The 2026 Chevrolet Corvette: A $93,498 Stingray, a 1,250-Horsepower ZR1X and Not a Manual Gearbox in Sight — Rated 7.8/10

The 2026 cars are the seventh model year of the eighth-generation Corvette, the C8 that ended sixty-six years of front-engine Corvettes when it arrived for 2020. One scheduling note for shoppers: Chevrolet Canada has already rolled the Stingray over to the 2027 model year on its main Corvette page, with the 2026 Stingray moved to a previous-year listing, while the E-Ray, Z06, ZR1 and ZR1X remain 2026 cars.

Five models are sold here and the price ladder is extraordinary. The Stingray opens at $93,498 in 1LT trim, rising through 2LT at $103,732 and 3LT at $110,812. The hybrid E-Ray costs $162,052. The Z06 starts at $174,052 and runs to $194,932 in 3LZ trim. The ZR1 asks $278,415, and the new ZR1X $316,255 — the first Corvette priced like a hypercar in this country.

The engines beneath them are the story. The Stingray's mid-mounted 6.2-litre LT2 V8 makes 490 horsepower, or 495 with the performance exhaust, and Chevrolet quotes 2.9 seconds to 96 km/h with the Z51 package. The E-Ray keeps that V8 and adds a front electric motor for 655 combined horsepower, all-wheel drive and a 2.5-second figure. The Z06 swaps in the naturally aspirated 5.5-litre flat-plane-crank LT6, 670 horsepower revving to 8,600 rpm, which Chevrolet calls the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever fitted to a production car. The ZR1 twin-turbochargers that architecture into the LT7, producing 1,064 horsepower and 828 pound-feet and a claimed 374 km/h. The ZR1X then adds the E-Ray's electrified front axle to the ZR1's engine for 1,250 combined horsepower, a claimed 1.89 seconds to 96 km/h and a quarter mile under nine seconds.

For all that variety there is exactly one gearbox. Every Corvette in the range — Stingray to ZR1X — uses the same eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. No manual transmission is offered anywhere in the lineup, which is the sharpest possible contrast with the Mustang lineup this desk reviewed a week ago.

The 2026 changes are concentrated in the electronics. Performance Traction Management gains a new Pro Mode allowing the driver to move between assisted and fully unassisted settings without leaving the system, and the Performance Data Recorder has been rebuilt to run entirely on board — no laptop or phone required — adding automated coaching tips, per-lap graphical analysis and real-time drift-state graphics. Four drive modes are standard alongside a configurable My Mode, audio runs from a ten-speaker Bose system to a fourteen-speaker Performance Series, and the convertible's power hardtop retracts in sixteen seconds at speeds up to 48 km/h. The E-Ray and ZR1X add a Stealth Mode that runs on electricity alone for a few kilometres at low speed.

A 7.8/10 from the Torbrook Rating Agency reflects a car whose engineering ceiling keeps rising while its breadth of choice narrows in one specific respect. The specifications above are Chevrolet's; the score is ours.