Corvette E-Ray Hits Europe With Twice The Price And Silent Mode

The new E-Ray is priced at £153k in the UK, but it starts at $108,795 in the US

                                        https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/                                    

European Corvette fans have waited almost two years to get their hands on an officially homologated E-Ray, but now the all-wheel drive hybrid is finally on sale complete with the silent Stealth Mode already familiar to US buyers. Let’s hope they spent those two years saving hard because crossing the Atlantic doubles the electrified C8’s price.

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The E-Ray, which we tested in the US last year, made its European debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month. It performed a few demo runs up the hill in right-hand drive form, a configuration essential for mainstream success in the UK, and something not available before the C7 gave way to the C8.

Looks Fast, Costs Faster

At first glance the UK prices (£153,440 for the E-Ray coupe and £159,230 for the convertible) don’t seem too bad. A McLaren Artura PHEV costs £190,100, and Porsche’s 911 Carrera 4 GTS hybrid is £144,400. But then you look at what an E-Ray costs in the US and suddenly it doesn’t seem like such a bargain for Euro buyers.

Because at current exchange rates that £153,440 UK price works out at $208,065, yet the E-Ray only costs $108,795 in America, where it’s about 40 percent cheaper than the 911 C4 GTS. Even the new ZR1X is only expected to cost around $190-200,000 in its home market.

Not Just the Exchange Rate’s Fault

To be fair to the Corvette, the pricing story is more complicated than that. The dollar is quite weak against the pound right now, there’s sales tax to be added in most US states, and the E-Ray is available in 1LZ, 2LZ ($114,295) and 3LZ ($119,745) trims in America, but only as a 3LZ in Europe. But even accounting for all that and the RHD engineering costs  – which don’t apply in mainland Europe where the E-Ray is also pricey – it’s an expensive proposition.

And a less powerful one, too. As in the US, the European E-Ray comes with a 6.2-liter pushrod V8 at the back driving the rear wheels and an electric motor in the nose powering the fronts. Combined power is quoted as 635 hp (644 PS) in the land of the metric horse, whereas US Chevy dealers will tell you their car makes 655 hp (664 PS).

But they both get the Corvette’s first ever Stealth Mode, which allows owners to creep away from their house for those 5 AM canyon blasts without waking the neighbors. Although the E-Ray is not a plug-in hybrid, its small (1.9 kWh) battery allows around “3-4 miles” (5-7 km) of electric-only running at up to 45 mph (72 kmh) before the V8 kicks in.

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