The E-Ray itself is essentially the current C8, without really significant visual changes, though there does appear to be an E-Ray badge just ahead of the side air intake, and it seems to have the side aero strakes found on the Z07. The logo design for the E-Ray is pretty conventional sports car-type stuff, with the E forming something that could be seen as an electrical plug, with a blue color often used to connote electrical things. Our Corvette sleuth found what appears to be the color choices for the E-Ray:
…which is a good set of real, vibrant colors, confirming my theory that fun colors primarily exist only on cheap cars and high-end sports cars, the ends of the market where people are either too rich or too poor to give a shit about people who are afraid of color. I like the choice of Cacti here, too. They also screengrabbed the wheel selection:
…the ones on the car there leave plenty of space to see the massive brake rotors, and remind me a bit of starfish, keeping with the aquatic stingray/ray motif.
From the rear, it looks like the hot air exhaust grilles are body-colored instead of the more often-seen black, but it’s possible that’s an option, too. If they’re only body-colored on the E-Ray, that could be an easy way to visually identify these when they hit the road. Another person captured a shot of the dash:
Forum member KK87 notes that the redline appears to be the same, and the steering wheel has one more button. [Editor’s Note: Here’s me crawling around a largely-disassembled C8 Corvette:
It’s fairly obvious that, from the onset of the C8’s development, GM package-protected for a big battery in that center tunnel, which is not there for exhaust (since it’s rear-engine) or for drivetrain components on rear-drive cars. -DT]. Even if we knew this was coming, who doesn’t like a good leak? Good sleuthing, KK87.
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Although a Corvette ad featuring Hank Hill would be fantastic. He’d be all ambivalent about it. “It sure is a nice looking car and fast too, I tell you what. But expensive. So buy it if you can afford it and drive responsibly. Thank you and good night.”
https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2022/12/07/video-emelia-hartford-unboxes-and-takes-delivery-of-her-2023-corvette-z06/#comments
So there are fake owners and enthusiasts?
I can only conclude that “real” as an adjective applied to people who definitely exist actually means “asshole”. See non-Native Americans who call themselves “real Americans” for another example. This may also explain clearly scripted “reality” television.
…that being said here’s my mandatory “not all boomers are like this” statement. I’ve met plenty of folks in that age bracket who don’t act like this/I’m sure a Corvette forum is just about the worst possible sample that there is.
Why do car companies feel like so many electric vehicles need to tell you their electric via their name? And placing an “E” before or after the name is just about the worst way to do it (e-Tron, Mach-E, EUV…)
Although, I’ve been informed by a mathemagician friend that “E” represents some mathematical constant and therefore could be a number in some contexts. I doubt that was what Ford was going for with that stupid name, though.
Mach Taco… sounds like a great name for a taco place with fast service!
Even in that AARP 2001 Buick century gold color, it still looks like a supercar with a face that is equal parts aggressive and somehow friendly, and that’s just rad as all hell to me.
And then there’s dat ass. It’s like somebody inflated the back end of a Camaro, and then jumped up and down on it.
Mind you, I didn’t hate it until I saw it in real life. In photos, it’s OK. Not the prettiest ‘Vette ever, but fine. In person, I just can’t get past how little I like the looks. This opinion isn’t coming from anywhere but myself, either—everyone I was reading seemed to like the look in the runup to its release, but the first time I saw one in the wild I was so disappointed.
My first glance at the C8 photos was similar to yours: “What dafuq they doing with all those angles?”
But shortly after, I realized that putting all these together just works and that this angular construction is in its own way, nearly as initially shocking as the first Countach, and much more attractive.
Once I saw one in person, I was fully won over. I love the C8. Including dat ass.
I’d rather have round taillights, or some other elements of Corvette heritage included in the design even though I don’t like the earlier models nearly as much, but that’s minor and unnecessary criticism.
I’m drooling over them and they are literally motivating me to get myself in gear and create some additional income. I can hardly wait for my first track day in a C8 Corvette.
As soon as a record or artist receives a lot of praise there are always throngs of people that come out of the woodwork to explain why it’s undeserved. I think a lot of it comes from wanting to prove that your taste is more interesting that regular peoples’…and of course groupthink takes over after a while.
I personally try to form my own opinions of things as much as I can…and to be quite honest I’m a bit of a normie in that I generally think that when something earns universal praise it’s probably for good reason and worth your time.
Wait, am I being contrarian because most people don’t like it?
I6 FTW.
That being said, even though I consider myself to be an environmentally conscious person there’s no way in hell I’d opt for this over one of the V8s. I guess there’s an argument for it if you’re going to daily it but I’d personally never buy a dedicated sports car as a daily…it would always be a weekend ride, and I’d imagine most Corvettes are bought for similar reasons.
I’d feel some guilt if I was driving a V8 to work every day and getting like 9 MPG in traffic but if I’m just ripping it on the weekend on country roads? Eh. The emissions and gas consumption are small potatoes at that point and even spirited backroad driving doesn’t usually produce the worst fuel economy overall. My Kona N usually does 22-24 or so when I’m out ripping it on empty roads which is better than its city ratings.
That being said-I think depreciation is going to hit these first gen EVs like a freight train. Due to how quickly technology is evolving they’re going to be dated and surpassed about as fast as cell phones are…and things like this, the Taycan, etc aren’t going to hold their value in several years when buying new will essentially double the range.
At that point there are going to be some interesting secondhand EV buys IMHO. It wouldn’t surprise me to see first gen EVs in reasonable shape selling for way less than 50% of their original MSRP. At that point they may be compelling buys as far as performance is concerned if you can live with the lackluster range.
I think you inadvertently made the case against doing so in your first post. Emissions from two seat sports cars are miniscule in the scheme of things, and at least to me, the hybrid/AWD feels like it would detract from the driving experience in a tangible way. I don’t feel nearly the same opposition to the S63 from earlier this week as I do with this, even though conceptually they are the same.
I’m not sure what the realistic solution is. Obviously a gas tax is the cleanest and simplest. No one buying an expensive sports car to drive 3000 miles a year is going to care, but a truck owner might. I just wish we had the political will to do so vs bandaid solutions that are worse for everyone but easier to sell to low-info voters.
Big leaps in battery tech are very rare, and take a huge amount of time to bring to commercialization. John Goodenough started working on lithium batteries in 1980 (building on research starting in the 60s), and it was almost 3 decades before they saw widespread use. Current (pun!) improvements to lithium batteries are mostly related packaging and manufacturing- small, incremental reductions of mass and cost, with minor chemistry tweaking. Right now, we don’t even know what the next great leap forward looks like in terms of chemistry and design. IMO, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of an equivalent advancement (nickel/copper -> lithium) reaching commercial viability before 2035 at the earliest. And while I’m not a gambler, that’s something I’m actually willing to put money on.
Also as a Vette fan basically my entire life (I turn 47 in a a few weeks and I fell in love at 3 if you ask my mom when I saw my first old school Stingray) I really like the look of the C8. It took a bit for me to grow into the C7, and it was the first one to make me have to fall in love. I have a friend in Detroit (who happens to be a GM engineer) and I saw my first one there in the dark copper color on the road on a cloudy day and it was just heart stopping gorgeous. Hearing the Z06 on the track you can’t believe you’re hearing an American car. My wife, thought it was a Ferrari, just by the sound. I can’t disagree. Now this…this, is pretty amazing, in my opinion. When you look, what 10 years ago at the P1, 918 and the LaFerrari with these drivetrains to get that level of power, and here we are with a Corvette with that power for roughly 10% of that cost (or less), says a lot of what GM engineers have put together. I can’t wait to see, cost, performance and everything. It’s always been the poor man’s Ferrari, and that’s not so much the case anymore as it’s started to rise in price, but it’s still one hell of a bargain for what you get.
