GM to release a hybrid and battery-electric Corvette

General Motors is electrifying the Corvette. A hybrid version of the new Chevrolet Corvette will be offered from next year, followed by a fully electric Corvette based on GM’s Ultium platform.

This has now been officially confirmed by General Motors President Mark Reuss. Unfortunately, he did not reveal when the all-electric Corvette is planned. Reuss also did not give any further details on the degree of electrification for the hybrid Corvette in his LinkedIn post and an interview – so anything from a 48-volt hybrid to a PHEV is still possible.

“We’re going to have an electrified Corvette next year, so it’s coming very quickly,” Reuss said in an interview with US broadcaster CNBC. “This is in addition to all the great performance that Chevrolet and Corvette have been known for with our internal combustion engines for many, many years.” So the electrified models will be additional to the market and will not replace the combustion-only models.

There is probably a good reason why Reuss is still holding back on concrete data on the BEV Corvette: Because it will not be a 1:1 BEV version of the combustion sports car. In the LinkedIn post, Reuss states that the electric model will be an “Ultium-based Corvette”. Ultium is the group’s electric platform, which presumably has little to do with the sports car platform.

In the Ultium models (so far, for example, the GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq or Chevrolet Silverado EV), the battery is installed flat in the underbody. Reuss left open whether this is also possible for the sports car. If the BEV Corvette is kept close to the combustion model, GM should be able to accommodate one point: With the current generation, the Corvette has switched to a mid-engine concept. At least part of the batteries could be placed behind the passenger cell in the former engine compartment – favourable for the balance in the middle of the vehicle. This would hardly have been possible with the earlier front-engine concept.

GM wants to launch 30 electric models worldwide by 2025. Ten years later, in 2035, the US company wants to sell only electric cars.

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