A 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 convertible sold for $1 million at auction

The first retail rights to a 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 convertible sold Saturday at a Barrett-Jackson auction in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a final bid of $1 million.

The auctions are for charity and tend to go for higher bids than usual, in which case the entire proceeds are donated by General Motors to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund's Teacher Quality and Retention Program.

The winning bidder is none other than Rick Hendrick, Chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group. Hendrick is a regular at these types of auctions and was the winning bidder at the January charity auction for the rights to the first 2023 Corvette Z06 coupe. The final bid for that car was $3.6 million. He also won the rights to the first C8 generation Corvette at a charity auction in 2020 for $3 million.

Deliveries of the Z06 will begin in the summer, and we are not likely to be disappointed with either body style. That's because the real star of the Z06 is its new V-8 engine, code-named LT6. Based on the design used in the C8.R endurance racer, this 5.5-liter displacement engine produces peak power at rpm rather than through forced induction: 670 hp peak power at 8,400 rpm and 460 lb-ft peak torque at 6,300 rpm. The only transmission is an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic, which sends power to the rear wheels only. Performance figures have not been released, but a 0-60 mph time of 2.6 seconds is expected.

Incredibly, the C8 Corvette generation is expected to produce two performance levels above the Z06. One is the ZR1, a twin-turbocharged version of the Z06's V-8 engine; the other is the previously rumored Zora, which will augment the ZR1's engine with a hybrid system. These could well be the last Corvettes to feature a V-8, as electric drive is likely to dominate the C9 generation to be introduced in the second half of this decade.

Pricing for the new Z06 has not been announced, but is expected to start at around $90,000.