Confirmed: Hybrid and all-electric Corvettes coming soon

I'm sorry, but you'll never convince me that electric motors are the answer, I've driven a couple and I just think they're boring, soulless machines 

I know they aren't saying it, but this surely means the end of the ICE-powered Corvette in the next decade or so. I'm not anti-EV at all, but if you can't feel a pang of sadness over that, you're not a true gearhead.

You can be a true gearhead and not mourn for ICE-powered Corvettes. Just like how it's possible to be a gearhead and accept cars that don't have manual transmissions or carburetors or a timing advance lever on the steering wheel.

I wonder how much the C8 packaging was designed around a future hybrid variant. I can see that being more acceptable to "cars have to make noises to have soul!"crowd, but you've got extra parts to slip into a car that doesn't have a lot of unused space to begin with. At least with a full electric you get to take some bits out.

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

I know they aren't saying it, but this surely means the end of the ICE-powered Corvette in the next decade or so. I'm not anti-EV at all, but if you can't feel a pang of sadness over that, you're not a true gearhead.

Agreed. EVs are definitely the way of the future if you care about getting maximum performance. From a business, performance, and social perspective, I couldn't imagine anything else. But that doesn't mean that I don't feel inexplicably upset about it when you're talking about a Corvette. 

Oh, there's a video embedded in the story, I missed that. Clear shot of front wheelspin and muted engine noise. So the hybrid system will likely be on the front wheels, and there may be all sorts of interesting torque vectoring tricks on the table thanks to that.

Once you've got the front electrified, you just yank out the ICE and drop in a big motor in the back while running the battery pack through that massive center tunnel. 

Keith Tanner said:

You can be a true gearhead and not mourn for ICE-powered Corvettes. Just like how it's possible to be a gearhead and accept cars that don't have manual transmissions or carburetors or a timing advance lever on the steering wheel.

Well, I still haven't really accepted that Vettes don't have manuals anymore. 

Carbs and manual timing advance are one thing, taking away an internal combustion engine is something else. It's the soul of a car, especially a sports or enthusiast car. The sound and feel and vibrations and the way it builds power are all a massive part of the sports car experience. I love running my Boxster through the gears just to hear that flat six howl. Engines are a major part of the personality of a car. 

Again, I'm not anti-EV. I think they are well on their way to being better at every objective measure than ICE engines. But being a car enthusiast means embracing the subjective, and while I know why it's happening, subjectively a Corvette without a Chevy V8 in it makes me a little sad.

I already decided that I'm going to buy the electric sports car that Honda announced a week or so back, so I'm fully here for the electric corvette.  

I for one welcome our new 4 door suv Corvette overlords

I'm a little torn on this. EVs are the future, and they'll outperform any ICE around while being much more efficient. I'll certainly miss the sound of the V8, but I guess that's a small price to pay for improved performance and efficiency.

Noises and smells and vibrations are fun for sure. It's why I like my classic Mini without a Honda engine swap, and the fact that the Targa Miata is propelled primarily by noise very much amuses me. But while they're part of the personality of a car that has them, they're not a necessary part of the driving experience. Take them away and there's a different personality exposed, like a family sedan what will accelerate so violently you feel like you've been punched in the chest, a low center of gravity that makes a car feel much more nimble than it should be and torque vectoring that makes the car respond to the steering wheel extremely quickly. Amusingly, the way an EV "builds power" is basically the holy grail for ICE designers and they'll jump through all sorts of hoops to get it. A high compression big displacement V8 is probably as close as you can get other than the noise and vibration aspect. So other than the soundtrack, a full EV Corvette may not be that changed.

GM has publicly stated that it will stop using gasoline and diesel to power light duty vehicles by 2035 (hydrogen is still on the table but it's unlikely to ever be more than a technology demonstrator or a niche fuel for very specific applications). So unless it's like Ford's statement that they will "stop making cars (except for the Mustang, we'll totally keep making that one)" and the Corvette gets a waiver and the only ICE in the fleet, there is an all-electric Corvette coming.