The Chevy Corvette has been, and always will be a two-door sports car. But that doesn’t mean it can’t also be something else. Like an SUV. Porsche has done it. Lamborghini has too. Even the Mustang can be purchased as an electric SUV. 

The precedent is there from numerous automakers. Now it looks like the Corvette is headed in that direction. Though none of the manufacturers will discuss future models, the rumors coming out of GM’s silver silos are getting stronger.

Chevy even has a code name for the Corvette SUV

Now the rumors are coalescing into a much clearer picture of what Chevy is up to. And it paints the picture of an electric Corvette SUV. The folks over at hotcars even scooped the internal code name; Project R or Brand R.  

With both the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and Lamborghini Urus as targets, the Corvette SUV should display incredible performance. It has to. Enthusiasts may not be happy with this direction for the Corvette, but the brand has been headed in this direction for decades.

Almost every component used on the C8 Corvette is proprietary only to itself. Chevy deals in volume, which the Corvette is not. But amortizing its tooling over another model keeps the GM bean counters much happier. 

If Ferrari can have the Purosangue, Corvette can do an SUV too

Giving Chevy some fortitude are the other performance SUVs gaining market share. And even Ferrari is developing its Purosangue SUV. The Corvette seems to be the last holdout. But not very much longer. 

Especially since the debut of the C8, the Corvette is recognized worldwide as on the same performance plane as Porsche or Ferrari. And what’s good enough for those makes is certainly good enough for the Corvette. Plus, GM has plenty of SUV platforms the Corvette Group could develop into a flagship SUV.

Is the Corvette brand the heir to Cadillac’s crown at GM?

As the Cadillac brand continues to shrink, the Corvette brand has also been singled out as a potential heir. Everything that Cadillac has been playing for the Corvette brand already possesses. High performance combined with luxury is the message Cadillac keeps radiating. And a big question mark from the consuming public is what it gets back. 

Cadillac has no rudder. It is veering off into different directions while it tries to restore a reputation for luxury it lost decades ago. Everything Cadillac tries has ended up failing when you look at the numbers. But by adding different models under the Corvette umbrella, it could slowly become what Cadillac can never be. 

Will GM kill Cadillac? Nobody knows at this point. But its continued attempts at breaking out of the doldrums haven’t worked. So there could be even larger goals in mind for Corvette’s future than an SUV. We’ll just have to wait and see.