Up Close With the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray: Breaking With Tradition (Again)
If you’re a staunch Chevrolet Corvette traditionalist, the last few years may have had you clutching your gold chains. First, Chevy upended about 65 years of tradition with the redesigned 2020 Corvette by fundamentally changing the car’s architecture from a front-engine layout to a mid-engine design and axing the available manual transmission. Now, Chevrolet is introducing the first all-wheel-drive Corvette and, oh yes, it’s also a gas-electric hybrid. We got our first up-close look at the groundbreaking 2024 Corvette E-Ray at the 2023 Chicago Auto Show.
Related: More 2023 Chicago Auto Show Coverage
Specs, Performance and 0-60 MPH
The E-Ray’s specs are jaw-dropping. It boasts 655 total horsepower; 495 of that from the 6.2-liter LT2 V-8 and 165 from the front-mounted electric motor and 1.9-kilowatt-hour battery pack. Chevrolet says it’s the quickest production Corvette ever, capable of a 2.5-second 0-60 mph time and a quarter-mile run of 10.5 seconds at 130 mph. The electric motor powers the front wheels, and the lone transmission is the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic of other C8 Corvettes. Chevy is also pitching the “all-weather confidence” of the E-Ray’s eAWD powertrain; all-season tires are standard, but summer performance tires are available.
Exterior
The E-Ray’s wide-body styling essentially mirrors the 2023 Corvette Z06, with a couple of minor alterations. The five-spoke wheel design is an E-Ray exclusive (carbon-fiber wheels are available), but outside of that and subtle E-Ray badges on the lower body sides, it’s mostly indistinguishable from its Z06 sibling. If you want your E-Ray to stand out a bit more, Chevrolet offers a model-exclusive graphics package that adds Electric Blue body-length stripes. The E-Ray on the Chicago show floor was finished in a putty-colored Cacti Green hue with a gray interior, which looked relatively subdued compared to the Z06 in eye-searing Accelerate Yellow Metallic paint sitting next to it.
Interior and Cargo Space
Other than E-Ray-specific displays in the gauge cluster and touchscreen and a Charge+ button on the console (which activates a mode that maximizes the battery’s state of charge), the E-Ray’s interior is pretty much identical to other Corvettes. Though we didn’t have the opportunity to open up the body panels, Chevrolet says the E-Ray’s front and rear trunk capacity is 12.5 cubic feet — just a tick off the regular Corvette’s 12.6 cubic feet of volume. It’s nice that Chevy was able to add the AWD and hybrid hardware without significantly diminishing cargo space, which is already much better than average for a two-seat sports car.
Pricing and Release Date
The E-Ray is slated to go on sale later in the year with starting sticker prices just north of $100,000, which is slightly cheaper than similarly equipped Z06 models. And — hold onto your hats, gold chainers — a pure-electric Corvette is reportedly in the works, as well.
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