2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Officially The Most Powerful Production Car in GM History

Chevrolet has finally released the official power numbers for the upcoming Z06 Corvette, and they should ease those who were dismayed by Chevrolet’s assertion that, at least for the time being, the ZR1 variant is not in the cards and the Z06 would be the top spec offering of the C7 Corvette. So, just how powerful is the supercharged, 6.2-liter LT4 V8 in the new Z06?

How’s 650 horsepower and 650lb-ft of torque at 3600rpm sound? Those numbers make the LT4 the most powerful engine ever installed in a GM production vehicle, and bests the C6 ZR1 Corvette by 12 horsepower and 46lb-ft. The powerband of the new engine is also quite a sight to behold, with more than 450 horsepower available from idle. Here’s hoping they’ve got a comprehensive launch control system sorted out. GM was nice enough to provide a handy graph to illustrate the power delivery:

Moreover, this makes the Z06 one of the most powerful vehicles on offer in 2015 at any price. GM was nice enough to also provide another handy chart, this one showing the expensive company the Z06 will share among the ten most powerful cars on sale in 2015:

The list is even more interesting when you consider the exotic powertrains most of these cars receive, while the LT4 sticks with what some might consider “archaic” pushrod technology.

If history is any indicator, this should make the rivalry between the Corvette and the Viper that much more intense, as the performance gap between the new Viper TA and the C6 ZR1 Corvette is so small that the battle for the lap record at Laguna Seca came down to just a few tenths of a second earlier this year. Is GM set to take that title back from MoPar? We’ll have to wait till later this year to find out, but we’re pretty sure that’ll be a showdown worth waiting for.