General Motors may be about to square off its Corvette brand against the Ford Mustang, with reports of an electric SUV and sedan in development.
After years of speculation, plans appear to be firming for General Motors to launch a Corvette sub-brand.
US publication Car and Driver reports a new range of Corvette-branded electric cars is due to launch from 2025, including a four-door and SUV – the latter of which will compete directly with the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Drive first reported the possibility of a Corvette sub-brand in early 2021, following information leaked by company insiders to business news agency Bloomberg at the time.
In August 2022, an overseas report referencing insiders revealed an electric four-door model would be launched “by mid-decade” wearing a Corvette badge, with the Porsche Taycan firmly in its sights.
But while General Motors may be targeting the Taycan – as well as the forthcoming electric sedan from Lotus – the latest source told Car and Driver the four-door Corvette would be more of a coupe shape with a liftback (rather than a traditional boot lid).
Despite competition from the Porsche Taycan and Ford Mustang Mach-E, the report claims the four-door and the SUV are “copies of nothing”.
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These digital illustrations by artist Aniket Kamble (above and top) provide an idea at what a Corvette SUV could look like (based on a Lamborghini Urus) when it reportedly launches in 2025.
In 2021, former General Motors executive Bob Lutz explained there was room for the US car giant to build on the Corvette name.
“What I can tell you is that Corvette is an extremely strong sub-brand, capable of being carefully expanded,” Mr Lutz told Drive at the time.
“Logically, [the Corvette SUV] would have to be low and more dynamic-looking than the Mustang [Mach-E].”
While unconfirmed reports of an electric Corvette SUV have been circling for some time, word of the electric four-door ‘Vette have only recently surfaced – coinciding with the release of the Chevrolet FNR-XE Concept last week (below).
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Designed for the Chinese market, the four-door concept is based on GM’s ‘Ultium’ electric vehicle architecture – the same that underpins the Chevrolet Silverado EV pick-up and GMC Hummer EV.
This concept is not a Corvette-branded vehicle, but its design cues are sportier than those on many other sedans in the General Motors global line-up.
If the electric Corvette four-door does make it to production, it could mark a new era of competition between the group of US carmakers known as the ‘Big Three’: General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis – the new name for the parent company of Dodge, Chrysler, Ram, and Jeep (among many other brands).
In early November, reports suggested Dodge could be planning to bring the four-door Charger back with electric motors and a battery pack, despite the Charger Daytona SRT being unveiled in concept car form as a two-door coupe.
Talk of a Ford Mustang sedan dates back to 2018, but it was an official sketch from the Blue Oval’s senior exterior designer Christopher Stevens in September 2022 that fuelled further speculation about a four-door model.
Joining the petrol-powered Mustang coupe and electric Mustang Mach-E SUV, an electric Mustang sedan would position Ford’s pony-car line-up directly against the reported Corvette line-up.
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“Just about every [electric car], regardless of body style, can offer neck-snapping acceleration,” Mr Lutz told Drive in 2021, “so, what will make cars like the Corvette or 911 or Ferrari ‘special’? Glad I no longer have to deal with issues like that!
“[Talk of an electric Corvette] is all speculation on my part, because I know nothing specific about GM’s plans. I do know GM has the deepest well of battery, [electric vehicle] and autonomy talent of any car company on the planet, and will surprise the world,” he noted.
“If I were Elon Musk, I’d start taking tranquilisers.”
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