GM Pledges to Eliminate Tailpipe Emissions from All New Light Duty Vehicles by 2035

GM planning 30 EVs in the lineup by 2025, C8-era Corvette among them as the General aims for “a safer, greener and better world.”

General Motors today announced its plans to become carbon neutral by 2040. Part of the plan includes full electrification of its light-duty lineup by 2035. Furthermore, 30 battery electric vehicles would account for 40% of its U.S. lineup by the end of 2025. Given that the Corvette Engineering team was recently transferred to the company’s EV and autonomous vehicle decision, we suspect a future Corvette will be on the leading edge of GM’s all-electric future. At least when it comes to GM’s performance future.

“General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.”

The General plans to invest $27 million over that period into electrification and autonomous vehicles. That’s over half of the company’s capital spending and product development team resources. Despite this, don’t expect an all-EV future to show up right away.

“The company will also continue to increase fuel efficiency of its traditional internal combustion vehicles in accordance with regional fuel economy and greenhouse gas regulations,” GM said. “Some of these initiatives include fuel economy improvement technologies, such as Stop/Start, aerodynamic efficiency enhancements, downsized boosted engines, more efficient transmissions and other vehicle improvements, including mass reduction and lower rolling resistance tires.”

Where Does Corvette fit in this EV Roadmap?

In the immediate future, we expect to see a Hybrid C8 Corvette. According to Motor Trendand everything we know here at CorvetteForum, a rumored 2023 E-Ray remains in the works. In this scenario, a pair of front-wheel electric motors would boost the LT2’s current rear-wheel-drive configuration. We also suspect there will be a hybrid component in a future ZR1 and/or ZORA edition Corvette that would crown the current eighth generation. After that, for a C9, anything is possible.

According to GM, “in the coming years, GM plans to offer an EV for every customer, from crossovers and SUVs to trucks and sedans.” From what’s been released so far, the GMC Hummer will lead the next generation of GM EVs. And even though it wasn’t called out in the press release, given the way GM uses the Corvette as a performance development platform, we should expect a next-generation Corvette to be another early contender for electrification.

Will this future Corvette EV be the only model, or simply an option next to one of the last remaining V8s?

It’s hard to predict how the next decade will go.

But one thing’s for sure. The halcyon days of the American V8 are increasingly finite. But we also don’t think GM will ever give up on making the Corvette the pinnacle of its performance wheelhouse. In other words, the Corvette may — sooner than we all once thought — become a stealthy and silent canyon carver, but it’s always going to be a performance powerhouse that delivers the thrills of much more expensive offerings.

Photos: Chevrolet

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