RHD Corvette likely still on its way down under

Wednesday, 19 February 2020

General Motors has revealed the all-new mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette - and it is coming here!

General Motors' decision to axe the Holden brand has thrown a lot of people for a loop but, thankfully, it seems we might still get a taste of the mid-engined Corvette - according to Autoblog, Chevrolet confirmed a right-hand drive Corvette will still be produced for markets outside North America.

When the C8 was announced last year, Marc Ebolo, Managing Director of Holden New Zealand, confirmed the Corvette would be arriving in New Zealand.

'Our team is totally revved up to build on Holden's performance legacy with the most technologically advanced Corvette ever built. We look forward to taking on the European and Japanese performance vehicles with some highly sophisticated American muscle,' he said at the time.

The mid-engined C8 Corvette was immediately confirmed for an NZ launch but General Motors' recent axing of Holden has thrown that into doubt.

In December 2019, Aussie publication Motoring said that the Corvette would arrive at Holden Special Vehicles dealerships in 2021 in Z51 guise.

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Good news though, GM is still building right-hand versions of the new Corvette so there's a good chance it will make it here.

* Holden to bring mid-engined Corvette to New Zealand

* Economy of scale killed Holden in the end

Upcoming performance models will add flat-plane cranks, turbochargers and even electrification to the mid-engined platform.

* Five things you might have missed about the new Corvette

* Five legendary Corvette concepts**

However it gets here, we can't wait to drive it.

However, with the death of the Holden brand, everything suddenly seemed uncertain. The last ray of hope is with a new division known as General Motors Special Vehicles (sound familiar?), which will continue its partnership with Walkinshaw Performance to offer left-hook vehicles re-engineered for right-hand drive. That currently comprises the Camaro and Silverado pick-up and will likely include the Corvette.

Officially called the Corvette Stingray, the mid-engined beast is powered by the 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated LT2 V8, essentially a slightly revised version of the LT1 found in the current front-engine/rear-drive Corvette C7 and the Camaro SS.

The C8's LT2 sends 370kW of power and 635Nm of torque through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. GM reckons it will hit 60mph (96kmh) in 'less than 3 seconds', so around three for the zero to 100kmh sprint then.

No weight has yet been given for the C8, but given that the current 563kW Corvette ZR1 does the 0-60 sprint in 2.8 seconds, we are thinking 'considerably lighter' is a good guess.

That performance not quite doing it for you? Hang out for the Z06 and ZR1 variants.

The Z06 will be the track-focused member of the family and it has been linked to a new 5.5-litre flat-plane crank dual overhead cam V8 making closer to 400kW. The engine was first seen in action in the C8.R racer at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona back in January.

Meanwhile, the ZR1 will allegedly use a twin-turbocharged 4.2-litre V8 making an epic 597kW and 949Nm.

This engine is found in the Cadillac CT6-V, where it makes 'only' 410kW so take this information with a grain of salt. Other rumours have claimed the 5.5-litre V8 will gain two turbochargers in lieu of redesigning Cadillac's engine.

Finally, the ultimate Corvette will be badged Zora, in honour of the legendary GM engineer and 'Father of the Corvette', Zora Arkus-Duntov. It will use the twin-turbo ZR1 engine and add a powerful electric motor to the mix, sitting in the currently vacant frunk. The combustion engine will power the rear wheels and the electric motor will drive the fronts, generating a total system power bordering on 1000hp (745kW).

The resulting all-wheel drive and continent-shifting torque should make the Zora one of the fastest accelerating cars on the planet. However, the extra weight will likely impact its abilities on the track.