C8 Z06

Frunk could disappear or get much smaller in future models to incorporate S-duct and/or radiators and/or electric front motors with their accompanying electronics.
I hope Z06/ZR1/Zora designers will not hesitate to sacrifice space for an overhead suitcase for max performance.

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I still want a daily driver. I'm not interested in a $120K weekend ride. Its why i'm waiting to order one yet. I need more information.

 

yeah, Z06 might not fit that bill, BUT, surely one of the 3 others will. Problem is, the wait!
Z06 most likely, will be 'less' daily and more track focused to really see what the platform is capable of on track. (even tho other variants will be faster, including E-Ray)

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FWIW...
I think the 2 variants that WILL maintain the "frunk" are the Stingray and Z06.

The question is how many additional variants will there be? The rumor mill has hinted as many as 4 additional C8 variants. Hell, why not? Porsche makes 128 versions of the 911
Grand Sport (Maybe the GS and E-Ray are one and the same): Will the GS exist in C8 form or will it become the "E-Ray"? If it does exist, could it be like a C7 GS (Z06 body with Stingray engine)?
E-Ray (See Grand Sport): OR...Some variation of Stingray or Z06 bodywork with front motors (and the LT2 engine from the Stingray). Whatever it ends up being, no frunk I think.
ZR1: TT DOHC flat plane crank engine with electric motors driving the front axle (frunk gone)
Zora: Who knows if they will make a C8 called "Zora". Or, maybe "Zora" becomes the top C8 and the ZR1 name takes a break. Or, maybe...(this is never ending but fun to speculate.

 

Here's a C8 Stingray mule from early 2018. Note the bulge in the frunk camo.
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"Grand Sport" was cancelled a while ago for E-Ray.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/10/c8-grand-sport-isnt-happening-e-ray-will-take-its-place-in-c8-corvette-lineup/
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2018? ummm, let me check my calendar. slightly more recent pics on previous page look the same.

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pity
An s duct, doing a center exhaust loosing weight would make for a serious machine.
The drunk and 2 golf bags are pointless on a z06

for those road drivers who want the Faster Vette there will be the eray zr1 and Zoe’s.

z06 to the extent it exists is for the track protested market.
Last z06 was a cop out.

 

Not sure what you're rolling your eyes at...in post 148, Boxerman asked about the bulge (and what might be under it) on the frunk camo on the CURRENT pictures. I answered this by saying that the C8 Stingray mules had this same thing and then provided a THREE year old picture for him.
Got it?

 

My understanding is that as with the centre exhaust its a function of comitee and budget. The centre exuast we read would require a different facia and some crash testing, thats budget allocation for what is a low volume model/derivative, whats the buisness case here. Then there is comitee, the centre exhaust looses the 2 golf bag capacity.
An Sduct may face similar hurdles.
Undoubatbly the vette team would like to do both, we've seen it on prototypes, so its an internal battle. Frtunately the c8 is sellign really well, so the team has good cred.

On the other hand , Gm has shown us with the c7 z06 that thye're perfectly willing to make shortcuts that yeild a fast car for 3 laps, instead of making the larger investment and doing it "right". In the case of the c7 it was putting the supercharged motor in, instead of developing the ls7 further. In the long run this decsion cost Gm in terms of lawsuits, blown motors and z06 cred. We can argue that with the recession its lucky the c7 happened at all, so it was different times and those were the compromses then.

The positive view, while theyre going to sell relatively few z06's. (the e-ray and zr1 will be more popular beause they will be less compromised/optimized cars and on road objectively a lot "faster "), the c8 is a sucess, thats makes the budget feasible, Gm wants to show it has the mettle and theyeve been comparing the z06 to Gt3 and speciale's, so it will be done right..


A shortcut on the c8 zo6 could be ignoring weight, not bothering with centre exhaust or s duct because they can use cf wheels and "active" aero to set 3 record laps. Which then would begs the question why the z06 exists. Could be as simple as to homologate the mtor for the c8r, and the c8r racing sucess provides halo for the whole vette line. Or the optimist in me says GM has done a great job witht he c8 so far, buisness is good, and theyll let the vette team show what they can really do. In which case as with the c6 z06 we'll get a car as fully optimized with out comprmise for the trackday enthusiast.

Fun to speculate, we'll know soon enough.

 

Sadly, "cred" means nothing. This is a business and the automotive graveyard is littered with cars that had "cred" but are also DEAD. Vipers had "cred"...how'd that work out?
FYI, GM sold 39,915 C7 Z06's from 2015-2019 model years.

 

A couple of things:
GM has NOT been comparing the C8 Z06 to anything (in writing), hell, they haven't even admitted the C8 Z06 exists. They have benchmarked the car using a GT2RS and 458, just like they benchmarked the Stingray with the 911 Carrera and Turbo.
I doubt there is ANY duct in the front hood, that's just used, left over Stingray camo.
I find it interesting that you are holding up the C6 Z06 as a "fully optimized" car, just because it was LIGHT. It WAS light...BUT... The C6 Z06 was a car FRAUGHT with issues, from the LS7 valve train, to the ridiculously bad seats, to the first year handling issues (that were fixed going forward), etc...

As far as the center exhaust, consider that a done deal. This late in the car's gestation, there is no way the center exhaust is not part of the production car.

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/articles/c8-corvette-z06-delayed-until-2023-model-year-according-to-new-report/

Z06 delayed until 2023.

 

^^^
I must have missed the GM announcement revealing WHEN the C8 Z06 was SUPPOSED to be...REVEALED
C8 Corvette Z06 Won't Arrive Until 2023 Model Year (gmauthority.com)

The article has more "rumor has it", "supposedly", "has likely been pushed back" then I've ever seen. "GMAuthority"...that's a laugh. NO ONE and I do mean NO ONE on the Corvette team is saying anything to anybody about the release of any of the C8 variants. It's not worth losing your job over. So, this "piece" has as much gravity as me saying the Z06 will reveal in 2024. Also known a "click bait".

 

I'm not sure why they need a Z06 next year anyway. They are just beginning international and right hand drive cars. Surely they can sell 5000 of them a year or why would they bother?

So how many Z06's can they sell a year? 5000? The factory is at full capacity now at about 35000 units a year. Does anyone see the Stingray dropping 10K units next year? I sure don't. Some dip? Yes. But 10,000 less?

Plus my guess is GM is hot to trot to sell an all electric 4WD version for marketing reasons ASAP.

 

Yep with a huge backlog and unfulfilled orders why introduce a new derivative. The new derivatives are usualy there to uphold sales and keep excitement. unless overall production could be increased, taking away cars from regular c8 orders could be counterproductive.

the good news is the sucess of the C8 gives the vette a strong lease on life, gives those who pushed for a more radical car power within the ranks, and gives Gm courage to try more. The extra time possibly also means there is more time to develop the derivatives(z06,e ray, zr1 and zora) further..

 

The problem is capacity. They cannot expand capacity much above 35K cars a year even in a double shift.

 

yes.
And in two or so years according to prior patterns regular sales will taper and slowly decline. These get filled with special versions that also have more profit. Eventualy total sales of all versions falls into the low teens or less and we get the c9.

The variance of this playbook we now see at porche where the special versions come out within a year. This gives halo to the regular models so arguably maintains sales of those. These special versions are also significant profit centres in thier own right and therefore very worthwhile business. As a special version only sells in comparatively limited numbers per year due to demand and production restraints, stretching the lifecycle of the limited production version seems to still keep demand tension, satisfy more customers and make great business sense if the special version is not a loss leader..
Porche can sell every GT3/GT2GT4 it makes. Better to sell a few thousand per year for 5 years than the same number per year for 2 years.

Vette seems to be taking a lot of pages out the porche playbook. As is ferrari with the 296 where you can order the street/track version from the begetgo.

yes production constraints and emmand mean a z06 now might be conterprodctive, but it seems the plan is for the vette as with porche911 is to offer multiple versions of the car built off one base platform, as opposed to a few hotter special editions as the model runs out..

 

Yep this is a danger. Good part is were at the point reached by sportsbikes 25 years ago, the performance is so high/extreme that the raw numbers cease to be the key differentiators. The vette is also already last decades supercar, being big and heavy, a lamorghini aventador that works. The others are going towards small and lighter. The vette therefore owns its space. As a road car for the American highway and city the vettes size proposition works and on road the weight does not matter. Im sure the Zr1 and Zora will on pape(r 0-60 and 3 laps) be well in the hunt.

For a sucessful z06 the metrics are different. Today many gearheads who want to really excercise their cars go to trackdays. In fact there has been global explosion of tracks and events. Its the civil way to utilize your sporstcar in a speed limited, trafficked pedestrian world. The GT3 and Gt4 are not the "fastest" porche in a road context. they are however durable and capable out the box on track and can sustain pace without fade all day. They are the out the box weapon of choice f you can afford the entry. Thats a very different metric. On any given trackday there are literaly hundreds of cars, at mutiple tracks around the nation, its now a big market, one I would like to see a z06 acheive true gretness in, weight may well be the insurmountable enemy here, but we'll see.

 

You guys are missing the point, comparing the C8 to previous models...BOTH model years of the C8 (2020/2021) have been way BELOW normal production (35,000 cars/yr.). 2020 produced just 20,000 cars and 2021 is going to about the same. So, with 2 model years in the bank, GM is DOWN 30,000 cars. I think it will be late 2023 before we start seeing the tapering off of Stingray sales.

 

I don’t know when they will catch up. Do know, currently building 173 new ones currently in BG. That’s 5,000 a month.

I bet they will announce the Z06 this Fall/winter.

Only can speculate when be available on config. Obviously, dealers already have long lists in queue.

 

I'm good with Z06 being delayed. Gives me more time to enjoy the fantastic C8.

 

I am officially on my dealers list for a Z06 as of today.
Same dealer I got my early production 2020 C8.
Locked in msrp pricing whatever that will be when announced.
It will be a while but figured I should get on their list while its short.

 

Sounds Fantastic
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/07/19/2023-chevy-corvette-z06-c8-video-sound-flat-plane-crankshaft/