The Corvette\u2019s sophisticated algorithms bring two often-warring tribes together<\/p>\n
Three companies, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda, now control 90 percen<\/a>t of this booming US hybrid market. Toyota and Lexus alone sold 600,000 hybrids through June. The windfall has seen Hyundai and Kia post their best overall sales in history, including a 115-percent jump for Kia\u2019s growing hybrid lineup. Caught flatfooted after having gone all-in on EVs, GM is racing to bring fuel-saving plug-in hybrids back to its showrooms, supposedly beginning next year.<\/p>\n The GSX itself replaces the Corvette E-Ray<\/a>, Chevrolet\u2019s first hybrid sports car. But it\u2019s an entirely different animal. The 650-horsepower E-Ray was a versatile grand tourer: fast and fluid, but a bit of a mellow yacht rocker. The GSX was expressly designed as a track assassin, with heightened power, roadholding, braking, and agility.<\/p>\n What GM engineers call the \u201cbaby ZR1X\u201d adopts its electrified front axle directly from the 1,250-horsepower, 233-mph record setter that I tested at Sonoma Raceway. Most every internal part number is identical. But in keeping with the Grand Sport\u2019s reputation as a sweet spot in the Corvette lineup, the GSX coupe\u2019s $112,195 base price is less than half that of a ZR1X at $227,395<\/a>. For 2027, a non-hybrid, 535-horsepower Grand Sport asks $88,495. That rear-wheel-drive Grand Sport will be more than enough for many buyers.<\/p>\n Some want more. So the GSX\u2019s 721 horsepower represents a 186-hp bump over a Grand Sport or 2027 Stingray. Add a monumental 655 pound-feet of torque, and the GSX easily tops the 690 horses and 531 pound-feet of a McLaren Artura, a hybrid that starts from around $260,000.<\/p>\n As in the ZR1X, the internal bearings in the electric motor were beefed up to handle a higher output of 186 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque. Push the GSX\u2019s start button, and the engine crackles to life, before settling into a menacing basso idle. Floor the accelerator, and the cabin fills with enough pummeling, martial sound to backdrop a Christopher Nolan epic.<\/p>\n The electric motor plays its own whirring part, including a metallic overlay of selected frequencies amplified through the audio system. EV backers may believe silence is golden (sometimes it is) and scoff over ICE fans\u2019 unwillingness to give up their thrashing cylinders. What they forget is that an engine\u2019s sound offers not just drama and engagement, but critical somatic cues as to how fast you\u2019re going, and a car\u2019s gear or limits at a given moment. Yes, an EV can digitally imitate those cues. But for now, as with certain music, analog still beats digital among the performance cognoscenti.<\/p>\n Yes, an EV can digitally imitate those cues. But for now, as with certain music, analog still beats digital among the performance cognoscenti<\/p>\n An optional performance exhaust for $1,995 is a worthy upgrade. Corvette engineers lavished attention on the center-mounted exhaust and its four trumpeting outlets to coax out its most-pleasing harmonic frequencies. Another $2,995 for a front-end lift system is another practical spend, to avoid scraping the low-slung front splitter on every steep driveway.<\/p>\n Displacing 409 cubic inches, the stroked V-8 coincidentally harkens to a bygone age of muscle, when Brian Wilson ticked off the Chevrolet Impala SS\u2019s technical virtues in the Beach Boys\u2019 hit \u201c409.\u201d (Hey, it was the \u201960s).<\/p>\n Here in 2026, the LS6 makes that old 409 seem primeval, in tech, power, or efficiency. Pricey forged cylinders can deactivate to save fuel. A lofty 13:1 compression ratio is the stuff of race cars and also contributes to cleaner fuel burn. The engine reduces emissions by 28 percent versus its less-powerful predecessor.<\/p>\n The engine\u2019s 520 pound-feet of torque sets a high for any naturally aspirated V-8 in production-car history. This overachiever also becomes the standard power plant in a 2027 Stingray, making this \u201cbasic\u201d Corvette even more of a sports-car bargain at $73,495. The engine manages a 25-mpg highway rating, impressive for a Stingray that can nip 200 mph.<\/p>\n As noted, neither the GSX nor the ZR1X gives a hoot about fuel economy. Their adrenalized performance encourages its pilots to feel the same. The GSX topped out at 22 mpg during my drives. It settled in around 15 mpg, and dipped as low as 11 or 12 mpg during barnstorming runs through the Catskills. Whichever automaker can bring a two-seat, truly mass-produced electric sports car to market \u2014 whether Porsche or someone else \u2014 energy savings will be an easy win for Team Electric.<\/p>\n The Corvette\u2019s electric machine is fed by a tiny 1.9-kilowatt-hour battery mounted in the chassis\u2019 spine, between driver and passenger. Again, that battery isn\u2019t about efficiency or solo electric propulsion. Instead, its cells are designed to absorb regenerative energy like a fast-acting sponge, and spit it back out in rapid bursts. The motor fills any gaps in the engine\u2019s output with an unbroken wave of torque, including during paddled upshifts from the eight-speed, dual-clutch automated gearbox.<\/p>\n Chevy cites a launch-controlled run to 60 mph in a sparkling 2.4 seconds, and a quarter-mile in 10.4 seconds at 131 mph. I manage 2.6 seconds to 60 mph, even on lumpy backroads in upstate New York. Those official measures are 0.1-seconds quicker than an E-Ray on both counts, and 0.2 seconds quicker than another track-centric Corvette: the mighty Z06 and its Ferrari-esque, flat-crankshaft V-8. As you\u2019d expect, launch starts are less dramatic than in rear-drive Corvettes, all four tires hooking up with a yawn before you\u2019re hammered into body-hugging bucket seats.<\/p>\n Familiar hardware, including a limited-slip rear differential with selectable Performance Traction Management settings, is retuned for this application. A superlative MagneRide suspension reads the road 1,000 times per second to adjust the viscosity of its magnetic-fluid dampers, and stiffen or soften shocks at individual wheels. The ride is firm but not spine-crunching, especially in Touring mode. Algorithms help dial in electric power for any situation, striving for handling balance and linear power delivery. In familiar tuning disagreements between passionate engineers, every GSX tiebreaker went to the track.<\/p>\n As compared to the E-Ray, \u201cwe\u2019re keeping the edgier scenarios where the car feels more ready to pounce, versus a more-docile character,\u201d says Keith Badgley, lead development engineer.<\/p>\n The author\u2019s gray tester. Image: Lawrence Ulrich<\/p>\n Stated simply, electrified front wheels take a major burden off of rear tires, here shod with Michelin Pilot Sport all-season tires in a fat 345\/25\/ZR21 size. Powerful carbon-ceramic brakes are standard, helping to explain a somewhat eye-opening $23,700 price jump from a standard Grand Sport.<\/p>\n Like its ZR1X daddy, the GSX lets me brake deep into corners and jump back on throttle earlier, with fewer worries about the back end getting loose. In the rolling twisties of the Catskills, the GSX felt thrillingly athletic and on-its-toes. Hard-working front wheels palpably yank the \u2019Vette out of fast corners. Common sense is the only thing that will stop you.<\/p>\n The GSX also adopts the ZR1X\u2019s specialized performance strategies. Hitting a \u201cCharge +\u201d button summons an Endurance mode, ensuring electrified wheels can deliver a consistent AWD jolt over a full tank of fuel, even during track sessions. A Qualifying mode preps the car for the fastest possible lap. Push-to-pass mode offers the full monty of gasoline and electric power on demand. To keep peace with neighbors, a Stealth mode lets the Corvette roll on electric power alone at speeds up to 50 mph.<\/p>\n The energy strategies make it virtually impossible to run the battery below 40 or 50 percent on public roads, no matter how hard you try. Selecting Charge + will also refill the battery over five miles or less of driving, using the gasoline engine and kinetic energy to generate electricity via the motor.<\/p>\n Did I mention this Grand Sport makes a great first impression? Rolling into fabled Woodstock, the GSX underscored how the eighth-generation Corvette is (finally) widening its appeal beyond a traditional Boomer, rock n roll audience. I can still quibble with aspects of the C8 design, especially that bluff back end. But the Grand Sports\u2019 3.6-inch-wider chassis, cavernous side air inlets, and forged aluminum wheels add to its exotic supercar vibe. Everywhere I rolled up in the glowering gray GSX, someone would stop in their tracks to offer questions or compliments. And not just car fans, but people who didn\u2019t always realize this was a Corvette, but were visibly impressed when they found out. Serious fans will recognize a Grand Sport\u2019s traditional hash marks on rear fenders, rendered in classic Admiral Blue on my test car.<\/p>\n The Corvette\u2019s reworked interior will also win friends. A new auxiliary screen sits just left of the steering wheel, for easier access to launch control and PTM settings. There\u2019s an intuitive Google-based infotainment system, graphical performance readouts, and the ingenious camera-based Performance Data Recorder to record and analyze track laps using telemetry software. A removable hardtop remains a signature coupe feature, and a GSX convertible starts from $119,195.<\/p>\n My GSX coupe started from $122,845 at its richest 3LT trim level. A schmear of options lifted that to $140,080. By old measures, that\u2019s a lot of money for a Corvette. But a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS hybrid, with 189 fewer horsepower, starts from $191,650, and soars past $220,000 with a modest sprinkling of options. And again, the GSX costs roughly half the price of a ZR1X.<\/p>\n From the chip-on-shoulder Corvette to Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren, buyers who might be ambivalent about EVs are warming to this new breed of hybrid sports cars. Their advantages are becoming harder to resist.<\/p>\n For any type of car or SUV, I\u2019ll argue that the hybrid love affair, rather than being seen as a rejection of EVs, is exactly the opposite. It\u2019s a sign that Americans are already willing to meet electrification halfway. 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