GM reportedly may produce an electric Corvette SUV as part of a new sporty line of EVs
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- General Motors may expand the Corvette line, turning it into a family of high-performance electric vehicles, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.
- The most likely vehicle to come out of the project would be a Corvette-branded crossover, the sources said.
- The vehicle could arrive as soon as 2025 and would likely have a profile like the Lamborghini Urus or Ford Mustang Mach-E, Bloomberg reported.
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Last year Ford launched the Mustang Mach-E, an electric crossover with a sports car's moniker. Now it appears General Motors may follow in the Blue Oval's footsteps.
GM wants to develop at least one new Corvette-inspired electric vehicle and may build out the brand into a family of performance vehicles, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the program.
The project, internally named "Project R" or "Brand R," already has designers working on several Corvette-branded concept vehicles, according to Bloomberg. The intention is to appeal to a wide range of buyers by selling vehicles that offer Corvette-like performance but in a more comfortable, spacious package, the outlet's sources said.
The most likely vehicle to come out of Project R, if it moves forward, would be a high-performance crossover with a profile similar to that of Lamborghini Urus or Mustang Mach-E, Bloomberg reported. The Corvette SUV could hit the market by 2025, and any addition to the Corvette lineup would be an all-electric vehicle, the sources said.
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GM is embarking on an ambitious electrification plan that includes a new logo, a $27 billion investment in new technologies over the next five years, and the roll-out of more than two-dozen new EVs by 2025. At the CES 2021 technology conference this week, the automaker announced a new logistics-focused business unit called BrightDrop that will sell a battery-powered delivery van later this year.
A line of Corvette-branded EVs would be powered by GM's Ultium battery-and-motor platform that is set to underpin GM's upcoming EVs across the Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick brands. At CES 2021, Mike Simcoe, GM's vice president of design, said the Ultium platform would allow Chevrolet to introduce electric full-size pickups, crossovers, "and even high-performance vehicles."
GM has confirmed several new EVs set to arrive over the next few years, including the Cadillac Celestiq, Cadillac Lyriq, Chevrolet Bolt EUV, and GMC Hummer EV.
GM declined to comment to Bloomberg and did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.