2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 First Look
The first twin-turbocharged Corvette makes an astonishing 1,064 horsepower, is good for 215 mph — and it's ready to fight the world's exotic supercars.
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Chevrolet typically saves the ZR1 name for the most radical version of the Corvette. Recently, the automaker raised the bar. This is the all-new 2025 ZR1, the first production twin-turbocharged Corvette. The fastest, most powerful Corvette ever made is designed to dominate the race track and devour back roads, packing enough race-car technology to make the most fearsome exotic supercars sweat.
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The ZR1 Gets the U.S.'s Most Powerful V8 Ever
The ZR1 story starts with the engine, a twin-turbocharged, dual-overhead-cam 5.5-liter V8. This ZR1-specific engine is vaguely related to the standard Corvette V8, with numerous unique features such as a different head casting, a unique intake system, and a revised fuel system that incorporates both direct and port injection.
Despite having less displacement than the engine you get in a base-model Corvette Stingray, the ZR1's 1,064-hp setup makes it the most powerful production U.S. V8 ever made, according to Chevrolet.
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It's by far the most powerful Vette, easily topping the 2019 ZR1's 755 ponies. Not only that, but the new ZR1 has more than double the horsepower of the base-model 2025 Corvette Stingray, no slouch itself with 490 horses. The new ZR1 also packs in 828 pound-feet of torque, all sent through an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission with paddle shifters.
Though the field of cars with more than 1,000 horsepower is admittedly small, it generally includes all-wheel-drive (AWD) vehicles. The 2025 ZR1, however, is a rear-wheel-drive sports car with enough traction to sprint through the quarter-mile in less than 10 seconds, per manufacturer estimates. That number was considered race-car territory just a few years ago.
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Astonishing Aero, With a Retro Touch
The new ZR1 is no run-of-the-mill Corvette. Chevrolet finessed just about every inch of the Kentucky-assembled supercar's bodywork for maximum cooling and high-speed downforce to provide tenacious traction on a racetrack.
The Corvette moved to a mid-engine layout in the 2020 model year, adding a front trunk for convenience. The ZR1 cancels that front cargo area, replacing it with an enormous duct for cooling airflow. The pierced nose also creates downforce, crucial for maintaining grip on high-speed racetracks.
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An optional ZTK package further sharpens the new ultimate Vette for track days, adding an enormous rear wing, front-bumper dive planes, a Gurney flap on the hood, and underbody ducting to generate up to 1,200 pounds of downforce at 215 mph.
Running fast at the track means a need to keep things cool. The side vents behind the doors now feature added ducts that draw cooling air to the rear brakes, and the front and rear bumpers have huge mesh air openings.
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In the rear, Chevrolet added vents running down the center of the back glass. Functionally, these keep the ZR1 running cool even under the extreme conditions of lapping a racetrack.
Aesthetically, these vents are a subtle nod to the "split window" 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, offered for one year only and considered one of the most sought-after vintage Vettes. Chevy points out this split-rear-window design was previewed on the Corvette Z06 GT3.R race car that won its class at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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The ZR1 Is Built for More Than Just Straight Roads
All the horsepower in the world can't help a sports car get around a curve.
The new ZR1 uses the latest version of General Motors' Magnetic Ride dampers, which can instantly and constantly tweak their firmness to absorb bumps while keeping the car glued to the road in curves. The standard ZR1 rides on Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S high-performance tires, with 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels.
Adding the track-focused ZTK package brings super-sticky, track-ready Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, which have a rubber composition and tread pattern intended for closed courses rather than open highways. Enormous carbon-ceramic brakes, measuring 15.7 inches up front and 15.4 inches at the rear, slow down this road rocket. Optional carbon-fiber wheels help reduce unsprung weight by roughly 40 pounds and give the ZR1 a serious race-car aesthetic.
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A Corvette for the Future
When Chevrolet moved the Corvette to a mid-engine layout, it sent a message to Porsche, McLaren, Ferrari, and Lamborghini: General Motors was ready to beat Europe's most exotic supercars at their own game. The Corvette Z06, introduced for the 2023 model year, took advantage of this new architecture, packing in 670 horsepower and a raft of racetrack-ready upgrades.
Automotive enthusiast publication Car and Driver clocked the Z06's zero-to-60-mph time at a screaming 2.6 seconds, and in testing at Virginia International Raceway, that Corvette lapped faster than any Ferrari or Lamborghini the magazine had ever tested at that location for its Lightning Lap series.
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The new 2025 Corvette ZR1 is expected to top those numbers in a formidable fashion.
And the ZR1 is now the fourth prong in Detroit's all-out attack on European supercar builders. It joins the base Corvette Stingray, the Z06, and the AWD hybrid Corvette E-Ray. Chevy has never had such a wide range of Corvette variants.
Chevrolet says the new Corvette ZR1 will enter production in 2025 at the company's Corvette-only assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The automaker has not revealed how much it'll cost, but it's expected to be well above the 2024 Corvette Z06's roughly $115,000 base price.
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All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication), and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.
Written by humans.
Edited by humans.
Bob SorokanichBob Sorokanich is a car-obsessed journalist and editor who manages to maintain an old Mini Cooper and a love affair with automobiles while living in New York City. When he's not thinking about cars, he's riding his motorcycle, and when he's not riding his motorcycle, he's anticipating his next joy ride.
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