![[VIDEO] Is this the Sound of the 2027 Corvette Grand Sport's New 6.6L V8?](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2025/12/121325_7.jpg)
Our friend Rick ‘Corvette’ Conti has been one of the most vocal believers that Chevy is coming out with a Grand Sport model and by all accounts, it will arrive fairly soon for the 2027 model year.
Rick has even been saying that when the Grand Sport does come out, it will be the focus point for the remaining years of C8 sales, and he believes it will surpass Z06 and even Stingray to become the top selling car in the Corvette model lineup.
That’s a pretty strong prediction, but we did see the Grand Sport outsell the regular Corvettes back in C6 and sales of the C7 Grand Sport were really good as well, though it certainly never surpassed Stingrays in sales. But what are we going to see in the 2027 Corvette Grand Sport that’s different than the previous years? The correct answer is a new engine!
Along with the 2027 Corvette Grand Sport, General Motors is expected to release a new sixth generation small block 6.6L V8 engine that will replace the LT2 V8 that is currently used in the Stingray and E-Ray. This new 6.6-liter V8 engine – which Rick believes will be called the LS6 – is expected to increase engine performance upwards to somewhere between 525 to 550 horsepower. That would be a significant bump in power from the current LT2’s 495-hp.
It’s obviously not the first GM engine to wear the LS6 designation. We know that LS6s back in 1971 were 454 cubic inch monsters with 425-hp on tap. We would see LS6 return again with the debut of the 2001 Corvette Z06. For the C5 generation, the LS6 engine made 385 horsepower from the 346 cubic inch blocks and that would grow to 405-hp in 2002.
Rick claims to have an audio file from inside a car as it’s being driven and you can hear it for yourself. He starts the conversation about the Grand Sport and the LS6 at around the 2:15 timestamp and you can hear it at 3:45. The exhaust burbles and the feedback it provides sounds pretty exciting and so hopefully it will be worthy of wearing the legendary LS6 engine RPO.
For the rest of the video, Rick talks about December Allocations and he has some additional thoughts on TREMEC’s manual transmission for the C8 Corvette.
Source:
Rick Conti / YouTube
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I don’t see the LS6 engine replacing the LT2 in the stingray or Eray for 2027 cars. What would be the point of the 2027 stingray selling along side the Grand sport?
Looking forward to 2027 Grand Sport Corvette!!
My next Vette!
I’m perfectly happy with my 2020 C8 Z51. It is capable of 0-60 in 2.8 seconds which is super car territory. So a Grand Sport might do it in 2.7 seconds. Will that make me want to trade in my C8 Z51? Not likely. Most people who want a C8 already have one. I don’t see a huge market for the Grand Sport but I guess they need to do something to keep the C8 alive in its 8th year of production. Only time will tell if this comes to fruition and if so, if it made financial sense for Chevrolet.
Yes! Bring on the C8 Tremec Manual!!!
With the LS3 prominently featured in the C6, and “LT3” still being available, it seemed like such a slam dunk for the new 6.6’s moniker, but I didn’t stop to consider that it’s actually the first representative of an all-new 6th Gen Family of Small-Block V8s in need of it’s own naming structure.
“LU,” “LV,” and especially “LW” sound terrible. “LX” would have been sweet, but the more I think of it, going from the brief C4 series of LTs to LS, back to LT, then right back to LS is confusingly poetic in a perfectly GM kind of way.
Starting with “6” this time around is what seems goofy, but it is a name with brand equity going back to the ’70s. They probably don’t expect to be able to do too many more of these (though we’ve thought that since around 2009), and LS6 at least leaves room for an even hotter version in a new LS7, so, I guess, sign me up!
Neil, GM has always sold the GS alongside the Stingray, and they’ve always had the same drivetrain as the Stingray with the widebody from the Z06. GM is unlikely to spend the money developing a new engine for the Corvette and not using it in all the OHV-based cars. Building both the LT2 and the “LS6” (or whatever it turns out to be – i put no stock in Conti’s rumors) wouldn’t be cost effective for GM.
I have a 2023 lt2 supercharged its 708wheel hp and plenty for me would love a stick shift in this car and the 6.6 well I j d k. Yet but that sound of bubble sure was sweet ….
LS6? Really, LS6? this would be the third time that RPO had been used. Are they too stupid to come up with different codes for new engines? They did it with the LT1, the LS7, the ZL1 and probably a few others. Wait ’til they build a super exotic twin turbo, DOHC and call it a L88.
The C8 has been a success right from its spring 2020 intro that exceeded GM expectations as well as market media.
That said, the development, R&D, plant robotic configuration etc has been amortized.
What if the ‘base’ went away and the new base was the GS with the new 6.6?
If that were the case all production would be wide body thereby a production savings and simplification.
If introduced at the same price as the Stingray, a sales success volume wise garenteed.
The questions are, negative effect on 2020-2026 Stringray resales and would such a GS 6.6 550HP steel sales from the Z 06?
Just ‘spit ballin’.
Put the M6 Tremec in it and I would consider buying one. However it will probably cost twice as much as my 2019 Grand Sport. Inflation is wonderful ain’t it?
Ron Fellows was driving the Sunoco Trans Am Camaro in 96′ at Dallas and that was the Chevy that had a ‘song’ It had the ‘shriek’ of the Ferrari 333sp that was running in the WSC prototype class with it’s V12! That’s the sound GM is trying sooo desperately to achieve but failing to do so. Ask Fellows what the exhaust system that was on that Camaro and the 8’s will have obtained their ‘Holy Grail’.
My friend Dan and I were speaking to a Corvette engineer recently that we just happened to run into. My friend has a C8 Z06 and wanted to speak to the fellow Z driver. Anyway we were telling him about when Dan brought his Z to The Dragon and how wide that car is and how nerve-racking it was. The engineer said, “Oh I know, I was just up there not long ago driving a Grand Spor… Uh, er I mean E-Ray.”
So it’s a thing! But I’m pretty sure it’s gonna just be a wide body Stingray. Or de-electrified E-Ray. A new motor would be cool, maybe mid cycle change for the Stingray, E-Ray, and GS? I just don’t think the GS would have a different engine.
Grand Sport this Grand Sport that. Whatever. If I do upgrade my C8 Stingray, it will be for an E-Ray.
The uncomfortable truth is that more choice doesn’t always mean more sales. In fact, for many buyers, it means more hesitation, longer purchase times, and more post-purchase regret, “buyers remorse.” Bottom line: when customers are faced with dozen of near identical trims, tangled finance language, and endless “optional” extras, they defer, default…or disappear.
Many thanks,
Ray
Great story, Chase. One of the rumors we heard was that the engineers were hiding the Grand Sports in widebodies wearing E-Ray badges. A slip of the tongue is all it takes!!
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