Why is it a hybrid car and not an all-electric car?

Detroit – general motors’ The future may be in all-electric vehicles, but they still need their existing models to pay the bills to allow them to invest in those new products.

That’s one of the reasons why the automaker revealed on Tuesday 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray – The first “electrified” or hybrid version of the iconic sports car. It also features all-wheel drive, a first for the eighth generation, or C8, Corvette.

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The car—which starts at around $104,000 when it launches later this year—may surprise some consumers, because it’s a step toward fully electrified but unicorn in GM’s lineup. The Detroit automaker has discontinued all hybrid vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, to focus Invest in all electric cars.

So why create a hybrid Corvette? GM says there are several reasons, but overall, the automaker was already advancing the technology ahead of its more aggressive electric ambitions. It’s also a new market so that should help the company test the waters of the iconic car’s electrification.

“It’s just a new market opportunity for us as a company to showcase our engineering and development of the full architecture for the C8,” said Mark Rios, President of GM. CNBC’s Phil LeBeau. “General Motors and Chevrolet continue to increase what we offer Corvette customers.”

Reuss confirmed last year that The electric Corvette is comingHowever, GM has not announced the timing of the EV release.

The current eighth generation car is particularly special because General Motors got into it Mid-engine sports car For better performance, move the engine from under the hood to behind the two passenger seats.

The C8 features an exclusive Corvette engine and architecture. Almost every General Motors vehicle shares platforms, engines, and other features. For example, all of General Motors Full-size trucks and SUVs On the same platform and featuring largely the same engines.

“There’s just great architecture underneath, and the planning and architecture has been done to quite a few variables,” said Royce.

The last GM to use the revised Corvette architecture was the sixth-generation version, with the short-lived Cadillac XLR, which was discontinued in 2009.

This meant that most, if not all, of the capital for research and development of the vehicle had been earmarked beforehand Accelerated EV plans from General Motors. The Corvette plant in Kentucky also won’t need any additional investment or downtime for a change, according to a GM spokesperson.

Steve Majoros, Chevrolet’s vice president of marketing, said during a press briefing. “But in the meantime, we have a lot of technology bandwidth that we can still unload with the Corvette.”

The hybrid system was designed specifically for the eighth-generation Corvette, according to Harlan Charles, Chevrolet Corvette product marketing manager. The battery system – a 1.9 kWh battery pack between the seats – is charged by renewable energy from coasting and braking, as well as during normal driving.

The system allows the Corvette to start quietly instead of making a roaring V8 sound, and improves acceleration, and possibly the car’s fuel economy. General Motors has refused to release mpg forecasts, which for The regular C8 is 19 mpg combined.

The all-electric Corvette of the future may change more than just the car’s powertrain. Auto NewsCiting industry forecasters, it reported last year that GM was expected to introduce an all-electric SUV version of the Corvette around 2025.

The Corvette SUV has been speculated for years after other sports car manufacturers such as Porsche, Maserati and others successfully expanded into such vehicles. Ford Motor It also achieved success through the use of the Mustang’s naming, badges, and characteristics The all-electric Mustang Mach E.

Ford has gone so far as to say the Mach-E is the reason the automaker can keep going to produce V-8 versions for the car. General Motors could do something similar.

A GM spokesperson declined to speculate on Corvette expansion, stating that the company has seen the reports and will not be involved in the speculation.

In late 2019, Adam Jonas, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said that A.J Corvette sub-brand It could be worth $7 billion to $12 billion for the automaker.

GM’s Reuss made it clear that the company is not interested in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles since then. Chevrolet Volt has been discontinued in early 2019. He described such vehicles as too expensive to produce and as a transitional push to all-electric cars and trucks.

“There is no extra part to this,” Royce said. “This is a really electrified, performance-oriented system.”

Aside from the company’s abandonment of PHEVs, officials said the extra weight of additional batteries and plug-in technologies would reduce the vehicle’s performance. The all-electric Corvette will be heavier but benefit from the nearly instantaneous torque and driving dynamics of other electric vehicles to make up for the weight gain.

“The mission of this car was to perform, to perform, to perform,” said Mike Kogiba, Corvette chief development engineer. “Every kilogram or pound had to work its way up from a collective point of view…it hurt performance, plain and simple.”

CNBC channel Phil LeBeau Contribute to this report.