The 2025 model year will bring some heavy firepower to bear in the sports car segment, with Chevy poised to unveil the C8 Corvette ZR1. With a fresh forced induction engine and huge aero enhancements, the C8 ZR1 will slot in as the new top dog in the mid-engine Corvette lineup. Now, GM Authority has learned that GM recently gave Chevy dealers a glimpse at the C8 Corvette ZR1 during a secret meeting.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Chevy dealers gathered for the national dealers’ meeting late last year were actually shown two models prior to their big public reveal, the first of which was the all-new 2025 Chevy Equinox, which was officially unveiled last month. The second model, however, was something of a surprise – a prototype C8 Corvette ZR1 wearing full camouflage.
Although the Chevy brass did not provide any details or specs, it was hinted that the new ZR1 would equip a twin-turbocharged V8 engine. GM Authority was the first to report that the ZR1 would rock a forced-induction powerplant, specially a twin-turbocharged variant of the 5.5L V8 LT6 that motivates the C8 Z06. The new twin-turbo 5.5L V8 will likely carry the name LT7.
In addition to some impressive engine output, the C8 Corvette ZR1 is also expected to equip all the trimmings required to make good use of it on the racetrack. Spy photos reveal the new ZR1 running positively massive aero enhancements, chief of which is a large rear wing to keep the tail planted at speed. The enhancements will also include a large front hood air extractor vent situated between the headlights, an additional set of side air intakes located behind the primary side air intakes, and new multi-spoke alloy wheels shod in super-sticky rubber. We even rendered what the new ZR1 will look like, so check that out for more eye candy.
As always, we’ll be there every step of the way as the C8 Corvette ZR1 heads for its big debut and launch, so make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more mid-engine Corvette news, Corvette C8 news, Chevy Corvette news, Chevy news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
At a time of year when luxury car ATP usually rises.
Sales decreased 5.6 percent to 16,670 units during the first ten months of 2024.
Specifically critical minerals supply chain development.
Scheduled for a Spring 2025 launch.
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Look folks, Chevy sold 34,353 units last year and similar in '23. The demand for C8 is so strong, it easily outsells competitors combined so GM needs to keep it special and not overproduce which the competitors can't meet the sales volume themselves.
The only vehicle that is second in sales volume but still outclass by the Corvette by volume by two miles is the 911. The Corvette is not like any Corvette before it and GM has a nice problem to deal with demand overwhelming supply.
Corvette needs an aura all to itself to be in conversations next to the 911, R8, NSX and etc. So the Corvette is cool again and it was not cool in a very long time. The C7 somewhat came close but it did not brought in hardly any new buyers to take it seriously.
Not the same class of vehicle. Nice try though.
LS3 welcome to 2024 and yes a manual transmission option would be ok..but you can't outshine or out shift the new automatic transmissions! 😉 😂
Another toy for the rich. When are they going to make a v8 muscle sports car that us peasants can afford.
Miss the days of them giving us optional V8's in cheap economy cars, like the Nova back in the day
Like I basically said above, if you find electric CUVs and the latest $150,000 C8 variant interesting then GM is your company. Beyond that? .....
They don't want us peasants to be able to afford V8 muscle machines anymore...🤌🤌🤌
They offered one - it was called the 6th generation 2016-2024 Camaro SS. Awesome muscle car. But, GM abandoned the car by not advertising and promoting it, so sales dropped. It has the 6.2 liter C7 motor coupled with a 6-speed manual in the excellent GM Alpha chassis that under pins some of the current Caddy V-series cars. Glad I bought one and totally love the car.
It wasn't because GM didn't advertise or market it, that car was in so many racing series markets plenty of people saw it. They didn't do much less than the other two (Mustang and Challenger) in terms of advertising, the market is just dying. The three have to share 120k sales roughly a year and falling. And without being able to share a platform with sedans dying, the business case just isn't there. The others are heading towards electric with the Challenger about dead. On top of that, they designed the Camaro to be the best sports car in that class which hurt the daily drivability (smaller size, less weight, worse sightlines, smaller storage, etc). Most the cars for all three that are sold are V6 entry level models, so if it doesn't do well as a DD, that hurts it even though it can tear up a track better. A bunch has gone wrong, the Mustang is holding on and the Challenger is changing, blame the consumers, not GM...
Yup. Had a 2019 2SS 1LE manual. Incredible car….period!!! Daily drive it or throw it into the twisties and be absolutely stunned at how fast it ripped corners apart. Miss that car BIG TIME!!
Nah. Just give me a good running '62 327 4-speed driver. Plenty of fun!
COVID taught the automakers a very valuable lesson in keeping demand high and availability low. The last thing GM wants is a flooded Corvette market. They don’t have to incentivize it. You people don’t honestly believe that production is shut for a week here and week there because of a parts shortage do you. If so, I got a nice plot of land for you in Florida.
This was already disproved to be inaccurate. They showed the GT3 sellable race car at this event and a ton of dealers left thinking they got to see the ZR1. Queue the dumb youtubers who will run with this.
And in 1976, the ancient St.Louis , Mo plant cranked out over 46K .
All without robots, so let's not get into complexities of the C8 vs. C3
I visited that plant in November 1975.
Factoid: It was tougher to get a 2023 -24 Camaro.
Had nothing to do with plant size.
Trucks, trucks, trucks and small and large suvs; millions times 6to30 thousand a piece. 54,000 Corvettes is nice ice cream on top of the pie. 6bolt wheels on blazer, 8 bolts on electric silverado. lot of torque to handle . no incentives to sell units. whoa, 10 billion profits shown , damn how much can i hide???? Maybe one day i'll be able to out run and electric. But since 1930, electromotive has known that ev s are the way to go before hydrogen . I'm to old to swim during Global warming, how about you?