Earlier this year, the Panama City Beach Police Department seized a 2022 model year Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The car originally belonged to a certain 25-year-old Alexander Casey.
According to Panama City Beach PD, said vehicle was used to evade two neighboring law enforcement agencies. Casey was ultimately charged with fleeing and eluding law enforcement, as well as for possessing firearms and transporting illegal narcotics.
K9 Officer Rouge was instrumental in detecting the narcotics that Casey concealed in the small block-engined sports car. Spruced up with a custom wrap by the peeps at Lightning Graphics Inc., the Stingray won't catch baddies on the highway. Instead, the vehicle will be used for community events and for the law enforcement agency's Cops & Kids program. Otherwise put, Panama City Beach Police will reinforce the message of law adherence and community responsibility with the help of this C8.
Panama City Beach PD will eventually auction the car off. The 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray's mileage and service history aren't known. Unfortunately for interested parties, the police department didn't offer a timeframe for said upcoming auction.
Those who aren't up-to-date with all things Corvette, fret not. Internally referred to as C8, the eighth generation rolled out in 2019 for the 2020 model year with a direct-injected small block. The hi-po Z06 followed suit in 2021 as a 2023 model, whereas the E-Ray was unleashed in January 2023 for MY24.
Photo: pcbfl.gov
As opposed to the combustion-only Stingray and high-revving Z06, the E-Ray is – as implied – a hybrid affair. The first series-production Corvette with all-wheel drive also happens to be the first series-production Corvette with front-wheel drive, for its front-mounted electric motor takes over from the 6.2-liter small block out back in Stealth Mode.
Its 495-horsepower engine is pretty similar to that of the Stingray with the fancy exhaust. But in combination with the 160-horsepower electric drive unit, the E-Ray belts out a combined 655 horsepower. Chevrolet quotes 2.5 seconds to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) and 10.5 seconds in the quarter mile. That's precisely the reason why Chevrolet advertises the E-Ray as the quickest Corvette ever.
Not for long, though, because two more versions of the C8 are in the offing. In the first instance, Chevrolet will add the ZR1 to the lineup. You can think of it as a Z06 with a couple of turbos, resulting in 800-plus horsepower. The so-called Zora will take the C8 to 1,000 horsepower or thereabouts, for it combines the LT7 twin-turbo V8 of the ZR1 with some form of hybrid assistance, most likely the front electric drive unit of the E-Ray detailed just earlier.
What about the C9? Although not much is known about the next-generation Corvette, we're looking forward to yet another small block-engined Stingray. Back in January 2023, General Motors announced that it would invest $854 million to prepare Bay City GPS, Flint Engine Operations, Defiance Operations, and Rochester Operations for the production of the sixth-generation small block.
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. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News