2025 Corvette 'Zora' unveiled

Jack, Tony, this is a discussion worth having.

It's common knowledge that Porsche's SUVs managed to save the company from being swallowed up. All along, Porsche was promising to deliver an SUV that was true to the Porsche ethos. It worked! We heard the same type of outcry from the purists dedicated to each particular brand only to watch the SUV versions sell out almost immediately at introduction. Most recently, it occurred when Ferrari announced their intention to offer an SUV. Despite the objections of selling out or diluting the brand, what actually happened was each new introduction set a new standard of high performance for a genre of vehicle no one had previously imagined to be sporty. "They're too heavy. They can't handle. The customer base will abandon the brand." None of that materialized. In fact, each manufacturer soon found their SUVs to be the top sellers in their catalog. 

In practice, these high-end SUVs out accelerate and out handle even the best of the cars from the vaunted Muscle Car Era and many of the high-end sports cars from the eighties and nineties. The Ferrari Purosangue gets to 60 MPH in 3.5 seconds, has a top speed of 193 MPH, and handles like a go-kart without so much as an anti-roll bar! And it does it with enough room to take your partner and your luggage along for the ride. 

We saw much the same reaction to the Bentley and Rolls SUVs. Before their debut, the traditional clientele base was outraged. Upon introduction, both models sold out their first year of production, and Bentley sold out its first two years. 

Currently, the perception is that the availability of an SUV in the lineup of high-end sports car makers allows them to continue developing their sports cars. In each case, they were wildly successful. At this point, nearly all of them have SUV offerings in a variety of sizes. That speaks to their success in the market place. I expect the Vette SUV to be right up there with the best of the best.

@jkuvakas All points WELL stated and taken. Even my SUV, the XT5, approaches the performance of my new 1964 Pontiac GTO, back in the day and it is only a V6. As to the Ferrari Purosangue, it is merely a sports car with an enlarged hump! HA!

Kidding aside, you are correct in all you state and my first take is exactly the same as you mention for the Rolls Royce and Bentley purists, though not outrage since I no longer own the cars. 

The Corvette is one, if not the last holdout for purism in a sports car marque. Personally, I'd rather see Corvette remain pure to its 71 year heritage and watch GM announce a hot rod SUV with the rebirth of another long-past GM ghost. Buick already has a full line of SUV's; Encore Envision, Enclave and Envista, so why not utilize the Pontiac moniker, or Olds?

You're completely right though - great discussion worth having sir!

@perrone1, OOOOO! How about a Buick GN-X!!

Posted by: @jkuvakas

@perrone1, OOOOO! How about a Buick GN-X!!

THERE ya go!! That I'd like to see!

Thanks JK.  I hadn't realized that the various SUVs talked about here had sold that well in recent years; I am pleasantly surprised!  I guess my exposure to them on the west coast of Canada wasn't representative of the amount of buyer interest in them world wide.  Given your information I suppose then that the Corvette SUV would be a no-brainer sales success.  Personally I think it would be important to retain the Corvette name, considering the response to the other marques having done so.  One thing I will say though is that IMHO the Corvette SUV concept car is far better looking than anything produced by the others to date.

@jack-dodds, maybe they'll decide to market it as the new Camaro!

Posted by: @jkuvakas

@jack-dodds, maybe they'll decide to market it as the new Camaro!

That is quite possible given that GM would love to compete with the Mustang offering.  I guess the challenge would be to be able to build it to fit that price range.  If they could I think it would blow the Mustang away.