Ferrari, you’re on notice. The 2017 Corvette ZR1 to go mid-engined

By Ronan Glon September 13, 2014

A new report finds Chevrolet will break with tradition and introduce a mid-engined Corvette in 2017.

The idea of a mid-engined Corvette isn’t new. Chevrolet reportedly started to develop a mid-engined architecture for the seventh-gen ‘Vette but it was forced to put the project on hiatus when parent company General Motors filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Sources close to Chevrolet have revealed the chassis was nearly finished, and Car & Driver reports it has been dusted off to underpin the next ZR1.

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Power for the next ZR1 will reportedly come from small block V8 engine that will be more powerful than the supercharged 650-horsepower unit found under the hood of the Z06 (pictured). The ZR1’s suspension and brake components will be sourced from the C7 ‘Vette parts bin and modified to handle the extra power.

Related: GM to restore three sinkhole-damaged Corvettes

Car & Driver speculates the upcoming Corvette ZR1 will cost over $100,000 when it lands in showrooms in 2017. Historically a low-volume model, the range-topping ZR1 will allow Chevrolet to test the public’s reaction to a mid-engined ‘Vette, an idea that is still controversial in the minds of many enthusiasts. However, if everything goes according to plan, all versions of the eighth-gen Corvette will ride on an evolution of the ZR1’s mid-engined chassis.

Shifting the Corvette to a mid-engined layout will allow Chevrolet to move it up a notch on the market. The Camaro will also shift up, leaving room for a long-rumored rear-wheel drive model to slot in at the bottom of the Bowtie’s sports car lineup.

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Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

Emerging Tech

Tesla reveals price range for Optimus Gen2, its ‘robot without wheels’

“The future should look like the future”, CEO Elon Musk said at the Tesla "We Robot" special event held in Burbank, California, earlier this week. Sure enough, Tesla’s much-anticipated autonomous robotaxi, the Cybercab, and its large-van counterpart, the Cybervan, seemed straight out of celebrated sci-fi movies. But as the name of the event hinted at, a vision of the future would not be complete without robots: Several of the Optimus Gen 2, Tesla’s latest version of humanoid-like robot, were found serving drinks, holding conversations with guests, and even dancing at the event.Tesla has recently pitched the Optimus as a potential replacement for factory workers in China and elsewhere. Musk previously said he expects the Optimus to start working at Tesla factories in 2025 and to be available to other firms in 2026.
Yet, at the event, the Tesla boss revealed his expanded vision of a household robot that can do “everything you want: Babysit your kid, walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks”.He also gave a closer estimate of the robot’s price tag: Once produced "at scale," Optimus should cost somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000. Musk had previously said the robot’s price would be about half that of a car.
Staying true to his sci-fi vision, the Tesla CEO referred to Optimus as a cross between R2D2 and C-3PO, the famous droids from the Star Wars film series.
Ever since the first generation of the Optimus was revealed in 2022, Tesla has emphasized the continuity between its cars and the robot. “Everything that we’ve developed for our cars -- the battery power’s electronics, the advanced motor’s gearboxes, the software, the AI inference computer -- it all actually applies to a humanoid robot,” Musk said at the event. “A robot with arms and legs, instead of a robot with wheels.”
Tesla would not be the first to offer a domestic robot on the market. Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics has already commercialized a home service-type robot called Spot with a hefty price tag of $74,500. BMW and Open AI are backing robots made by Figure, a California-based company. Meanwhile, Nvidia is developing Project GR00T to also deliver humanoid robots.Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs forecast that the annual global market for humanoid robots could reach $38 billion by 2035, with robot shipments of 1.4 million units both for industrial and consumer applications. It also said that robots could become more affordable as their manufacturing cost has been decreasing more than expected -- leading to faster commercialization.

Cars

GM launches PowerBank, a battery that could rival Tesla’s PowerWall

gm launches powerbank a battery that could rival teslas powerwall energy home system bundle

Competition to provide the best energy savings to EV owners is heating up between auto makers.General Motor’s unit GM Energy has just released PowerBank, a stationary energy storage battery pack that gives electric vehicles (EV) owners the ability to store and transfer energy from the electric grid, and allows integration with home solar power equipment.The PowerBank, which comes in 10.6kWh and 17.7kWh battery capacity variants, can power up a home when there is an outage or help offset higher electricity rates during peak demand, GM said. In addition, customers can also use PowerBank to store and use solar energy, supplement the charging of EVs and provide power to a home without an EV being present.GM says that combining two of its 17.7kWh PowerBanks can provide enough energy to power the average American home for up to 20 hours.The PowerBank can be bought as part of two bundles: the GM Energy Storage bundle at $10,999, or the GM Energy Home System bundle at $12,700. The latter includes a bi-directional EV charger that can provide up to 19.2kWh of power. By comparison, Tesla’s energy storage system, PowerWall 3, can store 13.5kWh of energy and has a price tag of $9,300.According to GM Vice President Wade Sheffer, one key advantage of the PowerBank it its “modularity,” which allows for easy integration with existing technology.GM announced in August that it would provide vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology on all its model year 2026 models. It will now also offer vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which can provide additional energy and financial savings.
Energy savings coming from the integration of electric vehicles, solar-powered homes, and energy grids are increasingly at the center of EV manufacturers' offerings.
Nissan, BMW, Ford, and Honda have grouped together to offer the ChargeScape V2G software, which connects EVs to utilities and the power grid. EV owners can receive financial incentives to pause charging during peak demand or sell energy back to the grid.While Tesla has so far backed off from embracing V2G technology, CEO Elon Musk has hinted that V2G tech could be introduced for Tesla vehicles in 2025.

Cars

Volkswagen plans 8 new affordable EVs by 2027, report says

volkswagen affordable evs 2027 id 2all

Back in the early 1970s, when soaring oil prices stifled consumer demand for gas-powered vehicles, Volkswagen took a bet on a battery system that would power its first-ever electric concept vehicle, the Elektro Bus.
Now that the German automaker is facing a huge slump in sales in Europe and China, it’s again turning to affordable electric vehicles to save the day.Volkswagen brand chief Thomas Schaefer told German media that the company plans to bring eight new affordable EVs to market by 2027."We have to produce our vehicles profitably and put them on the road at affordable prices," he is quoted as saying.
One of the models will be the ID.2all hatchback, the development of which is currently being expedited to 36 months from its previous 50-month schedule. Last year, VW unveiled the ID.2all concept, promising to give it a price tag of under 25,000 euros ($27,000) for its planned release in 2025.VW CEO Larry Blume has also hinted at a sub-$22,000 EV to be released after 2025.It’s unclear which models would reach U.S. shores. Last year, VW America said it planned to release an under-$35,000 EV in the U.S. by 2027.The price of batteries is one of the main hurdles to reduced EV’s production costs and lower sale prices. VW is developing its own unified battery cell in several European plants, as well as one plant in Ontario, Canada.But in order for would-be U.S. buyers to obtain the Inflation Reduction Act's $7,500 tax credit on the purchase of an EV, the vehicle and its components, including the battery, must be produced at least in part domestically.VW already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennesse, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. But it’s unclear whether its new unified battery cells would be built or assembled there.