General Motors Speciality Vehicles, which handles sale of the V8 C8, has summed up its enthusiasm for the battery models in two sentences.

CONFIRMATION Corvette is moving into the electric age has left the model’s local distributor all but speechless.

A petrol-electric version of the current C8 Corvette that has just begun to trickle into New Zealand in 6.2-litre petrol V8 format will enter production early next year.

Also under development is a fully mains-dedicated version of the two-seater, sitting atop GM’s in-house electric platform, called Ultium.

This is cited for all GM’s electric cars and has started big, as it is already underpinning two large vehicles, the EV Chevrolet Silverado truck and reborn Hummer SUV.

Those bombshells, along with more news about Ultium’s energy recovery potentials, were revealed on Monday by General Motors’ president Mark Reuss (above).

MotoringNZ.com has gone to General Motors Speciality Vehicles’ New Zealand operation, run out of Auckland, for local comment and perhaps insight into when it thought those derivatives might be seen in this part of the world and what impact they might make on Corvette cognoscenti here.

The response arrived late last night. There’s enthusiasm and… no, that’s it.

 “The electric Corvette teased … is a very exciting looking vehicle. It is not confirmed for introduction into any international markets at this time,” a spokesman said.

Though a Detroit native, Reuss nonetheless knows this part of the world well, having overseen Holden for almost two years, starting in 2008, from Melbourne.

He opened up about the Corvette’s two-pronged assault with battery in an interview in the US, with GM also providing the video here showing a prototype hybrid based on the C8 testing on ice.

That footage clearly shows the car will be all-wheel-drive, another first for a type which has already seen radical change with C8 arriving as the first mid-engined edition.

The clip of it launching from a standstill is what makes the all-wheel drive very obvious. It's all in slow-motion, and it sure seems the front wheels get going more quickly than the rears, which has made the US Autoblog website think the front wheels are powered by an electric motor rather than being mechanically connected to the engine. It says that is consistent with previous reports.

The hybrid doesn’t have  name yet, but Autoblog reminds GM has been holding the trademark for the ‘E-Ray’ name for some time.

Power is also unclear, but the latest reports have it somewhere around 450kW combined. It will likely come in below 507kW, though, in order to maintain the Z06’s flagship position in Corvette hierarchy. GMSV has previously has said it does not know when the Z06 will begin in right-hand-drive production.

Reuss didn't offer much in respect to the full electric, except to confirm it is coming and will definitely be after the hybrid. 

In addition to this, Reuss announced the Ultium Platform’s energy recovery system, a patented onboard system that takes the heat generated by EV batteries and uses it to warm the cabin, create more efficient charging conditions, and even increase vehicle acceleration.

Reuss says it can boost the vehicle’s range by about 10 percent and cites it as “a perfect example of how developing a ground-up EV platform like Ultium enables unique features not easily done with a retrofit.”

He reportedly says GM will continue to manufacture traditional models with internal combustion engines alongside electrified models.