Dead: All-Electric Corvette

If you’ve been waiting for an all-electric version of the Corvette that’s been rumored to be in the works, prepare to be disappointed. Such a thing is apparently pure fantasy, at least for now.

Watch two very different versions of the C8 Corvette throw down in a drag race.

Back in April of this year, GM showed off a set of renderings portraying a possible C9 Corvette that was obviously an EV. The thing looked too hypercar for our tastes, violating the general principle of accessibility for America’s sports car.

While others were just slobbering over the concept renderings, we were secretly hoping they wouldn’t turn into any sort of production vehicle. It turns out whoever was fighting to make the concept a reality has lost.

Corvette Executive Chief Engineer Tony Roma says there were never serious plans for an all-electric Corvette in the works. At least that’s what CarBuzz reports he said at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Is that really true? There were other hints GM was working on an all-electric Corvette. Some thought the ZR1X announcement was going to be the first EV in the model lineup. But Roma wants you to believe that was all a figment of your imagination.

Instead, he claims the plan was always for the Corvette to introduce hybrid models, not something that ditched the internal combustion engine that has made the sports car a cultural icon.

“It was about an electrified Corvette, which is the car we’re standing next to (an E-Ray),” he told CarBuzz. “And that was the discussion back then, and that is and has been the discussion. Some people took that and assumed we meant all electric.”

Do you buy that explanation? Or do you think this is some good ol’ corporate gaslighting? We think this is an awfully convenient pivot considering how the market has been turning lately, but decide for yourself what this means.

Update: We received the following statement from a GM representative.

“You mention GM shared renderings of a possible C9 – the concept was a  Corvette-inspired design study and not a reflection of a next-gen production Corvette. We have not announced anything about development beyond the current eighth generation of Corvette.

As far as Tony Roma’s comments, he didn’t say the prospect of an EV Corvette is dead as the story title suggests. We get questions on if E-Ray is all-electric so he may have been clarifying that in his statements: E-Ray is our electrified Corvette for the UK (he was at Goodwood to talk about that) and in the States, we have E-Ray and ZR1X.”

It sounds like perhaps not everyone inside GM is satisfied with an all-electric Corvette not being part of the C9 model lineup, so we’ll see what happens there.

Images via GM