DETROIT – General Motors’ future may be in all-electric vehicles, but it still needs its current models to pay the bills to allow it to invest in those new products.That’s one of the reasons why the automaker on Tuesday revealed the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray – the first-ever “electrified,” or hybrid, version of the famed sports car. It also features all-wheel drive, another first for the eighth-generation, or C8, Corvette.The car – starting at about $104,000 when it will be released later this year – may surprise some consumers, as it’s a step toward full electrification but a unicorn in GM’s lineup. The Detroit automaker had discontinued all hybrids, including plug-in hybrids, to focus investment on all-electric vehicles.So why make a hybrid Corvette? GM says there are several reasons but, in general, the automaker was already developing the technology ahead of its more aggressive EV ambitions. It’s also a new market that should help the company test the waters of electrification for the iconic car.”It’s just a new market opportunity for us as a company to showcase our engineering and our development of the whole architecture of C8,” GM President Mark Reuss told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau. “General Motors and Chevrolet keep increasing what we’re delivering for the Corvette customer.”Reuss last year confirmed an all-electric Corvette is coming, but GM has not announced timing for the EV version.It’s a CorvetteThe most obvious reason for the hybrid is it’s a Corvette, so GM does special things for it. The car has been a halo vehicle for the automaker for 70 years. It’s something the company has always considered to be in a class of its own, with the capability of …
