Why Does the E-Ray Exist? Because Owners Never Take Their High Performance Vettes to the Track

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Why Does the E-Ray Exist? Because Owners Never Take Their High Performance Vettes to the Track

Photo Credit: Chevrolet


As we learn more about the 2024 Corvette E-Ray – the third model in the C8 Corvette lineup, we are actually witnessing a dynamic change happening within the Corvette program. This is not about a discussion of Corvettes transitioning from ICE to EV, but rather, how Chevrolet now has the opportunity to provide the right kind of Corvette to their customers.

Earlier, we shared a quote from Executive Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter about the mission of the E-Ray vs the Z06. Paraphrasing, he basically says the Z06 is a scalpel for the track while the E-Ray is for everything else.

In a new Jalopnik article, Tadge expanded on the subject and it’s becomes crystal clear that the thinking in the program has evolved with the direction of the C8. Instead of providing the highest performance car for the money, the goal now is to give Corvette buyers all the performance they want, but in a Corvette loaded with equipment that’s more dedicated to their driving experiences.

Here’s the quote from Tadge:

“Historically, as you moved up the Corvette line, you got to more and more extreme performance. If you wanted to pay more for a Corvette, get a ‘better’ one, you always got pushed into the performance realm. So some of our well-heeled customers check all the boxes and end up driving a car on racing slicks, and they’re just driving back and forth to work, they never intend to go to the track. We only had that single stream, that single dimension to differentiate the cars. And it always put us in a little bit of a bind — we want to do a car that’s super capable on the track, but we don’t want to make it completely unlivable on the road. There’s a lot of compromises there.”

Why Does the E-Ray Exist? Because Owners Never Take their High Performance Vettes to the Track


Both the E-Ray and Z06 provide similar performance and they start withing a few thousand dollars of each other. But how do you plan on driving it? If you’re planning on taking a Corvette to the track, you’ll want the Corvette that can redline up to 8600 rpm and wears super sticky tires. If you’re the road trip couple who enjoys traveling and wants to extend their time behind the wheel into three or four seasons, you’re going to want the E-Ray.

Over the years, Corvette’s Exterior Design Manager Kirk Bennion and his talented staff of designers have done similar design studies about Corvettes tailored to the two types of drivers. We saw back in the C6 days where the team worked to come up with a production autocross/track car like the 2009 Competition Sport Edition, and the C7’s Atlantic and Pacific design packages were offered with the first being a GT cruiser and the second set up as a street racer. In the C8 era, the engineering team has been included and we are now seeing the Corvette program evolving to better suit the buyer’s preferences.

While the Z06 is the pinnacle of performance for Corvettes on the racetrack, depending on demand and availability, GM could very well offer the Z06 GT3R that’s currently under development by Corvette Racing as a customer-ordered car, thereby growing the track-based offerings to even more extremes. On the other end of the spectrum, the Corvette EV lineup comes into play with a rumored four-seat sedan and a performance crossover/SUV in the offering.

Why Does the E-Ray Exist? Because Owners Never Take their High Performance Vettes to the Track


When Jalopnik asked Tadge about customers choosing the E-Ray over the Z06, he says:

“I’m hoping the people who should be in this car end up in this car. What I don’t want to happen is for people to hear all this amazing stuff — the Z06, it’s the greatest car in the world! — and they really don’t understand what a pinnacle performance car is like. They get in, and it’s like, ‘Wait a minute, I thought they said this car rides smooth.’ It rides smooth for what it is, but you could get turned off of Corvettes by it. It’s not for everybody.”

“We want people to get the best fit for them. We think there’s probably a lot of people who would be very happy with [the E-Ray]. There will be some people who still buy the Z06, because you can’t get the big carbon wing on this car. Some people, it’s all about peacocking. They’ll get that car. But at least we’re offering them a pretty rational choice.”


Source:
Jalopnik.com

Related:
[SPIED] 2024 Corvette E-Ray Displayed Inside the Corvette Assembly Plant
Chevrolet Officially Reveals the Electrifying New 2024 Corvette E-Ray
Build Your Dream E-Ray with the 2024 Corvette E-Ray Visualizer

 



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13 COMMENTS

  1. All I can say is that I am plenty happy with my ’23 Z51, because it checks all the boxes for its original intended and current use. The car is just like the ladyfriend- fun all around, powerful, sexy, turning heads and commanding respect no matter where I take her. The only thing missing is William Daniels voicing the navi system!

    If I wanted a track weapon, then I’d do what it took to get a proper racing car, like the aforementioned Z06 GT3.R, because I’d probably never take a streetworthy Z06, or any road car for that matter, on any racetrack. This said, I still think the Z06 is neat, but the E-Ray is a more logical step. And yes, it would be bad-a$$ to see a turbo-electric hybrid ZR1. Just because.

    Any Corvette, from an aftermarket trailer park special C3 to the C8 Z06 and everything in between, is a great car. Name a Ferrari, Lambo or Porsche whose odometer has turned over twice. Yeap, thought not…but my neighbor’s ’78 Indy Pace Car look alike has!

    This said, enough with “Corvette SUV” talk. Such an abomination will never be a Vette!

  2. We got stuck with a 4,100lb “hyrbid corvette” that no educated Corvette owner wants, because of the Climate Change Scam being pushed by the criminal Democrats and Globalists ruining our country. If GM actually LISTENED, we would have got mechanical AWD and twin turbos years ago, which has been the Gold Standard for the last 30 years. Kudos to GM for the base C8 Stingray, but unless the release a turbo V8 C8 model at the same price point that ZO6 and ERAY now share, the performance C8 models are FAILURES.

  3. John Spartan — “Any Corvette, from an aftermarket trailer park special C3 to the C8 Z06 and everything in between, is a great car.” Ummm, aren’t you missing something, or should I say, somethings? Surely the glaring omissions were not intentional, were they?

  4. Where was this lucid and rational understanding of Corvette owner track use when GM product planned C8 transmission options, or lack thereof?? The only justification ever offered for not having a manual is that a dual clutch is faster around a track, especially when the C7 manual take-rate was a whopping 25% of production. Sure it’s faster at Willow Springs. But it’s also incredibly boring and disengaging to drive on the street at legal speeds, and next to zero Corvette owners track their cars.

  5. Another “dynamic change” happening is that GM is pricing the new models out of reach for the average Joes that can barely afford base Stingrays.

  6. LAMBORGHINI AND FERRARI ARE JUST PRODUCING DUAL CLUTCH CARS, AND ARE COMING
    OUT WITH HYBRIDS.
    FERRARI ALREADY DID.
    GM HAS NO PROBLEM SELLING THE C8 SO FAR WITH THIS TRANS, AND IT GETS GREAT REVIEWS.

  7. Agree with TT C 8. GM should be building attainable Corvettes for the masses and stop focusing on models that only the elites can own. This was Chevy’s program for 69 years. What’s changed? Woke people peddling bogus climate change.

  8. Us baby boomers made the Corvette a success Going woke we get you going broke
    sticking to gas engines for the most part Holding on to my standard trans 2017 Z06

  9. Peacocking = “display oneself ostentatiously.”

    Tadge with a sick burn on Z06 buyers; “There will be some people who still buy the Z06, because you can’t get the big carbon wing on this car. Some people, it’s all about peacocking. They’ll get that car.”

    That’s hilarious! Even funnier, most of the ‘peacocks’ who buy the Z can’t even order the wing! LOLOL.

  10. Design Manager Kirk Bennion and his “talented” staff are responsible for the HIDEOUS tacked on plastic and design of the boomerang and wishbone side intakes. That, combined with the lack of a exotic Lime Green like the NFT auction ZO6 and a matte black like the CT5 Blackwing, means it’s time for him to retire and be replaced. Give us a Ferrari or McLaren style side intake, or AT LEAST the C8-R design and some modern exotic colors like I mentioed. Cacti ain’t it.

  11. The only thing that can make up the the crap show that the performance models have been is a twin turbo V8 C8 at the same $105k price point that is already shared with the heavyweight ERAY, and the overpriced and under produced ZO6.

  12. @TT C8
    There is a certain cadre of individuals who want supercars in the gaudy, ostentatious colors you mention. Although they are the individuals who draw the most attention to themselves (this is, of course, by design), they actually represent a small, but obnoxious, percentage of the super car market that Chevrolet has made a wise choice to steer away from. If you really want a C8 in an outlandish color that bellows your arrival to the entire world, everywhere you go, that’s what wraps are for.

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