The 2027 Corvette Grand Sport Brings Back the Naturally Aspirated V8. The Grand Sport X Adds 721 HP.

The Grand Sport badge started as a secret. In 1963, Zora Arkus-Duntov built five lightweight Corvette racers to take on the Shelby Cobras at Le Mans. Stripped to the bone, fitted with 377-cubic-inch small blocks, roughly 2,000 pounds. GM’s corporate brass killed the program before the cars ever raced officially, but the five chassis escaped into the hands of privateer legends like Roger Penske, Dick Doane, and A.J. Foyt. They raced anyway. Won anyway.

The badge resurfaced on the C4 in 1996, then again on the C5, C6, and C7. Each time it meant the same thing: take the standard chassis, add the wider body and suspension hardware from the Z06, keep the base engine. More grip and presence than a Stingray. Less intensity than a Z06. The driver’s car for people who want the look and the handling without the ragged edge.

The 2027 version follows the same philosophy, but splits into two models for the first time. The Grand Sport gets a naturally aspirated V8. The Grand Sport X replaces the outgoing E-Ray and adds an electric motor for 721 combined horsepower. Both wear the Z06’s widebody and start production at Bowling Green Assembly in summer 2026.

Grand Sport: The V8 Purist’s Car

The engine is the story here. The LS6 displaces 6.7 liters. Naturally aspirated. 535 horsepower and 520 lb-ft of torque, with a 13.0:1 compression ratio. Forged pistons and rods. A 95mm throttle body feeds a tunnel-ram intake with high-velocity ports. Redline sits at 6,600 rpm. GM builds it at Flint Engine Operations.

This is a pushrod V8, which is worth pausing on. The LT2 in the standard Stingray makes 495 horsepower from 6.2 liters with a crossplane crank and port injection. The LT6 in the Z06 takes the opposite approach: 5.5 liters, flat-plane crank, dual overhead cams, 8,600 rpm redline, the kind of mechanical shriek that makes Ferrari owners look over their shoulders. The LS6 sits between them. It keeps the pushrod architecture, the low-end torque curve, and the rumble that Corvette people actually want, but extracts more from every cubic inch. Bigger bore. More compression. Better breathing. Forty more horsepower than the Stingray’s engine without resorting to forced induction or a fundamentally different valvetrain.

GM calls it “the most torque-rich naturally aspirated V8 in the model’s history.” The numbers support the claim.

An eight-speed dual-clutch sends power to the rear wheels through the Z06’s widebody chassis. Magnetic Ride Control and touring suspension come standard. Base tires are Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s. The Z52 Sport Performance Package adds summer tires and Z06’s J56 iron brakes. The Track Performance Package goes further: Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs, carbon-ceramic J57 brakes, full carbon-fiber aero (splitter, dive planes, rear wing, underbody strakes), and track-tuned chassis calibration.

A fully loaded Grand Sport with the Track Performance Package is going to be a brutal thing on a road course. That combination of rear-drive, naturally aspirated power, wide tires, and carbon brakes is becoming genuinely rare.

Grand Sport X: The Hybrid That Replaces the E-Ray

Take the LS6 and bolt an electric motor to the front axle. Combined output hits 721 horsepower with electric all-wheel drive. The battery pack comes from the ZR1X, mounted low and centered for weight distribution. Carbon-ceramic brakes are standard.

The E-Ray was quick in a straight line but always felt like a technology demonstrator more than a complete car. The Grand Sport X looks like the refined version. Three drive modes (Endurance, Qualifying, Push-to-Pass) give the driver granular control over how the electric motor deploys its power. A Stealth mode allows electric-only cruising at up to 50 mph, which means you can leave your neighborhood at 6 AM on a Saturday without every dog on the block losing its mind.

GM says the Grand Sport X is “faster than the Z06 on paper,” though they haven’t released acceleration or lap times yet. If that claim holds up, this car becomes the most interesting thing in the lineup. More power than the Z06, all-wheel drive, electric torque filling the gaps in the V8’s power curve, and more livable day to day because of the Stealth mode and touring suspension.

Where It Sits in the Lineup

The C8 Corvette range now stacks four deep: Stingray, Grand Sport, Z06, ZR1. Each one serves a different driver.

The Stingray is the entry point: LT2 engine, 495 hp, narrowbody, rear-wheel drive. A genuinely good sports car most people will never outgrow on public roads. The Grand Sport slots above it with more power, the widebody, and better suspension hardware. Ninety percent of the Z06’s visual drama and chassis capability without the flat-plane V8’s maintenance costs or high-rpm personality. For the person who drives their Corvette every day and tracks it twice a year, this is probably the right car.

The Z06 remains the track weapon. The LT6 flat-plane V8 wants to be revved past 8,000 rpm, and it rewards that commitment. The ZR1 sits at the top: twin-turbo, 1,064 horsepower, designed to embarrass supercars costing three times as much.

The Grand Sport fills the gap between the Stingray and Z06, the same gap it has filled since the C5. Plenty of buyers want more car than the base model but don’t need a flat-plane V8 screaming at redline during their commute.

The Bigger Picture

A 535-horsepower naturally aspirated V8 launching in 2027 carries weight beyond the spec sheet. Porsche announced the hybrid 911 GTS. BMW’s M division has gone turbo and increasingly electric. Ferrari’s entry-level cars use turbo V6s now.

Chevrolet is still building a pushrod V8 with no turbos, no supercharger, and no electric assist on the base Grand Sport. Just air, fuel, and compression. That it makes 535 horsepower doing so will mean a lot to the people it’s aimed at.

Whether this is the last generation of Corvette to offer a purely naturally aspirated, non-hybrid V8 is anyone’s guess. But the Grand Sport has always been about capturing the best version of what the Corvette is at that moment. In 2027, that’s still a big American V8 behind your shoulder blades.

Shared Design

Both models wear the Z06’s larger side intakes as standard. Fender hash marks migrate to the rear fenders for the first time in C8 history. Admiral Blue Metallic with a white center stripe and red accents anchors the launch palette, alongside a new Pitch Gray Metallic. Quad center-exit exhaust is available, a first for the pushrod C8.

The Launch Edition interior runs Santorini Blue throughout with red stitching, a plan-view Grand Sport graphic embossed in the headrests, and a leather-wrapped visor with red accents aligned to the steering wheel center mark.

Pricing hasn’t been confirmed. Sales begin in the second half of 2026.