Yahoo Autos Corvette Wouldn’t Go Electric 'Just for the Sake of It,' Chief Engineer Says
General Motors has promised to have an all-electric light-duty vehicle lineup by 2035, which — assuming that plan doesn't change the way many automakers' bold EV plans have recently — means electrification is coming for the Chevrolet Corvette. But when (or if) it does, GM fully intends to make sure that electric power improves the car in some way.
In an interview that aired last Sunday, Corvette chief engineer Tony Roma told CBS News the automaker would only go ahead with an all-electric Corvette if electrification contributed to the car's performance goals and was something consumers were okay with.
“We’re not going to apply electrification just for the sake of it,” Roma said. “We don’t put technology on for technology’s sake, so it kind of has to earn its way in. It has to make the car better in some way that our customers are gonna respond to.”
Chevrolet has begun working electric power into the Corvette in the mild hybrid form of the the E-Ray, which managed to bring something new and exciting to the nameplate without losing the classic Corvette ethos. “The E-Ray is also so much still a Corvette, and that’s special, too,” we wrote in our January review of the car.
Still, over the past half-century-plus, internal combustion advancement has taken the Corvette from its humble beginnings to breaking the 1000-horsepower barrier and battling European supercars at a fraction of their prices. GM and Corvette know that people may be hesitant to see GM’s signature sports car without a roaring V-8e, and it’s a feeling they’re keeping in mind during development discussions.
“We talk about this a lot. I talk about this with enthusiasts, my friends, other engineers,” said Roma.
But for GM, electrification is the way forward, and they’re unbothered by waning EV sales. “We’ll be guided by the consumer, but the plans we have will get us there,” CEO Mary Barra told CBS News, speaking of the brand's goal to transition their lineup to all-electric vehicles by 2035. For now, enthusiasts can at least try and find reassurance in the fact that, even if the Corvette isn’t always gas-powered, GM 's sports car gurus still plan to make it a future worth getting excited about.
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