Chevrolet provided flights from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, and accommodation so Ars could be briefed on the new ZR1X and drive the ZR1. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

At the recent media launch of the ZR1, the most powerful Corvette ever, Chevrolet also teased an even more potent variant set to debut later this year. Dubbed the ZR1X, the latest model arrives after serious anticipation that began swirling when the eighth-gen ‘Vette switched to a mid-engine layout—and especially after the E-Ray hybrid justified the design’s enormous center console by filling the backbone with batteries to power a small front electric motor.

Hype online ahead of the official unveil nicknamed the top-spec car “Zora” after Zora Arkus-Duntov, the GM engineer known as the “Father of the Corvette.” But instead, ZR1X follows the industry’s typical alphanumeric nomenclature, where, as usual, X means all-wheel drive. The ZR1X, therefore, uses the same recipe by complementing the ZR1’s 1,064 hp (783 kW) twin-turbocharged V8 with a front electric motor, resulting in a claimed combined rating of 1,250 hp (919 kW).

The same 1.9 kWh battery pack now holds 26 percent more charge than in the E-Ray, which helps bump the front motor’s output from 160 to 186 hp (117 to 132 kW) and from 125 to 145 lb-ft (169 to 196 Nm). This allows GM to predict that the ZR1X will achieve a 0–60 mph (0–96 kph) time under two seconds, made possible by all-wheel-drive traction off the line.

The front axle now entirely disconnects at 160 mph (257 kph) rather than 150 mph (241 kph) for the E-Ray, yet the ZR1X’s low-drag aero package should still hit the same 233 mph (375 km/h) top speed that the ZR1 achieved at Papenburg, Germany, last year. In fact, Chevrolet purposefully accomplished that top speed run with ballast to prove the future ZR1X’s potential.