New Chevy Patents Could Be For Mid-Engined Corvette
General Motors has trademarked a new name that could be for the upcoming mid-engined Corvette.
Obviously, the upcoming C8-generation Corvette will still be called the Corvette, but there are still plenty of trim levels that could have their own unique name. We’re not sure if GM is willing to give up its Z prefix to the higher performance models, but down at base-level trims, we could see something a little more like Stingray or Grand Sport.
One name that has been uncovered by a super-sleuth over at MidEngineCorvetteForum.com stands out: ZORA.
Before we go into details: yes, ZORA is always spelled with all capital letters. That’s the way it was registered in multiple countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, China, Japan, Korea, and Australia. The font used was Times New Roman, but we’re hoping that GM changes it by the time it’s used on any vehicles.
ZORA was trademarked way back in 2014 and 2015. The name honors the very first Corvette chief engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov, who spent most of his career fighting to make a mid-engined Corvette to compete with GM’s European rivals. He managed to make a single prototype in 1964 called the XP-819, but the project was soon shelved in favor of yet another front-engined design.