There Could be a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Hybrid in the Works

General Motors President Mark Reuss didn’t go into much detail on the prospects of a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Hybrid but he made it clear that this is an idea that he is not opposed to considering. He referred to the Corvette Hybrid project as being “attractive” and he went on to state that “people would love it”…and he is probably right.

While introducing a Chevrolet Corvette Hybrid might make the hair on the back of some gearheads’ necks stand on end, it is no secret that hybrid technology is quickly gaining popularity among the sports car crowd. Ferrari rocked the supercar world when it introduced LaFerrari as their most powerful production vehicle ever with hybrid power and with the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 both packing serious hybrid power – it is clear that the sports car world is accepting of hybrid technology so long as it doesn’t hinder performance. The downside to those three super-hybrids is that they are very expensive and when you can get great mileage from a car that cost seven figures, great mileage is really more of a nice perk than a necessity as someone who pays up around $2 million for a car probably isnt all that worried about fuel costs. The same would be true of the Corvette Hybrid but in a similar manner to how the “base” Corvette beats far more expensive sports cars with a comparably small price tag – the Corvette Stingray Hybrid could pose as a super bargain in the high performance hybrid world.

Realistically, if the Corvette Stingray Hybrid ever came to life, General Motors would have a very hard time charging anywhere near as much as some of the other high performance hybrids around the world. While LaFerrari and the McLaren P1 offer better performance than the Corvette, the Ferrari is priced around $1.7 million while the McLaren is much cheaper (!) at “only” $1.15 million. The Porsche 918 is the current bargain at just $845k. You could buy 31 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray coupes and still have change left over for the price of LaFerrari so while the Corvette Hybrid wouldn’t compete with LaFerrari – it would have plenty of pricing room to spare. In other words, the Corvette Stingray Hybrid with the basic LT1 engine mated to some hybrid system that adds a little power but a whole lot of fuel economy could cost $70-80k and still be one of the least expensive true hybrid sports cars sold in the world. Even if they priced it at $115,000 (which seems highly unlikely), the Corvette Hybrid would still be ten times less expensive than the McLaren P1.

Thanks to the advancements in both chassis and drivetrain technology, the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is one of the most powerful “base” Corvettes ever while also being the most efficient. If General Motors could figure out a way to add on a hybrid setup that – at the very least – wouldn’t hurt performance while improving fuel economy measures, the C7 hybrid would truly be in a class of its own. If the Stingray Hybrid could hit similar 0-60, quarter mile and braking times while also maintaining the incredible handling capabilities of the C7, GM would most certainly have a hybrid sports car that people would actually want to drive. Best of all, unlike the million dollar hybrid sports cars from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche (it’s around a mil all optioned up), the Corvette Hybrid would be reasonably enough priced that people would buy it and drive it to work every day.

The downside to this discussion is that there have been no official plans for a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Hybrid. However, the fact that there is a market for a hybrid sports car combined with the simple fact that the man in charge of GM seems to be in favor of the idea could bring about a Corvette Hybrid – at least in concept form – over the next few years.

Source: LA Times