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All new and coming soon, the 2025 Corvette ZR1 could have more power and speed than ever! Find out what we know in this sneak peek at the new Vette!
It’s Been a Long Five Years
It’s been five years since the last Avengers movie, five years since Tesla debuted the Cybertruck, and five years since the New England Patriots won a Super Bowl. It’s also been five years since Chevrolet offered a Corvette ZR1. The 2019 Corvette ZR1 arrived with a lot of fanfare. It had aggressive looks, a lot of speed, and intense power, putting out 755 horsepower and 715 lb-ft of torque. It could go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (mph) in around 3.0 seconds. It left us wanting more, too!
Well, get ready. The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is on its way. Unfortunately, we’ve had to wait a little while to get some details on the new ZR1. Now, however, we know that the full reveal will come later this summer, and the 21-second teaser video that Chevrolet posted looks promising!
The First ZR1
The excitement for the latest ZR1 is due to years and years of Chevy delivering whenever this fabled nameplate is involved. It first showed up on the 1970 C3 Corvette as a package that cost $1,010.50. The package forced drivers to forgo power steering, power windows, air conditioning, a rear defogger, and even the radio, but that was a small price to pay for the impressive 370 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque from the LT-1 350 cu.-in. engine. What made the ZR1 so awesome wasn’t just the power, but the handling, special racing equipment, and performance of the car. While the ZR1 was offered between 1970 and 1972, Chevrolet produced 53 ZR1 models.
It’s Not the First Time the ZR1 Disappeared
This five-plus-year absence isn’t the first time the Chevy made us wait for a new and improved ZR1. After that brief appearance in the C3, the ZR1 disappeared until 1990, when it finally returned with the C4 Corvette. Reintroduced with DOHC LT5 engine, it could top 180 mph with 375 horsepower, and it went from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The Lotus-designed engine made the C4 ZR1 the fastest Corvette to date! Better braking, improved steering, and an adjustable active suspension made the entire experience that much better. No longer just a package, a 1990 ZR1 cost around $50,000 at the time. Between 1990 and 1995, when the ZR1 disappeared again, Chevrolet built 6,939 models.
That wasn’t the end of the ZR1, of course. We did have to wait another 14 years before the next one, though. The sixth-generation 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 had an Eaton-supercharged LS9 6.2-liter V8 engine. It was rated for 638 horsepower and 604 lb-ft of torque. This was the most powerful engine ever placed inside a General Motors production sports car at that point. It had a maximum speed of 205 mph. Chevrolet only released the ‘09 ZR1 after their target of 100 horsepower per one liter was reached.
Then, this time after a six-year absence, the 2019 C7 rolled out with a ZR1. It also had a 6.2-liter V8, but the supercharger displacement increased from 1.7 liters to 2.65 liters. The 2019 C7 ZR1 put out 755 horsepower! General Motors claimed that it could do 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. Reporters covering the latest ZR1 got to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds. Even if that 2.9 seconds is disputed, the car was fast! I bring this up not just to give a little history of the ZR1. After all, any Corvette fan will know about that (it’s a Corvette thing). No, looking back at some of these past releases actually gives us a pretty good idea of what to expect going forward, too.
What We Expect From the 2025 ZR1
The ZR1, covered in camouflage, has been spotted during testing at Nürburgring in Germany. The full reveal of the new ZR1 is coming later this summer, but Chevrolet is advertising that “The Unthinkable is Coming.” We can only assume that means more power and probably range-topping power. That means more than the 670 horsepower Corvette Z06, which uses a 5.5-liter V8 engine. To give you an idea of what to expect, Z06 gets 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds. Certainly, the 2025 ZR1 will be turbocharged. We’re anticipating that this will be the most extreme ZR1 yet.
This teaser video indicates that the ZR1 won’t just be following in the footsteps of the Stingray, Z06, and E-Ray, but likely surpassing them. You can catch a glimpse of the silhouette, and the high rear wing, if you pause the video at the right moment. It also gives listeners a small taste of the exhaust note. So, with a summer reveal, when can we expect actually to see and drive it? Well, it should be available in showrooms in 2025, starting at around $150,000. In the meantime, if you haven’t watched it yet, take a look at Chevy’s teaser video. It should help, just a little, with the wait.
