Manoli Katakis 
Tadge Juechter, the son of a fighter pilot, grew up in a “Porsche family” to end up being one of the most recognized engineers in modern automotive history. His job, if it can be called that, has been overseeing the development of each and every Corvette to roll out since 2006 as the vehicle’s chief engineer, and even farther back when he first began his involvement in the C5 program back in 1993. Needless to say, he’s been busy. The reveal of the first-ever production mid-engine Corvette has engulfed the internet automotive media-sphere like a tidal wave that could have been seen coming off shore for the past five years, yet Tadge and company are just getting started.
We’ve exhausted thousands, if not tens of thousands, of words reporting on what’s coming for the C8. In many cases, we at MC&T are the first to tell you, but of course, we’re not privy to all of the information out there.
Autoline After Hours recently had Juechter on the show, where host John McElroy and guests volleyed question after question at the Corvette chief engineer for over an hour. Much of it got into the nitty gritty of how the C8 came to be, and what it took to develop it.
Then came the big question: will there ever be an electric Corvette?
It would have been easy for Juechter to be facetious here, and could have retorted with something like asking if the sun will ever burn out. Of course, on a long enough of a timeline, anything can happen.
“The Corvette is part of General Motors. And General Motors’ mission from the top of the company is ‘zero, zero, zero.’ Zero emissions is part of our mission. That’s a ‘future state,’ we’ll get there eventually. Our job is to continue to work towards that,” said Juechter.
The question happens a little after the 18:30 mark in the video, followed, of course, by the answer. Yet there’s so much more of it to go. For the full replay of the interview, just press play.
