The Overview

The C8 Corvette Z06 was built 2023–2027, 32,400 cars by GM’s counts. The mid-engine Z06: a 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank LT6 that spins to 8,600 rpm and makes 670 horsepower without a supercharger, the wide body, the Z07 package and the GT3.R customer racer built from it.

The naturally aspirated one. The LT6 is a 5.5-liter all-aluminum V-8 with a flat-plane crankshaft, four overhead camshafts, a dry sump and twelve throttle bodies, hand-built in Bowling Green, 670 horsepower at 8,400 rpm and 460 lb-ft with an 8,600-rpm redline, the most powerful naturally aspirated production V-8 ever built, and it sounds like it. The body is 3.6 inches wider on 20- and 21-inch wheels; the Z07 package adds carbon-ceramic brakes, Cup 2 R tires, a carbon aero kit and optional carbon wheels for 2.6 seconds to 60 and 1.22 g. From $106,395 in 2023 to $121,395 in 2027, with a gas-guzzler tax from 2026, and 6,413, 10,575, 8,862 and about 6,550 built through 2026, plus the 2023 70th Anniversary cars. In October 2026 Classic.com’s C8 Z06 benchmark was $134,263, with 3LZ coupes trading just under their window stickers and the 70th Anniversary convertibles that reached $302,500 in 2023 back near sticker.

This page has every model year of the C8 Corvette Z06 in its own section with the year page’s account, the specs, the numbers and the posts; the figures by year; the colors; how it compares to its siblings; the site’s guides, videos and news; and a buyer’s guide: which year to buy, what to pay, how to verify one, what goes wrong and the site’s market reports. The Corvette Z06 guide has the whole line across every generation.

The C8 Corvette Z06 Story

The Mid-Engine Z06: The LT6, 2023 On

The C8 moved the engine behind the driver and the Z06 followed in 2023 with the engine the C8.R had been racing since 2020: the 5.5-liter LT6, a dual-overhead-cam, flat-plane-crank V-8 with titanium rods and a six-stage dry sump, hand-built at the Performance Build Center inside the Bowling Green plant, 670 horsepower at 8,400 rpm and an 8,600-rpm redline, the most powerful naturally aspirated V-8 ever put in a production car. It sits in a body 3.6 inches wider than the Stingray’s on 20- and 21-inch wheels, with the Z07 package adding carbon aero, carbon-ceramic brakes, Cup 2 R tires and, for the first time from GM, carbon-fiber wheels. The ZR1 of 2025 took the top spot back with the twin-turbo LT7, but the Z06 became the volume performance Corvette, a third of all 2025 production, and it carried on into the 2027 model year unchanged under the skin.

The Z06 at the Races

Racing is why the Z06 exists and the badge has kept racing. The 1963 cars won their first race at Riverside in October 1962 with Doug Hooper driving for Mickey Thompson, against the brand-new Cobras. The C6 Z06 became the Z06-R GT3, built by Callaway Competition for Corvette Europe and raced across the continent, an ADAC GT Masters champion. And when Chevrolet ended the factory program after 2023 it built the Z06 GT3.R from the C8 Z06, the first Corvette race car sold to customers: Rolex 24 and Le Mans class wins in 2025, the IMSA GTD Pro drivers’, team and manufacturers’ titles the same year and the 2026 manufacturers’ championship. The race cars page carries every one of them.

MORE: THE CORVETTE Z06 GUIDE / THE C8 HUB

2023 Corvette Z06

Revealed on October 26, 2021 and built from September 2022, the 2023 Z06 was the mid-engine Corvette the C8.R had been hiding in plain sight: the 5.5-liter LT6 — a flat-plane-crank, dual-overhead-cam V-8 with titanium rods, finger-follower valvetrain, twin 87-mm throttles and a six-stage dry sump, hand-built at the Performance Build Center inside the Bowling Green plant — making 670 horsepower at 8,400 rpm and 460 lb-ft, revving to 8,600 and sounding like nothing Chevrolet had sold before, the most powerful naturally aspirated V-8 in any production car. Around it a body 3.6 inches wider on 20 x 10 and 21 x 13-inch forged wheels with 345-section rear tires, its own fascias and five heat exchangers, a 5.56 axle, standard Magnetic Ride 4.0 and Performance Traction Management, 14.6 and 15-inch Brembos with six-piston fronts and an adjustable rear spoiler; the $8,995 Z07 package added the carbon aero (734 pounds of downforce at 186 mph), Cup 2 R tires, carbon-ceramic brakes and the FE7 suspension, with Carbon Revolution carbon-fiber wheels 41 pounds lighter as an option, for 2.6 seconds to 60 mph, 10.6 in the quarter and 1.22 g. It cost $106,395 as a 1LZ coupe and $113,895 as a convertible, $120,245 and $127,245 as 3LZs, and dealers asked far more: Bowling Green built 6,413 in the model year — 3,109 coupes and 3,304 convertibles, the first Corvette since 1968 to sell more open cars than closed — 5,252 of them 3LZs, 1,845 with Z07, 1,022 as 70th Anniversary Editions, 49 with customer-chosen VINs and 23 in right-hand drive.

VIN 001, a 70th car, brought $3.6 million for Operation Homefront from Rick Hendrick at Barrett-Jackson on January 29, 2022, and a White Pearl 70th Z07 paced the Indianapolis 500 four months later. The 2023 Z06s had the LT6 engine-replacement campaign of early 2023 to get through; by 2025 the markups were gone and the car was what it had been built to be — the Z06 the C8 was designed around.

MORE: THE 2023 RESEARCH PAGE / THE 2023 Z06 GUIDE

2024 Corvette Z06

The Z06’s second model year was its first full one, and Bowling Green built 10,575 — 5,327 coupes and 5,248 convertibles, almost even after the convertible had outsold the coupe in 2023 — against 6,413 in the sixteen months before. Nothing changed under the skin: the 5.5-liter LT6 at 670 horsepower and 8,600 rpm, the 5.56 axle, the wide body, the 20 and 21-inch forged wheels, the Z07 package at $8,995 with its carbon aero ($8,495 or $10,495), Cup 2 R tires, FE7 suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes, which 2,715 took (26 percent, down from 29) while another 1,538 had the carbon-ceramics alone and 2,634 the aero without Z07. What was new was on the order guide: the three new colors and Carbon Flash Metallic on every trim, the 70th Anniversary visible-carbon wheels with the red stripe as a regular $13,500 option (287 Z06s), a visible-carbon-fiber LT6 engine cover, spoiler extensions and rear hash graphics with the Jake logo, the Tech Bronze accent package, the Artemis Dipped interior (55 Z06s) and the standard driver-assistance features — and the price, $109,695 for a 1LZ coupe in July 2023 and $111,795 from October 2 ($118,795 to $132,345 for the convertibles), with GM’s sheet now calling the car 1YH instead of 1YD. 7,663 of the 10,575 were 3LZs, 295 were right-hand drive and 510 were delivered at the Museum.

The 2024 was also the year the Z06 market settled: the early-2023 markups were gone, the LT6 campaign was behind the car, and a 2024 Z06 now trades at its sticker or a little under — Classic.com’s 2024 benchmark was $134,723 in October 2026.

2024 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The Z06 GT3.R replaced the C8.R for 2024 and changed what Corvette Racing was. Revealed at Daytona on January 27, 2023 and built by Pratt Miller around the production Z06’s structure, it was the first Corvette race car built to the international GT3 rules and the first sold to customers: a 5.5-liter LT6.R rated at 500 horsepower for the World Endurance Championship and up to 600 for IMSA, an Xtrac six-speed sequential transaxle, a 2,733-pound homologation weight and more production parts — the aluminum frame, the bodywork, the engine architecture — than any Corvette racer before it. General Motors had ended the factory program after 2023, so Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports ran the Nos. 3 and 4 in IMSA’s GTD Pro class with Chevrolet’s engineering support and its drivers, AWA ran the first customer car (No. 13) in GTD after its second entry withdrew, TF Sport took the Nos. 81 and 82 to the WEC’s new LMGT3 class, and more went to GT World Challenge America.

MORE: THE 2024 RESEARCH PAGE / THE 2024 Z06 GUIDE / THE Z06 GT3.R GUIDE

2025 Corvette Z06

The Z06’s third model year was its first with a car above it, and it was the year the Z06 became the volume performance Corvette: 8,862 built in eleven months — 4,786 coupes and 4,076 convertibles, 1,805 with Z07 (20 percent, down from 26) and 764 more with the carbon-ceramic brakes alone, 6,540 of them 3LZs — a third of everything Bowling Green made. Nothing changed under the skin: the 5.5-liter LT6 at 670 horsepower and 8,600 rpm, the 5.56 axle, the wide body, the $8,995 Z07 package with its carbon aero, Cup 2 R tires, FE7 suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes. What changed was the catalog: the three new colors (Black led the Z06 at 1,777, then Arctic White 1,537 and Torch Red 1,109; Hysteria Purple 480, Competition Yellow 640, Sebring Orange 566), the new Jet Black interior with blue stitching (351 Z06s), gloss-black (SRN, 2,308 — second only to the standard black wheel), polished (STE, 294), bright-polished (STX, 216) and pearl-nickel (SRK, 124) finishes for the spider wheels, a revised EPA label (12 / 20 / 14), and $2,000 on the price — $113,795 for a 1LZ coupe, $122,695 and $127,345 for the 2LZ and 3LZ, $120,795 to $134,345 for the convertible, including destination. 99 were right-hand drive and 251 were delivered at the Museum.

The Z06 GT3.R built from it won the IMSA GTD Pro drivers’, team and manufacturer championships in 2025, and the Z06’s market has settled: Classic.com’s benchmark is $134,263, and a 2025 3LZ trades a little under its sticker.

2025 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. In its second season the Z06 GT3.R won what the C8.R never had: an IMSA GTD Pro championship. Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports ran the Nos. 3 and 4 again with Chevrolet’s support — Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims, Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg — and the No. 3 finished third at the Rolex 24 in January, second at Sebring, Detroit and Watkins Glen, fourth at Mosport and Road America, won the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway on August 24, 2025, and took the drivers’ and team titles at Petit Le Mans on October 11, where the No. 4 finished second and the No. 3 third: nine podiums between the two cars, 3,265 points, and the GTD Pro manufacturers’ championship for Chevrolet — its first in the class and its fifteenth IMSA GT title. The customer cars had the better of the trophies: AWA’s No. 13 won the GTD class at the Rolex 24 (the car was retired to the team’s collection afterward), TF Sport’s No. 33 won the Qatar 1812 km in February and the No. 81 the 6 Hours of Fuji in September in the World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 class, with the No. 81 third in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans; TF Sport’s No. 82 won at Imola and Portimão to take the European Le Mans Series LMGT3 championship; and Z06 GT3.Rs won in GT World Challenge Asia (Sepang, Chang, Fuji) and America (four Pro-Am wins) and the GT America series.

MORE: THE 2025 RESEARCH PAGE / THE 2025 Z06 GUIDE / THE Z06 GT3.R GUIDE

2026 Corvette Z06

The Z06’s fourth model year was the quietest: nothing changed under the skin — the 670-horsepower LT6 at 8,600 rpm, the 5.56 axle, the wide body, the $8,995 Z07 package with its carbon aero, Cup 2 R tires and carbon-ceramic brakes, now also sold as a $27,495 bundle with the visible-carbon aero and the red-stripe STZ carbon wheels (PDF) — and the news was the cabin and the bill. Every 2026 Z06 got the three-screen interior, with the carbon-fiber display hood optional, the five new colorways, Roswell Green and Blade Silver in place of Rapid Blue and Sea Wolf Gray, blue brake calipers as a new choice and the asymmetrical stripe package; and its price went up $5,700, to $119,695, $128,595 and $133,245 for the 1LZ, 2LZ and 3LZ coupe and $126,695 to $140,245 for the convertible, because the LT6 was reclassified under the gas-guzzler tax and the $3,000 that the LT7 had carried from the start now applied to the Z06 too, on top of the $1,995 destination charge. About 6,550 were built by the unofficial VIN count — a quarter of the year and the second-biggest seller again — in the ten months before the 2027s; the bodies, trims and take rates wait for the Museum’s sheet.

The 2026 Z06 trades at or a little under its sticker, with the Z06 market’s Classic.com benchmark at $134,263; the site’s 2025 Z06 in-depth guide carries the car, and a 2026 guide is to come.

MORE: THE 2026 RESEARCH PAGE / THE Z06 IN-DEPTH GUIDE

2027 C8 Corvette Z06

The 2027 model year retired the engine the C8 launched with. The 6.2-liter LT2 gave way to the LS6 — 409 cubic inches, 6.7 liters, a 100-mm stroke on the LT2’s 103.25-mm bore, 13.0:1 compression, a 95-mm throttle body, a tunnel-ram intake, direct and port injection, forged pistons and rods, 535 horsepower and 520 lb-ft, the most torque of any naturally aspirated production V-8 and the first of General Motors’ sixth generation of small-blocks, built in Flint, Michigan where the first Corvette V-8s were made in 1955 — and it went into three cars: the Stingray, now $73,495 and the most powerful base Corvette there has been; the Grand Sport, the name revived after 2019 for the car between Stingray and Z06 — the Z06’s wide body and wheels, Magnetic Ride standard, hash marks on the rear haunches, Admiral Blue Metallic revived for it, $88,495, with the $3,500 Z52 Sport package (summer tires, the Z06’s iron brakes) or the Z52 Track package (carbon-ceramic brakes, Cup 2 R tires, the carbon aero, a quad center-exit exhaust) from $109,190; and the Grand Sport X, the E-Ray’s replacement, with the ZR1X’s 186-horsepower front motor for 721 horsepower and eAWD at $112,195.

Chevrolet showed the Grand Sport at the 12 Hours of Sebring and revealed it on March 26, 2026, priced the range on April 13 with the destination charge up to $2,495 — the Z06 $121,395, the ZR1 $197,195 (up $12,700), the ZR1X $227,395 (up $17,800), all three mechanically unchanged with the 2026 interior — and began 2027 production on June 8, 2026, ten days after the last domestic 2026; the Grand Sport X followed in August. In the first three weeks the plant built 1,689 cars: 719 Stingrays, 590 Grand Sports, 241 Z06s, 91 ZR1s and 48 ZR1Xs — the Grand Sport at 35 percent against the Stingray’s 43, and the three supercars nearly a quarter. Ten colors, with Admiral Blue Metallic and Pitch Gray Metallic new and Hysteria Purple and Riptide Blue gone.

MORE: THE 2027 RESEARCH PAGE