The camouflage was finally removed to reveal the latest Corvette Thursday night at a private event in Miami, Florida. The ZR1 now holds the title for the “fastest and most powerful” Vette ever produced.
Chevrolet’s engineers pushed the boundaries of engine architecture with the ZR1, squeezing 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque from the 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8.
“We didn’t know what the final [horsepower] number could be until late in the program. Instead of saying we wanted a specific number, we said we will use all available technology, the best possible hardware, state-of-the-art software and controls systems and we’ll see what we get,” Tadge Juechter, Corvette’s executive chief engineer, told ABC News. “What we got is very impressive … we didn’t leave a single pony on the table.”
The engineers earned the bragging rights: They clocked a sub-10-second quarter-mile time on the Corvette ZR1’s first launch. Four test drivers even pushed the car past 200 mph on their first laps at the Nürburgring track in Germany. Corvette detractors will have to finally accept that the American sports car continues to post performance stats that are equal to or better than its European rivals.
“No one will be able to question the overwhelming performance of the ZR1,” Juechter pointed out. “People will look back 50 years from now and remember the C8 ZR1 as a high-water mark for the industry.”
The ZR1’s exterior design is more striking and aggressive than the base Stingray and the optional ZTK package adds a high-downforce rear wing, front dive planes and a tall hood Gurney lip, according to the marque. Head to a local racetrack to burn those Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires: the ZR1 has a top speed of 215 mph. The LT7 V8 is the first twin-turbocharged engine in a factory Corvette.
The available ZTK package even adds a high-downforce rear wing, front dive planes and a tall hood Gurney lip, all of which have been constructed from woven carbon fiber, according to the marque.
Corvette buffs may also appreciate the return of the split window – “a beloved element from Corvette’s history,” according to Phil Zak, executive design director at Chevrolet. “Not only does this element provide function, but we were able to integrate passionate design into the form and do it in a way that paid homage to Corvette’s history. ZR1 felt like the right time to bring the split-window back.”
The car’s interior received special attention, too: there’s unique ZR1 badging found on an interior plaque, the sill plates and steering wheel. A new finishing stitch pattern for the doors is specific to the car.
Customers can choose from a long list of exterior colors, including Competition Yellow, Hysteria Purple, and Sebring Orange.
Production begins in 2025 with pricing details coming later this year. Will more Corvette owners choose the ZR1 over the electrified E-Ray or the raucous Z06 with its naturally aspirated V8 engine? Hard to tell. Juechter, however, argued that the ZR1 won’t steal sales from the other Corvette models on the market.
“We are providing our customers an incredible menu of choices at different price points,” he noted. “As long as they are happy, they can order, and we will build whatever they want.”
Inside the car’s ‘mind-blowing’ specs
General Motors’ newest Chevrolet Corvette will be the most powerful version of the American sports car ever produced — and it’s not even close.
The Detroit automaker said Thursday the 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 will be powered by a twin-turbocharged, 5.5-liter, V8 engine capable of more than 1,000 horsepower — a first for Corvette — and 828 foot-pounds of torque, placing it among the ranks of supercars that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“This thing pulls like a freight train,” Tadge Juechter, Corvette’s executive chief engineer since 2006, said during a media event. “We expect this car to be essentially the fastest car we’ve ever built by a long measure.”
The prior most-powerful Corvette was GM’s last ZR1 for the 2019 model year. It produced 755 horsepower and 715 foot-pounds of torque with a 6.2-liter, V8 supercharged engine.
Juechter said the new ZR1 will “comfortably” have a top speed higher than the Corvette’s previous top speed of 212 mph.
GM said pricing for the 2025 Corvette ZR1, including an additional “ZTK” performance package, will be released closer to when the vehicle goes into production next year. The 2019 Corvette ZR1 started at $121,000.
The ZR1 joins what GM is calling the “Corvette family,” including the “everyman’s sports car” Corvette Stingray, which starts at about $70,000; the hybrid E-Ray; and the roughly $112,000 Z06 track car.
“We’re happy with the way it’s going. This is the next step in that whole approach,” said Brad Franz, director of Chevy car and crossover marketing.
GM previously confirmed an all-electric Corvette is coming, but it has not given a timeframe. A Corvette SUV also has been under consideration for several years. Franz declined to comment on either vehicle.
Wall Street analysts have said GM could better leverage the Corvette brand by expanding models and, to an extent, sales. In late 2019, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said a Corvette sub-brand could be worth between $7 billion and $12 billion.
Sales of the Chevrolet Corvette have totaled roughly 34,500 vehicles for each of the past two years. In 2019, the automaker redefined the iconic sports car, swapping its front-engine design for a mid-engine build to increase performance and handling.
Models such as the ZR1 are low-volume vehicles designed to attract buzz to the brand and entice drivers toward less-expensive Corvettes.
“The ZR1 is the range-topper. It’s the halo vehicle. It’ll bring tons of attention to the car and actually help sell the other models,” Juechter said. “It’s part of the ongoing business strategy to keep the product relevant over a relatively long lifecycle.”
Other performance models have helped to lift Corvette’s average transaction price to roughly $106,000.
Franz said price point is expected to continue to rise with the introduction of ZR1 and sales growth of the track-focused Z06, whose average buyer has a household income of $311,000.
Additional sales of the hybrid Corvette, which starts at about $105,000, also should help boost Corvette’s revenue. GM plans to increase production of the E-Ray to 10% of total production capacity from current levels at 2% to 3% currently, Franz said.
The performance trickle-down effect also has assisted in keeping the sole plant that produces Corvette in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on two shifts since 2019.
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