Yahoo Autos GM Taps Cadillac's Tony Roma to Lead Corvette Development
General Motors announced on Friday that Cadillac Celestiq Chief Engineer Tony Roma will take the position of executive chief engineer of Global Corvette, an extension of his role as the leader of the newly formed Luxury and Performance Car team. The announcement comes after long-time Corvette Chief Tadge Juechter announced his retirement from GM after a 47-year career back in April.
Roma’s transition to the head of Luxury and Performance will see current team leader Brandon Vivian transition to the automaker’s Advanced Vehicle Development Center. Vivian will serve as the executive chief engineer, as well as the brand strategy coordination lead for that program. Roma’s previous experience with both the Cadillac and Corvette brands makes him a logical choice to helm the new group, which has a focus on up-market, high-performance vehicles.
Roma got his start at General Motors back in 1993, where he worked on the calibration team for the 4L60 automatic transmission found in the Corvette and Camaro of that era. He later worked in engine development for the LS1, LS2, LS6, and LS7 platforms, before a long stint in powertrain integration for some of GM’s most exciting cars. Roma also spent time as the high-performance vehicle operations manager for GM Performance, as well as a performance variant manager for Chevrolet and Cadillac. You will be familiar with his work as chief engineer on products such as the Cadillac CTS, ATS, CT4, CT5, CT6, and Celestiq. That includes the V-Series and Blackwing models.
His personal collection is full of some serious performance cars as well, including a C4 Corvette ZR1, a C6 Corvette ZR1, a C8 Corvette Z06, and a CTS-V wagon. Chevrolet says he’s hoping to end up with a C8 ZR1 as well, which doesn’t seem like too much to ask for the new brand boss.
As you’d expect from the executive chief engineer of the American sports car, Roma is no stranger to the race track. He served as the race engine team manager for Cadillac’s World Challenge program and has done a fair bit of racing himself. Roma currently carries GM Level 6 driver certification, which is the highest level within the company. As such, Roma has turned more than 1500 laps of the Nürburgring during industry-pool testing for GM. He recently competed in a 24-hour endurance race at the famed circuit as well.
“I’m approaching this opportunity with deep respect and admiration for the hard work from those who came before me, going back to the first-generation Corvette in the 1950s up to this day,” Roma said. “Corvette earned and continues to earn its place in American car history thanks to the people behind it, like Tadge Juechter. These are big shoes to fill, but we will work every day to continue the strong legacy this nameplate deserves.”
While the departure of Juechter has been hard for fans to come to terms with, Roma appears to bring a similar amount of passion to the table. The products he’s been a part of at General Motors are some of our favorites, so here’s hoping that trend continues in this new era for the Corvette.
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