Last June, Ford’s executive chairman, Bill Ford, shot down any notions that the automaker was considering adding a new rival for the Chevrolet Corvette, instead saying that he believes the Ford Mustang is “by far the best sports car in America and frankly, the world now.” This came as a bit of a surprise after Ford Authority spotted The Blue Oval benchmarking both a C8 Corvette Stingray and Z06, but in the months since, FoMoCo has debuted a plethora of pony car variants. Soon, one of them may be doing battle with the all-new C8 Corvette ZR1, too.
Teased on multiple occasions to this point, GM has now confirmed that the C8 Corvette ZR1 will finally make its official debut on July 25th, 2024 via this short YouTube clip. Though we haven’t seen much of the C8 Corvette ZR1 thus far – save for some camouflaged prototypes spotted testing – we have heard the powerplant present in the new range-topping mid-engine sports car on multiple occasions, including in this new video.
The new Corvette ZR1 is expected to be powered by the also-new twin-turbocharged 5.5L V8 LT7 engine, which is projected to produce somewhere around 850 horsepower and 850 pound-feet of torque. That would put it right on par with the Ford Mustang GTD in terms of output, though that model will cost over $300k in the U.S. – likely far more than the C8 ZR1.
However, as Ford Authority previously reported, a forthcoming, higher-performance S650 Mustang variant is also in the works, though it may not retain the Shelby GT500 moniker used in previous generations. It’s quite possible that this new pony car variant will compete with the C8 ZR1 in terms of price and performance, which may very well help it become more of a direct rival for the more exotic, mid-engine machine than ever before, as Bill Ford clearly believes.
We’ll have more on the C8 Corvette ZR1 soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
two different type of vehicles , how is it a rivalry
If they’re benchmarking the C8 then obviously it’s being compared and measured against.
It’s about time Chevrolet offer a decent challenge. Even Dodge pretended to try.
let’s see if Bill Ford rethinks that comment. Yea I know 2 different worlds between Blue Oval and Bowtie but this was a shot across the bow that hopefully won’t go unanswered