2023 Corvette Z06 Specs Released

The 2023 Corvette Z06 Specs released this week are stunning. General Motors released the stats live on YouTube. It’s a  45-minute video, but it’s well worth the time.

The Corvette, with the launch of the mid-engine C8 had all the makings of a supercar, but its debut was a bit modest (relatively speaking) in the horsepower department (as if 490hp is lackluster). The 2023 Corvette Z06 takes it up more than a notch, it takes that number firmly into supercar territory.

Will it be enough to steal customers from the Dancing Donkey and the Bucking Bull?

I drove my first Corvette in 1984. It was a beast and I certainly understood the appeal. Over the years, I developed a special fondness for the 63 split window and of course, the 67 with the 435 hp L71 (or better yet, one of the 16 Vettes that got the aluminum head L89 engine).

The next Vette I drove was a 72 with the LS5 which made 270hp. A number that seemed anemic to the previous model year thanks to the SAE change from reporting gross horsepower to net horsepower.

Since then, I’ve driven all of the Corvettes except the C7. Bang for the buck is the big attraction for these cars. Compared to global challengers, Vette was always right there in the hunt or even better than many foreign rivals.

With the release of the C8, the world finally got to see a mid-engine Corvette, something that was said to be coming in the “next generation” for more than five decades, thanks to GM making prototypes that made magazine covers every so often.

When the C8 hit the streets, the praise has been forthcoming on every front. Finally, the Corvette got an interior that didn’t look like it came from an Avis rental car. The new interior of the C8 is married to the car’s modern, sleek stylish exterior that borrows cues from several established brands in this space.

As we all know, Chevrolet has offered several iterations within each new generation– the Grand Sport, the Z06, and ZR1, to name a few.

We knew a C8 Z06 was coming and rumors indicated that it would make somewhere around 575 to 625hp, and it would so without the use of a supercharger.

Today, the world got the truth: the 2023 Corvette Z06 will make 670hp with a flat-plane crank V8 that will spin to 8600 rpm.

So, the lineup goes like this:

The base Vette makes 490hp

The Grand Sport will have 550 and with the hybrid equipment, 650hp.

There will be an E-Ray electric version making about 400hp.

And a Zora ZR1 will be coming making 1000hp and incorporating hybrid technology.

This is keeping with the history of the Z06 nameplate, a name that started as a secret ordering code at Chevrolet dealers back in 1963. The first Z06 basically had upgraded suspension, brakes and a 36-gallon gas tank so it could do more laps before making a pit stop.

To be worthy of the Z06 designation, GM went to new extremes. This included developing the highest horsepower naturally aspirated V8 ever produced for a production car and still meet emissions standards.

The LT6 flat plane crank V8 makes sounds that are right up there with the Italian stallion cars. GM went to great lengths to get the exhaust right on the outside and inside the car.

Carspotter Jeroen in Germany caught some great footage in this video and timed a lap unofficially at 7;12 at the Nurburgring.

MSRP on the base model should come in at around $85,000. Allegedly, if you can order one, you’ll pay the price listed on the invoice.

However, it’s likely that some dealers won’t take pre-orders and will basically sell them to the highest bidders and add a huge Dealer markup to the window sticker.

This is the nonsense that keeps me praying that all car dealers become obsolete as they add nothing to the transaction.

This iteration of the Corvette will be groundbreaking and has a genuine chance of attracting customers from European brands. Check out the details here.

So what do you think? Will GM steal customers from the German and Italian competitors?