On Saturday evening, the Corvette Nation tuned into the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction to watch the sale of the first RETAIL 2025 Corvette ZR1 that will wear VIN 001. While the big news was that Mr.Hendrick purchased the “Unthinkable” ZR1 for $3.7 Million, some eagle-eyed members of the Corvette Nation watching the History Channel’s broadcast caught a updated job description for Corvette’s vehicle chief engineer Josh Holder, who introduced the ZR1 to the auction crowd.
Josh is the Corvette vehicle chief engineer and has been in that position since 2020 following a major reorganization within GM. Josh took the vehicle chief engineer position after Ed Piatek was promoted to Chief Engineer of Future EV Product. With the retirement of Tadge Juechter in July 2024, GM named as his replacement Tony Roma, who was previously served as Cadillac’s V-series chief and was responsible for the Cadillac CELESTIQ EV.
We mention all that because during Saturday’s Barrett-Jackson auction, the banner under Josh Holder listed his as the “Vehicle Chief Engineer – Corvette ICE,” with the ICE standing for Internal Combustion Engines. Of course, that begs the question, does GM also have a “Vehicle Chief Engineer – Corvette EVs?”
One of the more persistent rumors between C7 and C8 was that Chevy might pursue a dual production strategy where the C7s and C8s would be built together. This rumor was actually confirmed by members of the Corvette Team years later who thought that customers might not fully embrace the mid-engine Corvette. But once they saw how good it was, that idea was scrapped and Chevy went all in on the C8 Corvette.
Could it be that Chevrolet is also looking at a similar dual-tract for producing a Corvette EV while also providing customers with C8 Corvettes powered by reliable and powerful gas engines? There have been quite a few rumors that Chevy is working on an EV sports car, and possibly a Corvette-badged SUV or sedan as well. And with the long lead times required for development as we saw with the C8 Z06 and even the E-Ray, it is more than likely that engineers currently have a working EV prototype they are testing right now.
Most automotive manufactures have cooled their EV development over the last year due to lower consumer interest plus the high cost of entry, as well as concerns about the ability for manufacturers to actually turn a profit on EV products. A report two years ago from Auto Forecast Solutions had suggested that a Corvette-branded SUV would be coming in 2025 while a pure Corvette EV would happen in 2028. Both of these EV products would have been built at GM’s Grand River Plant in Lansing, MI. While its been rumored that these two Corvette EV projects have been pushed back several years, seeing Josh Holder listed as Vehicle Chief Engineer, Corvette ICE does seem to confirm that GM will have a dual-production strategy when it comes to introducing full electrification to the Corvette line-up.
Source:
MidEngineCorvetteForum.com
Related:
GM Restructuring Moves the Corvette Engineering Team to Autonomous and Electric Vehicles
[VIDEO] Autoline Says Electric Stingray Coming in 2029, Corvette SUV in 2030
GM Might Build the Corvette EV and Electric Cadillac Sedans at its Lansing Grand River Facility
Subscribe Now:
Good catch! Good question! It will be interesting to follow these developing concepts.
Keep the ICE going if “drill baby drill” is in affect.
It was a sale and not an auction.
I hope there is a Corvette EV engineer. We just don’t yet know about that person.
Fed EV mandate policy was changed to re-establish consumer choice of propulsion once again – good for at least for the next 4 years. Classic car owners can also breathe easier as their cars were about to be the next targets of heavy handed government.
Comments are closed.