We reported last month that GM had shifted almost all of the Corvette engineers and designers to the autonomous and electric vehicle programs. During the Corvettes at Carlisle event this past week, as reported by CarBuzz, Corvette’s Executive Chief Engineer, Tadge Juechter, explained what that move actually meant.
Many, including us, called it a bit of an odd move. There was some thought that it was a sign that the Corvette name might end with the Corvette C8 or that future Corvette’s might be fully EV.
Tadge clarified that it’s actually pretty much the opposite direction.
The reorganization was meant so that the Corvette team will keep working on the C8’s sub-models and future Corvette’s, but also have the chance to influence design and development on future EV’s across all of GM.
The move also puts parts of the GM EV division under Ed Piatek, Corvette’s current Chief Engineer and Designer. This will allow him to allocate resources to, as Juechter explained, create “some real drivers’ cars amongst the BEVs.”
With Tesla’s upcoming second-generation Roadster, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S expected to keep gaining power and speed, and the upcoming launch of several fully electric hypercars, the market segment is going to fill very quickly.
This move puts the right people in the right place, to make the right impact, at the right time. And with the home-runs the Corvette team has had with the C7 and C8 models, this is great news!
UPDATE:
It was revealed in a CarBuzz article that the General Motors team will help build the Nikola Badger pickup truck. This will take significant efforts from the GM team. The company will handle engineering, homologation, validation for the battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell pickup truck.
