The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 was first introduced in October last year. Since then, we have made several discoveries about the most highly-anticipated supercar of 2022. Its quarter-mile time leaked in November last year, followed by the top speed in May. Chevrolet has since even introduced the first special edition model. Still, we have no clear indication of what it will cost. One dealer is already charging a markup of $100,000 without an official price announcement.
This is concerning because Chevrolet initially promised to launch the Z06 in the summer, which is a few days away. Chevy's recent online configurator update for the 2023 Corvette range is more concerning. It went live without the Z06, though it's pretty clear from the white space that somebody at Chevy simply needs to push a button to make it live.
As for pricing, we still believe the base model will undercut $100,000. The Corvette Z06 has always been an exotic supercar slayer on a budget - a blue-collar slap in the face of Italian and European supercars. But in the current market, you can forget it. Dealers list used Stingrays for $90k and above thanks to production issues. In addition to dealing with the ongoing semiconductor shortage, Chevrolet also had to battle Mother Nature a while ago.
The configurator does reveal that the price has gone up slightly since our 2022 road test earlier this year. A base 1LT now has a price of $61,900. The 2LT begins at $69,200 and the 3LT goes for $73,850. These prices exclude a destination charge of $1,395.
The convertibles are also a bit pricier than before. You can expect to pay $69,400 for a 1LT, $76,200 for a 2LT, and $80,850 for a 3LT.
Why all the excitement? Well, it's a combination of things, starting with the mid-engine layout. But the big news is the flat-plane V8 which sounds like an Italian exotic. The main criticism against the standard car is the lack of revs, but this high-revving unit has the potential to elevate the Z06 to instant icon status.
Until then, we wait for Chevy to hit the "go live" button so we can finally spend hours not working while configuring the perfect Z06.