Corvette Stingray Coupe

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
Coupe

If the sound and look of a Corvette SUV turns your stomach, let us point you to a few other brands that made the leap from sports cars to people haulers, first to the disdain of its customers, before becoming some of the most popular models. There was a little German brand called Porsche, who ended up building a midsized (and wildly popular) crossover/SUV called the Cayenne. Lamborghini did the same with the Urus - now its top-selling vehicle in its two biggest markets.

GM has been talking about this for years, but in a recent interview, former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz had this to say: "What I would do is develop a dedicated architecture, super lightweight, super-powerful, Porsche Cayenne-like, only much better and a little bigger, medium-volume Corvette SUV. Target worldwide 20,000 to 30,000 units, and price it starting at $100,000. Gorgeous interior. No V6 powertrain. No low-end version. It has to be the stellar premium sport-utility made in the United States, and the Corvette brand could pull that off."

Spinning off a model into a brand isn't something new either. Toyota basically did it with the Prius. Dodge with the Ram and even Hyundai with Genesis. Though GM denies plans of a Corvette sedan or SUV, it would be profitable. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has said a Corvette sub-brand could be worth $7 billion to $12 billion for the automaker.

But that doesn't mean GM will do it. President Mark Reuss and VP of performance vehicles and motorsports Jim Campbell, when asked, wouldn't address the plan. "I can't say anything one way or the other," said Campbell.

"Probably not going to see that," said Reuss. Though they didn't flat out deny it.

The rumors really heated up during GM's press conference in January, when we saw this unidentified crossover/SUV in the background.

Our rendering pictures an electrified Corvette SUV in Accelerate Yellow Metallic. We've given it a good bit of ground clearance along with tough-looking cladding for the lower sides. Like the Porsche and Lambo SUV, this would spend most of its time in mall parking lots and lawyer offices in the expensive part of Manhattan, but the ability to get upstate to your cabin in the mountains is always a plus.

It would certainly need a Corvette-rated electric powertrain. Though we don't know if it would fit, the new Hummer setup has the right numbers. Ranging from 625 hp in the EV2 to 1,000 hp in the EV3X, just throw those Ultium batteries in the floor and get going.

As of right now, these are still just rumors. But if Ferrari can make an SUV, there's no reason we can't see one from Chevy and Corvette.