Corvette Chief Says an Electric Corvette Will Come, but Not Yet
Tony Roma also told The Drive that Chevrolet has no plan for a direct reply to the Mustang GTD's Nürburgring lap time.
GM's top Corvette engineer has reaffirmed that a fully electric Corvette is still planned, while making clear it is not imminent. Speaking on The Drive's podcast in an episode published October 14, Tony Roma, GM's executive chief engineer for Corvette and performance cars, described electric power as the long-term destination for the car. He stood by the commitment GM president Mark Reuss made in 2022 but gave no timeline and did not say which generation would get it.
Roma said the current C8 still has runway and that nothing is being announced about its end. Looking ahead to the next-generation car, he said it must remain a Corvette at its core and offer more value than today's model, rather than adding costly technology for its own sake or chasing Ferrari and Lamborghini on paper. Corvette already offers electrified all-wheel drive, marked by the X suffix, and he called a Z06 X possible but unannounced.
On the Nürburgring, Roma said the team is not planning a direct response to Ford. The Mustang GTD Competition lapped the Nordschleife in 6:40.835 earlier this year, beating the Corvette ZR1X's 6:49.275. Roma said Chevrolet's earlier effort was about demonstrating the car's ability with its own drivers and approach, and that this year's priority was Pikes Peak instead. He did not rule out a future attempt if it serves a clear purpose.
Roma also said he would like to offer a manual gearbox again, but that engineering a new transaxle for the mid-engined layout is expensive and may not make business sense. For owners of current C8 Stingrays, E-Rays and Z06s, the message is continuity: the V8 Corvette is not going away soon, and any electric model could ultimately sit alongside a combustion Corvette rather than replace it.
Source: The Drive
