Chevrolet’s desire to build an electric Corvette is dissipating. It’s been three years since General Motors President Mark Reuss teased a “fully electric, Ultium-based Corvette,” but Chevy isn’t in a rush to make that dream a reality. As the Corvette’s boss, Tony Roma, puts it bluntly in a recent interview: “Nobody wants that.”
Roma told Autocar that he would not build an electric Corvette that did not live up to the model’s heritage. “The badge means something to people,” he told the publication. Roma said that when people buy a Corvette, they do it because they want “something special”—they want to be “engaged in the art of driving.” He continued:
‘I’m not gonna make an EV and put a Corvette badge [that isn’t worthy] of the brand’s 70-plus years of history. Nobody wants that. Sorry, I will stand firm on that. The badge means something to people.’ — Tony Roma, Executive Chief Engineer of the Corvette
And there are plenty of engineering challenges that would hinder the Bowtie brand from making something that Corvette buyers want. According to Roma, an electric Corvette would need the proper power-to-weight ratio with the electric components, the right price, and the right range; and even then, there are other challenges beyond that.
Roma admits that soon, every car will be “incredibly fast,” and that the Corvette would need to be “engaging” in new ways because speed and 0-60 mph times are becoming “meaningless” metrics with electric vehicles. Once Chevy can “figure out” how to make an electric ‘Vette stand out, “we will,” he says, “but we’re not going to do an electric version of the car just to do it.”
He said the Corvette will become electric when an “all-electric car is better than what we have right now. And until then, we’ll continue to do what we’re doing right now.” He added that Chevy needs to get “that visceral connection, that personality that you want to engage with, in an electric car.”
Photo by: DW Burnett / Motor1
It’s not an outright no, even if it won’t happen soon. Roma told Autocar that “we’ll get there when it’s time,” which echoes earlier statements he made after becoming the Corvette’s new boss last year. He said just months after taking over that Chevy wasn’t “going to apply electrification just for the sake of it.”
GM CEO Mary Barra supported Roma, adding that the company would be “guided by the consumer,” and an electric Corvette isn’t something people want right now. That might change down the road, so one should “never say never,” like Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder.