2025 Chevy Corvette SUV said to start with ICE power, not be EV-only
Car & Driver has another installment for the saga of the rumored Corvette SUV. Last November, the magazine kicked off the drama with a chapter titled, “Corvette to Launch as a Brand in 2025 with a Four-Door and an SUV.” The sedan and high-rider were expected to launch as Ultium-based, all-electric Corvettes. That’s not the case, so we’re told now. The outlet’s new rumors have it ICEs will get the call-up for the SUV, slotting into the nose of the same Alpha Platform that supports GM performance heavyweights like the Cadillac CT4 and CT5, and the Chevrolet Camaro. That would be an interesting choice of architecture; GM developed the RWD-focused Alpha for its driver-centric products and has never put anything larger on it than the previous-gen Cadillac CTS. The bones are 11 years old, having debuted under the 2013 Cadillac ATS, but still fit for purpose, what with the CT4 Blackwing and CT5 Blackwing making C/D’s latest 10 Best list.
Also unexpected, the mag says the SUV could come in two sizes, powered by a speculated engine range of three mills in four outputs. These specs are all designed to keep loose track of Bowling Green’s Enemy #1 and its Macan and Cayenne SUVs. From bottom to top, the cylinder count and output steps would go:
Turbocharged four-cylinder, 300 horsepower
Twin-turbo V6, 400 horsepower
6.2-liter V8, 500 horsepower
Supercharged 6.2L V8, 682 horsepower
The smaller SUV opens with the four, starts at about $60,000, and can upgrade to the twin-snail six. Let’s take a moment to appreciate a future in which a four-cylinder, family-friendly Corvette has to be considered in the realm of possibility, even if it is just rumor for the moment.
The larger model starts with the six and elevates to something with a “Z0” designation when fitted with the engine now found in the Cadillac Escalade V-Series. Both SUV sizes leave their respective factories with all-wheel drive and 10-speed automatic transmissions.
Question is, would you rather see this or have GM take the angle former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz suggested in 2021: “What I would do is develop a dedicated architecture, super lightweight, super-powerful, Porsche Cayenne-like, only much better and a little bigger, medium-volume Corvette SUV. Target worldwide 20,000 to 30,000 units, and price it starting at $100,000. Gorgeous interior. No V6 powertrain. No low-end version. It has to be the stellar premium sport-utility made in the United States, and the Corvette brand could pull that off.”
Either way, remember this is all rumor. We might not have long to wait to sift verity from heresy, though, C/D suspecting the reveal will happen later this year.
Sometime after that, we’d see electric variants of the sedan and SUV taking aim at the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan. The mechanical overview for those two reads like a premium-only affair, comprising “battery packs with high energy density, superfast software, a patented cooling concept, staggered Lego-like topographic packaging, miniaturized componentry, ultra-efficient inverters, high-revving electric motors, an 800-volt electrical system that provides up to 350 kW of charging power, a two-speed transmission, brake-by-wire, multi-mode four-wheel steering, and torque vectoring.” For starters.
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