ArtCenter student Xusheng Zhao likes Corvettes. Based on his latest school project, you can see he likes the C7 Corvette in particular.
- Chevrolet has already said it’s coming out with a hybrid and all-electric Corvette. ArtCenter design student Xusheng Zhao made an electric ’Vette his senior thesis.
- The design draws heavily from the C7, which Zhao admires.
- The long hood signals a frunk, not an engine bay.
We already know that hybrid and battery-electric Corvettes are coming, but we’re not entirely sure what they’ll look like. Well, here’s one idea.
ArtCenter student Xusheng Zhao likes Corvettes. In particular he likes the C7 Corvette, the one with the engine in the front under a long hood.
“Maybe the mid-rear powertrain in the C8 Corvette is more suitable for the race track, but I like the front-engine C7—just the way it looks, the proportions, the potential for a big frunk. It just gave me a very Corvette feeling,” Zhao said during ArtCenter Grad Preview Night in Pasadena.
When it came time for him to do his senior thesis, naturally, he did it on the Corvette, looking more like the C7 than the more contemporary C8.
Would he put the engine in the front, then? Not an engine. An electric motor.
“This is an EV, an EV gran turismo,” he says.
The smaller space required for an electric motor or motors frees up room for a frunk, while maintaining the long front hood of the C7 and earlier Corvettes. He sees the frunk as a practical feature.
One take on Zhao’s electric ’Vette.
Xusheng Zhao
“If you’re in California you want to go to (local ski resort) Big Bear for snowboarding—you can just put the snowboard in the car and just go. You’re driving a car that’s very stunning on the outside at the same time. It’s so practical you can do anything with this car. That’s my vision for this car—you can do everything in it.”
His version would be a gran turismo, more suited for comfortable cruising over long distances. He sees the mid- rear-engined C8 as the track car. So, two Corvettes? If Chevy decides to spin off the brand to include a sedan and even a Corvette SUV, a gran turismo version of an electric ’Vette isn’t so far-out an idea.
Mark Vaughn Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor while his father cursed Ford, all its products and everyone who ever worked there.