The Corvette Will Always Be a Chevrolet, GM President Says

With an electric SUV carrying the Mustang name and Lotus building luxury SUVs, branching legacy sports car badges out to wider ranges of products and pulling them far from their roots has become a trend in recent years — and rumors have long suggested that Chevy's Corvette could also go in that direction. Whatever General Motors has planned for the 'Vette, however, the sports car and its kin will always stick by Chevrolet, according to GM president Mark Reuss.

Reuss was chatting with fellow car enthusiast and former late-night talk show host Jay Leno while commemorating the launch of the C8 generation ZR1 Corvette on an episode of Jay Leno's Garage. During their conversation, Reuss mentioned that slip that Chevrolet takes its responsibility to the Corvette name very seriously.

"You just start talking when you meet Corvette people," Leno said. "It really has become its own separate brand now, isn't it?"

"We'd never, I don't think, take it out of Chevrolet because the core of Chevrolet is offering people more than they thought for the money," Reuss responded. "We don't need to go out and do other things."

That's good new for those Corvette purists out there — including Jay Leno. Leno praises Reuss and GM at large for keeping the name alive, even though the model has evolved into a mid-engined model making over 1000 hp that's cross-shopped against Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Standing next to the new Corvette ZR1 and Reuss's father's old C2 parked side by side, Leno remarks that it's incredible just how far the 'Vette has come over 71 years.

That's where the long-term sanctity of the Corvette name could diverge from its low-slung V-8-powered roots, however. Our sibling publication, Car and Driver, has even suggested that a Corvette SUV could exist as soon as next year, though GM has yet to confirm such a model is in the works. One thing seems for certain, though: if Reuss has his way, even if the 'Vette name lands on an electric SUV, it'll still be a Chevy.

(Hat tip: Reddit)

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