Common Motors has utilized to resume the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport trademark, in keeping with a latest submitting with america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO).
The Grand Sport identify was beforehand used for variations of the C6 and C7 Corvette that have been a step up from the bottom fashions in efficiency, however sat under the Z06 and ZR1 fashions within the hierarchy. Chevy additionally used the identify for a C4 Corvette variant.
The identify originated with a 1962 venture by Corvette godfather Zora Arkus Duntov to create a light-weight racing model of the C2 Corvette. Nevertheless, GM brass did not approve of the venture, and solely 5 of the unique Corvette Grand Sports activities have been constructed.
1963 corvette grand sport chassi 002 003
Provided that historical past, it is sensible for GM to take care of the Grand Sport trademark. The query is what will probably be used on subsequent?
It isn’t laborious to think about a C8 Corvette Grand Sport slotting between the Stingray and Z06. However GM can also be planning hybrid and all-electric Corvette fashions, and the identify for one in every of them appears to be in flux in the intervening time.
The thought of a hybrid Corvette appeared unthinkable a decade in the past, however such a automobile is now in improvement. Prototypes have been noticed and Tremec has filed a patent software for what seems to be the automobile’s transmission.
2023 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray spy photographs – Picture credit score: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
GM trademarked the Corvette E-Ray identify in 2015, seemingly for an upcoming electrified mannequin. Whereas Corvette E-Ray has been deserted, in accordance info from the USPTO, GM nonetheless has a trademark submitting for the E-Ray identify with out the Corvette prefix. May the upcoming Corvette hybrid be known as Grand Sport and the electrical be known as E-Ray? GM hasn’t introduced naming for both, so we’ll have to attend till they’re unveiled.
If the Grand Sport turns into the hybrid, it will function a stepping stone in electrification to Chevy’s deliberate all-electric Corvette, simply as earlier Grand Sport fashions have been a step towards the high-performance Z06 and ZR1. GM President Mark Reuss stated in April that the electrical Corvette is coming, however did not say when.
