GM wows with Corvette, Cadillac concepts at Monterey Car Week

CARMEL, Calif – GM brought some Detroit muscle to the rarified air of Monterey Car Week — with a twist.

While the Corvette nameplate falls under the Chevrolet brand, more and more it stands out on its own. At The Quail event in Carmel Valley, where multi-million dollar Paganis are displayed alongside priceless gullwing Mercedes SL coupes (and the parking lot is a show in and of itself), Corvette showed off two concepts that showed where the sportscar is headed in the future.

The CX and its racing-inspired twin the CX-R, evoke supercar looks that go beyond the current “C8” Corvette. The two concepts feature fighter jet-style interiors, with a trick canopy opening to boot. The twist — the CX is all electric, which is becoming a rarity at the higher end, and the CX-R features hybrid power. The racy CX-R will also be a drivable car in the Gran Turismo 7 racing game on PlayStation.

And the response, beyond the oohs and ahhs, was strong for vehicles that aren’t going on sale.

“We’ve had a number of customers that have already said, ‘Could we buy one of those vehicles today?,’” said Rory Harvey, EVP and President of Global Markets, from the Quail Event to Yahoo Finance.

Harvey, who essentially leads on all GM brands globally, noted that customers were asking to buy a vehicle with no pricing info, and wouldn’t even be released. It was a good opportunity though, to collect future client info from buyers who typically own multiple cars.

“Just listening to the customers, the enthusiasts that are on the stage, I mean, the feedback is outstanding,” Harvey said.

The UK-born exec noted that Corvette, in his opinion, was already at supercar levels, with competitive lap times at places like the Nurburgring in Germany, and 38% market share in the luxury sports car segment, making it the leader.

Harvey’s purview extends to Cadillac, where the luxury brand showed off its “Elevated Velocity” concept, a cross-over style EV SUV meant to evoke the high-desert landscape.

The new design language may hint at more curves and swooping design, as opposed to Cadillac’s traditional angular features and vertical light bars.

Regardless, Cadillac as a brand has been on a winning streak with its combination of traditional gas powered cars like the Escalade and CT5 sedans, and EVs like the Lyriq and Optiq.

“Cadillac now has done 12 consecutive quarters of year-on-year growth, which is absolutely superb. But in quarter two, Cadillac is now the number one luxury brand for EVs. So again, that’s really, really strong,” Harvey said. “We’ve launched so many new products over the course of the last two years, and that momentum continues to build. So we’re looking at, how do we keep our foot on the accelerator pedal and build even further?”