Remember when everyone used to call the Chevy Corvette a mediocre sports car? You know, back in the days of the C4 through the C7 when Vettes were often technically brilliant and fun to drive but never considered to be in the same league as sports cars and supercars from Japan or Europe?
Well, these people are getting ready to smoke some weapons-grade "copium" thanks to the 2024 Corvette C8 E-Ray, the most advanced Corvette to ever jump off the drawing board. Chevrolet had one of the larger exhibit booths at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City for the 2023 New York International Auto Show. It's a privilege Chevy's gotten used to since NYIAS returned from the global health crisis last year with a smaller show and fewer manufacturers present.
Among a sea of new GM Ultium-derived electric vehicles at the face of Chevy's new electric vehicle campaign, the Corvette E-Ray is pound-for-pound Chevy's most important new car at the show. Far more significant than the Malibu Chevy placed at the side of their booth, half hidden behind a wall so that crowds wouldn't see it, for sure. Meanwhile, the Torch Red Corvette E-Ray on display had its own plinth surrounded by protective glass to protect itself as it sat and held court over the rest of the Chevy lineup.
On first impressions, before you have the chance to get up close to this novel Vette, it almost looks like any other C8. This is doubly the case because a flagship 2023 Corvette Z06 3LZ coupe flanks the E-Ray just a few feet away. This optical illusion almost gives you the impression the E-Ray is just another base Stingray. But then you're bound to approach this novel Vette even closer. Only then do the differences that make this Vette unique reveal themselves.
Indeed, the Corvette E-Ray uses the same 6.2-liter (376-cubic inch) LT2 V8 you'll find in the base Stingray. You'll get a healthy 495 horsepower from the E-Ray's gas engine alone. But in conjunction with a 160-horsepower electric motor unit at the front axle, that number bumps up to 655 combined horsepower. In short, it's only just behind the Z06 Vette in terms of raw horsepower. With the benefit of Corvette's first-ever AWD system, albeit not a traditional unit in the slightest, the E-Ray is actually .1 seconds faster to 60 mph than the Z06.
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
Granted, the lighter, sleeker Z06 will catch up and pass the E-Ray on a long enough drag strip or circuit track. But does any of that matter even a little bit when getting our first look at the E-Ray? Not even slightly. The only thing you're liable to say on your first good look at the first all-wheel-drive, ICE-electric hybrid Corvette is, "Oh my god, I can't believe Chevy pulled it off!" One of the main selling points of the C8 platform, in general, is being able to do things supercar snobs have told us for years only European or Japanese automakers have any business doing.
Just think about it for a second. A thumping-great V8 mounted in the center of the car with a hybrid-electric powertrain and all the dashing good looks of a European supercar? It sounds like you just gave the recipe for the Porsche 918 or the McLaren P1 and added a liberal dose of free-range, organic American bacon to the mix. But the truth of the matter is a little more complex than that.
It's more apt to say the Corvette E-Ray takes the same basic formula of the P1 or the 918, gives it lithium-ion battery and electric motor technology nearly a decade newer, and places it at a price point that wouldn't even cover the cost of servicing the Porsche or the McLaren for the lifetime of ownership. We're talking just $102,900 for the base 1LZ Coupe. That's roughly a tenth of the MSRP the P1 sold at new back in 2013. Granted, the E-Ray isn't quite as fast as the first breed of hybrid hypercar.
But in terms of refinement, accessibility, and general appeal in the North American domestic market, we have to admit the E-Ray might have the European bourgeoisie on the ropes. And so, that brings us to the larger mythos of the Corvette E-Ray as it unfolds before our very eyes. In a time when there's doubt that American sports car monikers can transition to the hybrid and even full-electric side of things, it's healthy to ponder this thought just a little.
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
The lifelong argument of "no displacement for displacement" is perpetuated these days both by people online and even by advertising strategies of American sports car manufacturers. Be it Chevy, Dodge, or Ford. Everyone is guilty of this at different points. We're looking at you, Hellcat.
But despite what advertisers pushing consumers retro-styled muscle cars may have done in the past, it's clear that GM knew how to separate its marketing department from the engineering department when it came to the Corvette. As GM spent the last 15 years marketing Corvettes with "the biggest engines" or "the fattest superchargers," all that revenue ultimately went into profoundly changing the car in the future.
We're happy to say we've seen the results of their labor up close and personal. It was nothing short of spectacular to see, all the more reason to come down to New York and check it out for yourself. Be quick about it; you only have until April 16th.
Google News