The optics on “brand America” are currently being assailed. An interesting time, then, for General Motors to renew its interest in the European market, although the reasoning is sound.

Leading the charge is Cadillac’s entry into Formula One (it’s already competitive in world endurance racing, and the Celestiq luxury EV is burnishing the company’s image elsewhere), but also critical is a new push for the Corvette.

For those outside of the US, this is America’s sports car—a traditionally blue-collar hero that has fired imaginations and been hymned in pop culture (Less Than Zero, Boogie Nights, and one of Prince’s biggest hits, to name just three examples), but a car that has mostly taken a “route one” approach to high performance.

Well, that’s changing. The eighth generation messed with the formula by moving that famous V-8 power unit—a staple of internal combustion for decades—from the front to the middle. That’s a very European engineering maneuver, never mind that the father of the original ’Vette, the brilliant Zora Arkus-Duntov, had been pushing for that configuration as far back as the early ’60s. (Check out the CERV I and CERV II concept cars for proof, the latter going further still by also featuring four-wheel drive.)

Courtesy of Corvette

The latest Corvette expands the playbook dramatically. In addition to the regular Stingray and the sensational competition-oriented ZO6, we can now welcome the Corvette E-Ray, a version that somehow combines the two and becomes the first Corvette to use an electrified powertrain. This might count as heresy in some quarters, but in automotive terms it’s certainly making America, if not great again exactly, then definitely interesting.

Because the front axle now receives drive, it moves the ’Vette closer than ever to being a supercar that’s not just daily drivable but also one that can cope with all four seasons. The extra traction this delivers is obviously a useful USP in its home market, where the winters can be brutal, but it helps in the UK and Europe too. Never mind the weather, though: Can the E-Ray cope with the UK’s uniquely crummy road surfaces?

Hybrid, but No Plug

While it tilts at ostensibly more sophisticated rivals such as the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura, unlike that duo the Corvette E-Ray isn’t a plug-in hybrid. The electric assistance here is designed to boost the Stingray’s already mighty performance rather than enhancing efficiency. So it takes that car’s 6.2-liter, 475 bhp pushrod V8, high-performance exhaust and eight-speed dual clutch automatic and teams it with a small, permanent magnet electric motor that drives the front wheels.

Courtesy of Corvette

A 1.9-kWh lithium-ion battery has been packaged within the car’s already beefy central tunnel, and additional cooling has been added to manage battery temperature. There’s also new software to harmonize all the components.

The hybrid adds 160 bhp for a total system power output of 645 bhp, which is almost identical to the amount produced by the thunderous ZO6. On top of that, the more overtly aero-oriented comp-inspired car also donates its wide-body look, the previously optional carbon-ceramic brakes are standard, and the tires epically chunky: 275/30ZR-20s at the front, 345/25ZR-21s at the rear. (Specially developed all-season Michelin Pilot Sports are available.)

Riotous Design

We’re not sure the car’s visuals are quite equal to the ambition being exercised elsewhere, though. The Corvette’s design trajectory since its 1953 launch is instructive of American automotive design overall, the ’60s C2 Sting Ray and ’80s C4 iterations culturally relative high-points. The latest car is an incoherent riot of competing angles and edges, undeniably dramatic and a crowd-pleaser to judge by the reaction it generates during WIRED’s drive. But still no oil painting.

Courtesy of Corvette

It’s unrepentantly expressive inside, too. It’s easy to get in and out of, the doors opening wide, the seats more luxurious in feel and amply cushioned compared to its more minimalist rivals. The steering wheel is one of those fashionably square items, its spars oddly downcast. But the driving position is good, the view ahead helped by fairly slender A pillars. A rear-view camera mirror helps ease reversing anxiety, usually a tricky thing in a mid-engined car.

Multi-configurable instrument dials lie straight ahead, there’s a crisp Head-Up Display, and an angled touchscreen handles the infotainment. Then there’s that swooping central tunnel, the leading edge of which houses the switchgear that operates the climate control and various other functions. Fearing total ergonomic catastrophe, it’s a surprise to discover that it all actually works well in practice.

Electric Stealth

Given that the Corvette’s V-8 is totemic, the E-Ray’s principal hybrid party trick is its “stealth” mode, which does what it says: enables the car to exit your street under near-silent electric-only propulsion. Its range in this mode is barely a few miles, but still, this is briefly an electric, front-drive Corvette. What a novelty.

Courtesy of Corvette

Waking the 6.2-liter LT2 engine with a throttle prod is more interesting. This is a car that groans under the weight of its various powertrain and drive modes, but the default setting is Tour, and the Corvette settles into an immediately easy rhythm.

It’s wide, long, and low, so it does take some getting used to, but it’s way less intimidating than you might expect. The steering is nicely geared if a little lacking in feel—it’s nowhere as alert as the Ferrari 296’s or as pure as a McLaren’s—but it instantly impresses with its overall refinement and manners. It’s no thug, that’s for sure.

Switch to Sport mode, lean on it a little more meaningfully, and the E-Ray really raises its game. It’s hugely fast, warping past 62 mph in 2.9 seconds, riding a wave of torque (574 pound feet of the stuff) in a way that has definite echoes of its muscle-car forbears. The difference is that the electrified front axle means it has just as much appetite and aptitude for corners as it does long straights.

Courtesy of Corvette

Dynamic With Electric Smarts

The latest ’Vette has a sophisticated double-wishbone suspension and magnetic dampers, and its body control and ride quality are both exemplary. Even on the sort of roads that would have most cars heaving and bouncing at the speeds this hybrid can achieve, it never runs out of answers. Dynamically, it’s right up there with the best of them, no question.

Under acceleration, the E-Ray emits a distinct and quasi sci-fi yowl that, on paper, risks being tiresomely try-hard but in reality simply makes you smile every time. Note that there’s a Z mode that allows the driver to mix and match damper and powertrain settings, steering weight, and brake feel.

Courtesy of Corvette

A Performance Traction Management system serves up various stability and traction control settings. There’s a bit of overkill going on here, especially given that the Corvette’s chassis and engine are so inherently good.

This hardware excellence is boosted further by the hybridization. The ZO6 has long been the doozy in the Corvette family, a car that really shines on a track but also has the bandwidth in its current form to work on a great road, too.

But the E-Ray is just as fast and has an extra sure-footedness thanks to the electrified front axle, without hurting the entertainment. We didn’t expect it to shine so brightly in the UK, but this is a genuinely accomplished car and more than a match for Europe’s high-performance aristocrats. However, it’s priced accordingly, starting north of £150,000.