing this as they want to race them in NASCAR. That is coming as they all have told NASCR they want to racecEV products in some way.
Leave the car as a sports car not a taxi
Leave the Corvette alone as a sports car. Maybe make the Camero a high performance Electric sedan that chould also race in Nascar
Idk if they are even doing it as how often has any idea bad or good actually been approved by GM bean counters?
But while we’re here….. corvair anyone?
@C8.R – I absolutely agree. You mention Oldsmobile and Ford diluting strong model nameplates. Another example is Chevy pasting an SS badge on nearly everything in the first decade of this century. A lot of FWD pooches!
Face it: Eventually all cars will be EV so Corvette should get started. Stellantis is doing the same with Charger, Challenge and my bet is a Viper built on Maserati blocks. Covervete can’t be late to the game.
Tesla, Lucid & others prove EV sport can be amazing!
I agree with you, even though Porsche is doing very well with sales with the Panamera .
GM already has a four door corvette in the CT5-V Black wing.
Leave Corvette alone other than the coming eRay. Use the Camaro nameplate for sports sedan
please do not make the Camaro a sedan. The thought of it makes me want to cry.
If anything a Corvette sedan makes more sense than a Camaro sedan. I could see a Corvette sedan in the likes of a Porsche Panamera. Corvette has a touch of luxury to go along with the sportiness. Camaros are straight up sports cars, not passenger cars, not luxury cars.
I agree, corvette has prestige. Camaro has no prestige. The idea is to lure buyers that aren’t fan boys, corvette can do that
but at the same time having a Corvette sedan would dilute the brand. I dont think most Corvette fans want the casual consumers who buy cars for prestige to be the ones driving Corvettes. Corvettes were made to compete with those prestige cars for the working class.
There will be no water downing, I currently don’t see much of corvette on the streets of any generation, and the price of a EV sedan or suv won’t make it like your seeing Malibu’s all over. I believe if anything help keep corvette brand alive. In the 80’s and 90’s the auto traders magazine had its own section for vette s mustangs and camaro’s, now those same buyers buy SUV’s and trucks. Someone who like vettes can’t with a family but maybe will if a suv or sedan
Well that’s the point. Corvette was built from a history of race cars. If you’re trying to haul around a family, maybe a Corvette isn’t the car for you. Having a Corvette sedan or luxury car just makes the name so gimmicky.
It’s like the case of a Camaro. If you want to haul around passengers and you want luxury, a Camaro isn’t the car for you. But there is a Cadillac CT4 and CT5 which is based off the same chassis. If GM wants to make a Corvette luxury 4 door, make it a Cadillac.
Please don’t ruin the Corvette and Camaro name. Keep it true to its heritage. The whole Mustang Mach E thing was a bad move in my opinion. I think what GM did with the Blazer EV SS to make a “Camaro SUV” was such a smarter move. Give the Blazer EV SS the same love you would give a Camaro, but don’t use the Camaro name.
Can’t argue with anything you said there lol.
Hopefully all of these 100k+ pave the way for some interesting 50k or under EVs. I think GM is fixated on being a higher end brand. That is going to leave a lot of current customers in play for Ford, Japanese and Korean makes. But maybe that is their business plan
What made Camaros and Corvettes cool to me was that they were affordable sports cars that were able to beat cars that costed double or triple the price. It was never about flexing social status, it was about being faster than the cars that flexed social status. But that’s just my humble opinion.
yeah I was thinking about that, if GM wanted to go high end they have the Celestiq, and the idea of a Corvette branded sedan…I wonder how would they price something like that and I would be hard pressed to see it under 55k
I think the 55k price point cutoff for an EV sedan is reachable just not as a Corvette-branded one, perhaps all this talk of an electric Camaro, or maybe use the Chevelle branding to go toe to toe with the Dodge Charger EV where as the Corvette Sedan E-Ray would be closer in price to the Taycan, E-Tron GT and such
The C8 in current form as a mid-engine super car is a fulfillment of Zora Duntov’s vision. Though I could accept an EV version of the Corvette as a true sports car, any other configuration such as sedan or SUV should not use the Corvette name. I’d suggest the following which draw on Chevy history and may be more appropriate for a sporty EV sedan or SUV : Impala, Lumina, Caprice…..or how about SSE
LOL, what a huge waste of money! Build something people want!!!
Wow. GM is really smoking the wrong stuff. No one is thinking about just how they will generate the power to charge those batteries. Most all electric is generated by some form of fossil fuel. The country let alone the world, is not ready or capable to make and carry enough electricity, to cover al these proposed electric vehicles. The grid can’t handle the pull now. Going electric is nice, but we can’t drop fossil fuels all at once and hope everything will work. It won’t. Bring this along slowly. Maybe then it will work. Shoving all this new tech down everyones’s throte is not the answer. Lets hope we do this right.
I agree tell that to the current administration
Amen Pete!
I live in the Houston area and when I look at all the cars driving down the freeway and think “ Wow! So all of those cars, if they were electric, will be plugging into the electric system tonight to charge. It’s gonna totally overload the system.” We can either charge our cars or have air conditioning. In Houston in August I’d rather have air conditioning. We’re going to need to build more power plants, which we haven’t done since when…the ‘70’s?
And don’t for this! If you run out of power on a desert highway, AAA can’t bring you a gallon of electricity!!!
What’s next, Corvette school buses?
Please leave the Corvette a true two seat sports car and pick another model to give this sedan a name. Corvette should always remain a world beating sports car.
Seen one of those ugly EV Mustangs recently? Give me an E-Ray sports car, but leave this dumb idea where it belongs – at Cadillac. .
Go legacy. Bring back the Chevette name for 4 door
Good idea. Bring back the Chevelle or make a new Impala for a sporty sedan. Leave the Corvette and Camaro out of this sedan nonsense!!!!
Chevette, Corvair or even Monte Carlo
AWD corvette , yes! All electric Corvette Yes!
2 seater, Yes!
If it stops being a two seater, not a corvette.
Come up with a totally new name plate. Leave the Corvette and Camaro name plate alone. I’m sure the brain child of the bunch can come up with something.
How about the name “Castrate”, because that is what they will be doing.
Ford did this in 1958 and the name Thunderbird was ruined forever. I get stopped all the time in grocery store parking lots asking me if my C8 is a Ferrari. You should have seen the bag boys smile on his face yesterday when I popped the from frunk. Please GM. Dont ruin an American icon.
Impala eSS
exactly. Use the Impala name for a sports sedan.
The car was ruined in 2020 when the engine was moved. Unfortunately, Corvette died in 2019 with the final C7; the last TRUE Corvette!
lol what are you even talking about? I’d take a C8 over a C7 any day. Mid engine will always have better track performance over a front engine RWD platform because of weight distribution. If you want a front engine RWD sports car you can still buy a Camaro.
For now.
You are prostituting a great and special brand name associated with a specific type of car. Lincoln tried that with a pickup truck and failed.
Hard Pass on this ‘concept.’
This makes no sense. They can’t produce enough C8 cars as the market demands now so why bother?
Why not a Malibu based SSE Nomad?
Sure! That sounds like a fandamntastic idea! Then maybe Dodge can make a Viper EV/Crossover thing too…can’t let Ford have all the fun! Well, I should go now…used up my day’s allotment of sarcasm.