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Corvette EV Confirmed by GM Sound Development Engineer

In a long piece by Jamie LaReau for the Detroit Free Press, a General Motors engineer has confirmed the inevitable. Given time, the Corvette will receive unique EV sounds that will be different from Chevrolet EVs.
2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 20 photos
Photo: Chevrolet
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"Every brand will have its own sound in which the customer will know it's that brand and establish an emotional connection with the vehicle,” said EV sound development engineer Jay Kapadia. Neither Kapadia, nor the reporter, went into further detail about what that means for the Corvette.

We can make an educated guess, though. The Detroit Free Press article mentions that Kapadia designed the sounds used by the Acoustic Vehicle Alert System of the Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer EV and SUV. Not even a single plug-in hybrid or hybrid is referenced, which means that General Motors could be developing a zero-emissions Chevrolet Corvette as we speak.

Hearsay suggests an electric ‘Vette sedan could happen by 2025, which is a bit weird given that an electric Camaro four-door sedan is also rumored. These models would fight over the same prospective customers, which is bad for business in the automotive industry. A likelier outcome is an electric ‘Vette sport utility vehicle, which already exists, albeit only as a design study.

The biggest of the Big Three in Detroit provided us with a glimpse of a Corvette-styled SUV parked next to many other e-SUVs at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show. Back in November 2021, C8 Corvette owners received an online survey from General Motors in regard to this spinoff.

GM intends to end production of combustion-engined cars, trucks, and SUVs by 2035 to focus on electric vehicles. The goal is to become carbon neutral by 2040. Given that the seventh generation was produced between the 2014 and 2019 model years, the C8 could be gone after merely six.

The question is, will the C9 feature the BEV3 platform of the Lyriq, or will GM develop a different platform that supports combustion engines as well? Spending so much money on the mid-engine platform of the C8 doesn’t make sense if General Motors won’t update it for the C9. Also worthy of note, spending so much money on the LT6 flat-plane crank V8 of the Z06 doesn’t make financial sense if the LT6 won’t see further applications.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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