Zora Seemed Like The Perfect Name
Zora Arkus-Duntov was no ordinary engineer. He turned the Corvette into a true sports car, and although he was several decades ahead of his time, he even advocated the idea of putting its engine in the middle of the chassis. The man died in 1996, long enough to see the ZR1 badge move from performance package to new model line in the C4, but he didn’t see his idea of a mid-engine ‘Vette realized, as the car only made that change with the reveal of the C8 in 2019. Before that car arrived, a patent filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2014 gave General Motors the right to use the Zora name on a car. GM reapplied for the trademark in 2019, just as the C8 was preparing to enter the world, so the puzzle pieces were falling into place.
The ultimate C8 seemed like a romantic way to immortalize the man. Chevrolet could combine the layout that Zora championed with the most capable version of that car, which would surely be a fitting tribute to the man. But when Road & Track asked why our expectations were not met with the nomenclature and we instead got the alphanumeric ZR1X name, the response from a spokesperson was simply, “ZR1X is an extension of the ZR1 family, so we believe ZR1X is a fitting name for the new variant.”
That Explains ZR1X, But Not Why Zora Was Passed On
Chevrolet
R&T was not satisfied with that answer either, so the publication asked directly why Zora wasn’t used, especially since the trademark was secured. “I know Zora was broadly speculated by enthusiasts, but since it was future product, it was never something we weighed in on,” said the spokesperson. “What I can tell you is the team felt this Corvette was deserving of the ZR1 designation, and it was an opportunity to show that even though ZR1 and ZR1X are different cars, they have strong familial resemblance and represent ultimate Corvette performance.”
Fair enough – we’ll give our thoughts on this explanation momentarily. But what does the “X” stand for? This might seem like a silly question to ask. Surely it references the fact that this is an AWD take on the ZR1, or perhaps an “Xtreme” version since it has more power, right? Wrong. There was reportedly “no grand scheme behind it” – the name “was about sticking close to ZR1.” This leads us back to the cesspool of speculation. Ford decided to call its first electric crossover Mustang Mach-E because the first part of the name is so familiar and could thus help ease the introduction of a new concept (in this case, an electric crossover), and the sales numbers prove the strategy worked. It seems GM simply added a letter to the ZR1 name for similar reasons – a hybridized AWD Corvette may have been a hard sale with an uncommon new name.
Our Take: Chevy Had No Choice But To Expand The ZR1 Family
Chevrolet
Hardcore enthusiasts are resistant to change and averse to the perceived dilution of a nameplate. Many BMW M3 fans bemoaned the move to a V8 in the E9X generation because, in their minds, the recipe had to include a straight-six engine. Similarly, some have already started to denigrate Shelby American’s GT350 because it doesn’t have a naturally aspirated flat-plane crank V8 like the S550 version that Ford made, so you can be sure that some ZR1 fans will argue that, to them, the badge has always signified a rear-wheel-drive front-engine sports car, even if the engine under the hood has always changed. Fanatics decide that a car fits in a certain box, and then they get annoyed when that box no longer fits. Simply put, GM had a choice between mildly redefining what the ZR1 badge means by putting it on a car with AWD and a hybrid system, or it could have gone the other way, putting the Zora badge above ZR1. This would have been a slippery (and expensive) slope.
By placing 1,250-horsepower AWD Zora above 1,064-hp traction-limited ZR1, GM would be conceding that the latter no longer means the cream of the Corvette crop; the existence of the Zora would mean the ZR1 is “less than.” Changing to a mid-engine layout was controversial but necessary, but changing the name that signifies the pinnacle of Corvette performance? That would be a marketing nightmare, and when you’ve spent the last 55 years (excluding the C5 generation) ensuring that the ZR1 badge is what comes to mind when thinking of an all-American supercar killer, slapping a new name on essentially the ultimate evolution thereof would be disrespectful to the Corvette brand’s heritage, and in this world, selling cars is more important than yet another nod to the man who helped shape it. To be fair, Chevy could well still use the Zora name for some kind of limited-run send-off when the C8 is ready to retire in a few years, or it could be reserved to introduce a whole new take on Corvette performance as an EV…