- Chevrolet just revealed the 1,250 hp Corvette ZR1X, its most powerful performance car yet.
- It’ll go from 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds and onto a quarter-mile time of under 9 seconds.
- Pricing details are unconfirmed, but expect it to start near $250,000 before options or markups.
Today is the day that Chevrolet has been building up to for half of a decade. In 2020, someone leaked what was evidently the Corvette road map. Today, we know that it was mostly on the money and that the ultimate Vette is here. Say hello to the 1,250 horsepower (932 kW) turbocharged, all-wheel drive, electrified, V8 American monster, known not as Zora, as we once thought, but as the ZR1X.
Since that infamous leak over five years ago, the ZR1X has been sort of an open secret. As the years went on and the leaked roadmap seemed to get one confirmed aspect after another, this car was even more certain. Now, we know that the ZR1X isn’t just a combination of the tech found in the ZR1 and E-Ray, but rather a distillation of the two to form what Chevrolet calls a true American hypercar.
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“From day one, we designed the mid-engine Corvette architecture with ZR1X in mind,” said General Motors senior VP Ken Morris. “This is the most revolutionary platform in Corvette history, supporting the widest range of American sports cars and delivering world-class performance at every level.” How exactly does it achieve this feat? Let’s talk about the details.
The Foundation: A Fusion of Two Titans
Underpinning the new ZR1X are two versions of the Corvette, the ZR1 and the E-Ray. First and foremost, the new ZR1X gets the same twin-turbocharged LT7 V8 from the ZR1. Power output is unchanged so it makes 1,064 horsepower at 7,000 rpm, and 828 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm, from internal combustion alone. That shouldn’t be all that shocking since the ZR1’s engine isn’t even technically on sale just yet. To hit that power figure, the LT7 uses twin 76mm turbos, a forged flat-plane crankshaft, and a finger-follower drivetrain.
This new car of course, also takes some of the tech from the E-Ray, Chevrolet’s first all-wheel drive Corvette. While that car leverages a 1.9 kWh battery pack and an electric motor to deliver 160 horsepower (119 kW) to the front wheels, the ZR1X is different. It maintains the same battery pack, motor size, and packaging shape, but it makes 186 horsepower (138 kW) and 145 lb-ft of torque. The system can apply power up to 160 mph before decoupling.
More Than the Sum of Its Parts
So how exactly does the ZR1X go beyond just being a mix of E-Ray and ZR1 parts? Chevrolet cranked things up to 11. Building on what it learned from a couple of years of E-Ray production, the team reworked the power delivery to the 5.5-liter V8 from the ZR1, making sure the motor provides even more seamless, blistering performance.
The super Vette’s CPU is constantly monitoring driver input and vehicle conditions to optimize the power blend. It also comes with three energy strategies to suit different situations. Drivers can select ‘Endurance’ for long lapping sessions, ‘Qualifying’ for achieving a top lap time, or ‘Push-To-Pass’ for a quick delivery of all available power.
The flip side of this car, its braking system, is bespoke as well. Dubbed the J59, it’s standard on the ZR1X and now an option for the ZR1. It combines Alcon 10-piston front calipers with 6-piston rear calipers and 16.5-inch brake rotors. That’s right, the brake rotors are larger than the stock alloy wheels on a new Malibu. Chevrolet says J59-equipped cars achieved 1.9G of deceleration during testing.
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Buyers get the choice of two chassis configurations. First is the touring version with Michelin PS4S tires and settings that are aimed at on-road use with occasional track days in the mix. Second is the ZTK Package setup with stiffer suspension settings and Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires. A high-downforce aero package with 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speed is available for both chassis configurations.
World-Battling Performance
When the Corvette road map leaked in 2020, we were all a bit gobsmacked to see Chevrolet allegedly planning a 1,000 horsepower (745 kW) version. Today, that figure has come and gone twice now, and the performance has continued to improve in that wake.
This new ZR1X can rocket from 0-60 mph in under two seconds, says Chevrolet. It’ll destroy the quarter-mile in under nine seconds with a trap speed of over 150 mph. Those are proper drag-racing figures that make this car roughly equivalent to a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170. Of course, where the Chevrolet stands out is on a track that has, you know, any turns at all.
The automaker has been openly lapping the car at the Nurburgring. We expect the ZR1 to dethrone the Mustang GTD as the fastest American production car there. Clearly then, the ZR1X will almost certainly be faster.
How Much Will it Cost?
Hardtop convertible and coupe versions are set to arrive as 2026 model year cars, with production kicking off later this year. Pricing is still under wraps, but speculation places it somewhere between around $250,000, with fully-loaded versions potentially pushing closer to $300,000. Sure, that’s a hefty sum for a Corvette, but you’re also getting performance that comfortably nudges into hypercar territory.
If those numbers hold (and we won’t know until Chevrolet makes it official), it would make the ZR1X a serious value play, especially when compared to Ford’s asking price of $318,760 for the Mustang GTD. Of course, considering the inevitable markups, that price might turn into more of a wishful fantasy than anything grounded in reality.
Will it come anywhere near the official production car lap record of 6:29.09? Probably not since that was set by the Mercedes-AMG One, an F1-derived hypercar. But here’s the kicker. If the ZR1X comes anywhere close, it’ll be one of the loudest mic drops in American performance car history.
