Photo: Stefan Baldauf / SB-Medien
Five years ago, General Motors filed Manta Ray with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The nameplate has been recently abandoned, though, because the biggest of the Big Three in Detroit is going forward with a different handle for the first hybrid-powered Corvette ever.
Sources told GM Authority that E-Ray is how the replacement of the Grand Sport will be called, a trademark filed in December 2015 and renewed in August 2020 with the USPTO. Stylized in capital letters, this nameplate is a tribute to the C2 Sting Ray and a reference to the Stingray on sale today.
You see, word has it the Corvette E-Ray will borrow the LT2 small-block V8 of the Stingray and launch in 2022 as a 2023 model. In combination with an electric drive unit for the front axle, the newcomer appears to be a worthy successor to the seventh-generation Corvette in Grand Sport specification.
“The estimated total system output should land around 600 horsepower” according to GM Authority, which is more than plausible. For reference, the Chevrolet Bolt EV features a permanent magnetic drive motor with 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. The Corvette E-Ray would need only 105 horsepower to hit the estimated output, and because of the electric motor’s location, the hybrid model isn’t expected to feature a front trunk.
In a similar fashion to the 2022 model year Z06, the E-Ray will feature wider hips that should make the difference over the Stingray with the Z51 Performance Package. As far as the seventh-generation Corvette is concerned, 3.5 inches separate the Stingray from the Grand Sport in terms of width and rear tire sizes range from 285/30 by 20" to 335/25 by 20".
Later on, a second hybrid option will be launched as the range-topping version of the C8. Instead of the LT2, the LT7 twin-turbo V8 with a flat-plane setup like the LT6 in the Z06 is expected in the 2025 model year Zora.
You see, word has it the Corvette E-Ray will borrow the LT2 small-block V8 of the Stingray and launch in 2022 as a 2023 model. In combination with an electric drive unit for the front axle, the newcomer appears to be a worthy successor to the seventh-generation Corvette in Grand Sport specification.
“The estimated total system output should land around 600 horsepower” according to GM Authority, which is more than plausible. For reference, the Chevrolet Bolt EV features a permanent magnetic drive motor with 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. The Corvette E-Ray would need only 105 horsepower to hit the estimated output, and because of the electric motor’s location, the hybrid model isn’t expected to feature a front trunk.
In a similar fashion to the 2022 model year Z06, the E-Ray will feature wider hips that should make the difference over the Stingray with the Z51 Performance Package. As far as the seventh-generation Corvette is concerned, 3.5 inches separate the Stingray from the Grand Sport in terms of width and rear tire sizes range from 285/30 by 20" to 335/25 by 20".
Later on, a second hybrid option will be launched as the range-topping version of the C8. Instead of the LT2, the LT7 twin-turbo V8 with a flat-plane setup like the LT6 in the Z06 is expected in the 2025 model year Zora.
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