The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Coupe comes with the ZTK Performance Package.
DETROIT – Tadge Juechter gets his first “taste” of working on a Corvette General Motors Back in 1985, our goal was to see if enough Americans could afford a new high-performance version of the famous ZR1 sports car.
Nearly 40 years later, not only are enough people able to afford such a car, but GM’s All-new 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 It’s a death blow for Juechter, who retired Wednesday after about 47 years at the Detroit automaker.
this The so-called “godfather” The modern Corvette’s chief engineer is retiring about a week after helping launch the new 2025 Corvette ZR1, the most powerful and fastest car ever built.
“The one thing all the great Corvettes have in common in recent years and decades is you. Your knowledge, your skills, your hard work, your passion,” GM President Mark Royce Tell Juechter when showing off the vehicle. “Thank you for making the Corvette the great American sports car it still is today. Thank you for making our company better.”
General Motors President Mark Reuss (left) takes the stage with retiring Corvette executive chief engineer Tadge Juechter at the launch of the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 on July 25, 2024.
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Reuss announced last month that all 2025 Corvettes and beyond will feature an outline of Juechter’s head profile etched on the windows and on the front tunnel reinforcement panel underneath every Corvette.
CNBC caught up with Juechter, 67, before his retirement to talk about his career and the Corvette business, including plans for an all-electric version and the potential to spin off the brand and SUVs.
electric corvette
General Motors says an all-electric Corvette is coming soon, but has not yet given a timetable. Last year, the automaker launched a hybrid version of the car called the E-Ray.
Juechter wouldn’t reveal any details about the upcoming Corvette EV, but he believes the E-Ray proves that GM can successfully electrify the Corvette.
“Electrification can make a huge contribution to the automobile. I believe in efficiency… We are passionate about efficiency in everything we do,” he said. “Efficiency also makes a good sports car. So, I think electrification is just another technology that we have to figure out how to leverage in a way that resonates with our customers.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray Hybrid Sports Car
General Motors
“E-Ray is the first step. We’re thinking long term, you know, decades long term. Yes, GM is committed to 100% electrification, and it’s our job as engineers to figure out how to make that happen. We are we have to bring our customers as well.
Juechter said there is some “natural resistance” to electric Corvettes from the sports car’s fan base.
“We hope E-Ray will make them feel warm that maybe the electrification thing isn’t so bad after all,” he said.
Corvette derivatives and SUVs
Wall Street analysts say GM can better leverage the Corvette brand by expanding its models and, to some extent, sales. At the end of 2019, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said the Corvette sub-brand could be worth between $7 billion and $12 billion.
That raises questions about whether Corvette would be better off being spun off from parent company General Motors.
But Juechter doesn’t necessarily think that’s the way to go.
“I don’t know if we need to spin off. I mean, Corvette is the core of Chevrolet. This is a pure business play. If you have the equity in the brand, you can keep it in the family, or you can choose to try Monetize it and put it out there.
“GM has never done this in its history. We embrace our important franchise, and it’s a very important franchise,” he said.
On July 25, 2024, retiring Corvette executive chief engineer Tadge Juechter made an appearance at the launch of the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.
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Juechter said the situation is slightly different when it comes to using the brand to develop future products such as SUVs, which have been considered for years, but he declined to confirm whether there were any such plans or considerations.
“How you leverage that. That’s the question of the future. You see the models we’re putting out. We’re maximizing the use of this mid-engine architecture. And, you know, I’ve made no secret of my work on electric vehicles as well, And trying to bring some of that performance spirit into the electric vehicle space, how that applies in the future and how it’s branded, that’s a story for another day,” he said.
A few years ago, the concept of a performance car brand producing an SUV or crossover might have been blasphemous, but as consumer preferences shift away from traditional car models, several brands like Porsche, Lamborghini and even Ferrari have already done so.
Favorite Corvette
Juechter has been a part of four generations of Corvettes – from the fourth-generation ZR1 to the all-new mid-engine eighth-generation sports car.
The first Corvette he bought for himself was the sixth-generation 2006 Corvette Z06.
“It’s hard to pick a favorite. It’s like who is your favorite child. In fact, it’s harder than who is your favorite child. I won’t get into parenting by any means, but every child we pour our heart into A car, all of them have their own special qualities.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t pick one. If I were forced to pick one, I’d say money makes all the difference. I bought that Z06. I paid for that car myself. … That The car is very special to me.
Uechter said he had no plans to buy a Corvette, but he saw one “fully armed” rolling off the line at the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Ky., and said he had to have it.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette
General Motors
He has since sold that car and last year purchased an eighth-generation Corvette Stingray convertible as a “retirement car” because he wouldn’t get any free Corvettes to test.
“I’ve never driven a convertible, but it’s my wife’s and my station wagon — like an off-road station wagon. I’m not going to track it. It’s going to be my daily driver,” he said. “If you just have one daily driver, a Corvette, a Stingray would be great.”
