Despite General Motors’ goal of transitioning all of their vehicles to electric-only by 2035, the automaker has revealed in a press release that they will be releasing a next-generation small-block V8 sometime in the next decade. GM has revealed they will be investing $854 million to prepare engine facilities in order to produce the sixth-generation of the beloved engine. The most current fifth-generation of the small-block debuted in the 2014 Corvette C7 and is currently used in a variety of GM vehicles.
The press release states that the sixth-gen V8 will be used to “strengthen our industry-leading lineup of full-size pickups and SUVs.” This means that we can still expect to see V8-powered behemoths on the road for the foreseeable future, although the announcement does not mention anything about the Corvette, Camaro, or other recipients of the engine. In fact, the current C8 Corvette Stingray continues to use the LT2 fifth-generation small block.
The small-block Chevy has been around since 1954 and has gone through five generations since then. The current version of the engine still uses the same bore spacing and a few other features as the original, but has been heavily reworked throughout the years. The fourth-generation of the engine was produced starting in 2005, though different generations of the small-block have historically lasted between 10 and 15 years.