The ‘Vette Future
Chevrolet is busy behind the scenes with the Corvette. Not only with the current one, but also with the next one! Meet the Chevrolet Corvette ‘California’, a harbinger of things to come.
The current and already eighth generation of the Chevrolet Corvette received an extremely powerful ZR1X top version with over 1,250 hp in the autumn of its existence. The current Chevy sports car caused quite a few firsts in Corvette land. It was the first Corvette with a mid-engine, the first to also receive turbo engines, and the first to have a hybrid version – with four-wheel drive – appear. An electric Corvette is not yet available, but that is likely to be the next step. With this Chevrolet Corvette ‘California’, the Americans are sketching a picture of what may come.
First of all: this Chevrolet Corvette California is not the successor to the current ‘Vette. It is the second in a series of three design studies with which the Americans are giving a picture of what the next Corvette could be like. In April this year, Chevrolet showed the first vision of the future. That design study was drawn in a design studio based in the United Kingdom. The Corvette that is now on your screen was created behind the digital drawing boards in – its name gives it away – California. In Pasadena, to be precise.
Chevy does not share extensive technical data. However, we do know that Chevrolet envisions the model with a carbon fiber base, with extensive active aerodynamics and an electric drivetrain. The battery pack would lie in a kind of T-shape in the bottom, with the ‘leg’ located between the front seats to guarantee a low seating position.
Speaking of low: the Chevrolet Corvette California is only 1.05 meters high on paper. The current Corvette, with its height of 1.23 meters, is already a low-flyer, but this vision of the future dives under it by just under 20 centimeters.
When will the new Corvette come? That is still the question. The current model is now about five and a half years old. The previous generation of the model lasted about six years. So the current generation does not seem to have much longer.