General Motors has pitched the Corvette into the price stratosphere by announcing that the 206mph ZR1 will retail at an eye-watering £109,000 in the UK.
It may be the fastest car ever built by GM, but the new ‘Vette now enters big-time supercar territory, where it will need to have the quality to match its ballistic performance.
The outrageous price tag is the biggest shock since we found out how genuinely brilliant the ZR1 is to drive. It has found a sublime chassis balance capable of delivering the meat of its 6.2-litre, 638bhp V8 to the road – and massively proved the point by entering a new Nurburgring lap record of 7min 26.4sec.
But £109k? That’s way off the scale, and compares unfavourably with its modest $105,000 US price tag, which is just £60k. Anyone for an unofficial import?
It will have to be unofficial, because the numbers being brought in through UK ‘Vette dealers are to be kept at micro levels – just two in 2008, less than ten in ’09 and no more than 20 in total. Makes the Lamborghini Reventon look commonplace.
Click here to watch the ZR1’s Nurburgring lap
Click here for our first drive of the Corvette ZR1