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Corvette CX concept: Get a peek at the supercar’s electrified future
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 16, 2025
Chevrolet unveiled a glimpse at its supercar future Friday with the electric Corvette CX and hybrid CX.R Vision Gran Turismo race car concepts.
The dynamic duo are the first Corvette concepts since 2009 and introduce both radical and evolutionary features to America’s longest-running supercar. The pair represent the continued close collaboration between Corvette’s production and motorsports arms in formulating next-generation cars. Like the current-gen C8 (In Chevy-speak, C8 marks the eighth-generation car), General Motors Co.’s Charlotte-based motorsports engineers were intimately involved in the CX’s development.
Also like C8, the sleek CX concept has a mid-engine design, though its layout is (like Stellantis’s STLA Large platform that underpins the Charger muscle car) flexible to accommodate both battery-powered and internal combustion engine designs. Penned by Corvette’s Warren design studio, the winged CX concept is the winner of a design competition between GM’s Detroit, England and California studios.
Nick Dimbleby, GM
“GM designers across the studios were asked to imagine where we could take Corvette. Now it’s time to reveal the ultimate concept in the series, the Corvette CX concept, a vision of what Corvette can be in the future,” said Executive Design Director for Chevrolet Phil Zak at a media preview ahead of Friday’s unveiling at the exclusive Quail Motorsports Gathering at Monterey Car Week in California. “The CX is the future of where we’re going with the car. The CX.R Vision … was designed exclusively for racetrack and is a look into the future of Corvette GT racing.”
The Quail event is an indication of the brand’s elevated direction. The CX follows the introduction of another X-factor vehicle — the all-wheel-drive, hybrid ZR1X, Corvette’s first $200,000-plus hypercar — that also appeared at Quail with a Quail Silver special edition production model. Both CX concepts will be available to drive on the Gran Turismo 7 gaming platform later this month.
Veteran auto analyst and supercar expert Karl Brauer of ISeeCars.com recently returned from the Longtail Rally, an exclusive, cross-country celebration of supercar performance, and applauded the CX concept’s upscale aspirations.
Nick Dimbleby, GM
“I’ve done the Longtail Rally for the last five years,” said Brauer, who has owned multiple supercars, including a Ford GT. “Every year there’s between 20 and 30 supercars — Porsches, Lamborghinis, McLarens, Ferraris. I’ve never seen a Corvette and I don’t think they ever will make the cut, as long as they keep putting two golf clubs in the trunk and making it heavy and over-styled.”
There is no mention of space for golf clubs in the CX press release. The concepts’ lofty ambition is apparent in their lightweight, carbon-fiber tub — an exotic construction common in race cars like the Cadillac V-Series.R and Chevrolet-powered IndyCars. While stiffening the chassis for better handling, the lightweight carbon tub should help offset the heavy electrified drivelines. The concepts continue the ZR1X’s hypercar direction with all-wheel-drive powertrains and over 2,000 horsepower.
They get there in different ways.
Nick Dimbleby, GM
The silver CX is all-electric with four motors, one powering each wheel for torque-vectoring all-wheel drive. A big 90-kWh battery is mounted low in the chassis. In a world where many Corvettes don’t drive further than the country club — or race track — battery range won’t be an issue. The CX dovetails with GM’s determination to be a zero-emission manufacturer in the not-too-distant future.
The race car concept, on the other hand, is a bow to the realities of endurance racing and the inherent drawbacks of a heavy, low-range battery. Powered by synthetic fuel, a high-revving V-8 engine drives the rear wheels through an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. Three electric motors — one for each front wheel and the third incorporated into gearbox — assist the engine for low-end torque.
The CX.R hybrid system is an echo of the hybrid, gas-electric, V8-powered system in GM’s Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar, which currently races in global sportscar series (the current Corvette C8.R is V-8 only). Synfuels are reportedly under consideration for Cadillac’s Formula One program. Currently under international political pressure to produce a heavy, 50-50 hybrid gas-electric powertrain, F1 could change the game with synfuels, allowing for a more visceral, V8-focused drivetrain like that in the Corvette.
Nick Dimbleby, GM
Analyst Brauer warned of going all-in on an electric drivetrain, however, pointing to the sales struggles of the Dodge Charger Daytona EV that kicked the brand’s traditional V-8 to the curb in favor of battery power.
“A pure electric Corvette production lineup will be a flop,” he said. “You’ll get some core electric fans (but) the rest of the performance world won’t be interested.”
Both concept cars have a glass window behind the cockpit to view their different drivetrains. The window also shows off the cars’ sophisticated suspension geometry with wing-shaped A-arms co-developed with GM’s Charlotte race shop.
GM
The CX’s futuristic red interior features seats fixed to the carbon tub and steering and pedal box controls that automatically conform to the driver presets. A racing-style steering wheel cups a digital control screen, but the big digital innovation is a next generation head-up display where the pixels are embedded into the entire windscreen.
More innovation below decks includes a so-called Vacuum Fan System with fans that draw air through the open-channel bodywork. The aerodynamic system produces downforce by directing airflow over a rear diffuser that works with a high rear wing.
This state-of-the-art tech is wrapped in a sleek, athletic exterior — complete with a fighter-jet-inspired canopy that lifts for easy access to the cockpit and front suspension. Radical as it is, the design still bears signature ‘Vette touches like a lunging nose, horizontal “chine” line delineating upper-and-lower bodywork, and dual-element taillights.
GM
“While the shape of a Corvette has always been expressive and forward-looking, it is the reason people want to come and work at Chevrolet,” said design chief Zak. “The CX and CX.R Vision Gran Turismo demonstrate our design teams stepping away from the constraints of production vehicles and unleashing their creativity. Through this exercise, we’ve added to Corvette and defined the design direction for Corvette moving forward.”
Concept does not always determine future, however.
The last 2009 Corvette concept, after all, was a front-engine design just two years after the first mid-engine Corvette had been approved internally for production (and then delayed due to GM’s 2009 bankruptcy), and a decade before the 2020 C8 would debut as Corvette’s first mid-engine supercar.
“Maybe GM and the Corvette are evolving in the right direction with the CX,” said Brauer. “Go upscale, go carbon-fiber, but make sure there’s a V-8 in there.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.