This Is What A British-Designed Electric Corvette Looks Like

Any Chevrolet Corvette traditionalists that baulked when the car finally went mid-engined for its current C8 generation may want to look away now. This unnamed concept car is designed to hint at where the Corvette might go next, and it’s a whole lot more radical than simply shifting the engine behind the driver.

For a start, it’s not been designed in Detroit, but in Royal Leamington Spa, in the traditional heartland of the UK’s car industry. It’s come out of General Motors’ new advanced design studio there, headed up by Julian Thomson, the lead designer of the original Lotus Elise and the concept that would become the Range Rover Evoque, among many other things.

Thomson and his team have reimagined the ‘Vette as a low-slung hypercar with a motorsport- and aviation-inspired construction and, yes, an electric powertrain.

The concept features active ducting and fan assistance to control airflow and suck it to the road, and in the envisioned track mode, fins pop up along the car’s spine to provide extra downforce. The suspension, meanwhile, is an F1-like pushrod setup, and much of the battery structure is embedded within the chassis.

You don’t have to look too far to find some Corvette heritage, though, as explained by Thomson: “One of the most unusual and significant aspects of our concept’s design is a feature known as Apex Vision.

“A nod to Corvette’s centerline focus, and inspired by the iconic ‘split window’ 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, this feature emphasizes a singular vertical central spine that is also a structural element, also providing a panoramic view of the road and surroundings.”

On the typically concept car-minimal inside an augmented reality display is built into that central spar. The cabin is accessed by powered butterfly doors, allowing the hypothetical occupants to drop down into a car that clocks in at just 1033mm tall.

So, can we expect to see this on sale in a few years’ time as the C9 Corvette? No, don’t be silly. But it does drop a hint at what we can expect from the next-gen car’s styling, and it won’t be the last preview we get this year. Several of GM’s other studios, which can be found in places including Detroit, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Seoul, will release their own takes on the Corvette of the future throughout 2025. If this one’s anything to go by, then all bets are off.