The latest Corvette is, properly, Corvette-y: A 495-horsepower V8. Zero to sixty in 2.5 seconds. 1 / 4 mile in 10.5 seconds.

But there is a main distinction between the 2024 Corvette E-Ray and each different Corvette ever unveiled by Chevrolet: this one is a hybrid, with each a gas-powered engine and a battery-powered one.

Chevrolet would not just like the phrase “hybrid,” which is related to gas financial system, and “economy” isn’t a phrase that pairs properly with this $104,000 sports activities automobile.

They favor to name it this the primary “electrified” Corvette, with an electrical motor hooked up to the entrance wheels along with the highly effective mid-engine V8 powering the again. Adding the electrical motor makes this the quickest Corvette within the model’s 70-year historical past.

“This is all about enhancing the performance of the Corvette,” says Josh Holder, Corvette’s car chief engineer. The small electrical motor captures power when the car is slowing down, and the car makes use of that energy to offer an additional enhance.

“We can store that in a very powerful battery and then redeploy it to help power the car out of a turn on a back road, for example,” Holder says.

The Corvette E-Ray has a stealth mode

The 2024 Corvette E-Ray, in one other first for a Corvette, has all-wheel drive.

Chevy unveiled it on the Rockefeller ice rink in New York and claims it will probably drive in snow.

And that roaring V8? If you wish to make good with the neighbors, you may drive for a number of miles in “Stealth mode” as an alternative, to the tune of an electrical whine.

Hybrid efficiency autos will not be a brand new idea.

Formula 1 race vehicles have been hybrid for practically a decade, and types like Porsche and Ferrari have had high-profile hybrid fashions.

Hybrids are additionally nonetheless going robust in different components of the auto business, from crossovers and SUVs to pickup vans.

Hybrids vying with gas-powered and totally electrical vehicles

But it is outstanding that Corvette — a General Motors model — is unveiling a hybrid at this second.

GM has marketed a strategic shift towards solely making zero-emissions autos by 2035, and in contrast to a few of its rivals, GM has not strongly embraced hybrid autos as a bridge know-how — aside from Corvettes, the place designers noticed how a battery may enhance efficiency.

An electrical Corvette is coming ultimately, GM says. For now, the fuel tank stays.

Meanwhile, the opposite large Detroit automakers are charting completely different paths with their iconic sports activities vehicles.

Dodge is discontinuing the gas-powered Charger and Challenger on the finish of this yr, promising an electrical muscle automobile to exchange them.

And Ford, which has split its vehicle operations into two halves, can also be dividing the Mustang model, attaching the title to a well-liked electrical SUV whereas persevering with to make a purely gas-powered Mustang sports activities automobile.