By Bob Sorokanich, Senior Editor, GM News
Take a look at this year’s Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems award winners, and two things jump out. One: For the first time in the 32-year history of the annual awards, every winning vehicle has an electrified powertrain – either fully battery-electric or hybrid. Two: The 1,250-horsepower1 Corvette ZR1X is by far the most powerful vehicle on the list, topping the next most powerful competitor by more than 500 horses.
“The reason this hybrid system exists is to enhance and augment the performance of an already stellar internal-combustion powertrain,” said Vijay D’Souza, assistant chief engineer and program manager for the Corvette performance hybrid system. “It takes the Corvette ZR1 and raises it one notch further to deliver the exceptional numbers you see with the ZR1X.”
The Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion ystems award “honors innovative engineering in the latest powertrains offered in vehicles in the U.S. market.” This year, Wards Auto judges evaluated 26 nominees on criteria including power, smoothness, efficiency, and innovation. Only vehicles with all-new or significantly improved powertrains (or winners from the previous year) were nominated.
The 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X earned glowing praise from Wards jurors, who called it “a rocket ship for the road” and said that the team behind the 1,250-horsepower1 powertrain “delivered a masterclass in electrification, making this hybrid an even more alluring version of the award-winning vehicle.”
D’Souza was integral in making this award-winning powertrain come to life. A few years ago, he worked on the Corvette E-Ray, which launched in model year 2024 as the first all-wheel drive Corvette. With an electric motor powering the front axle and a small-block V8 driving the rear wheels, the E-Ray offered both all-weather confidence and jaw-dropping acceleration. But the Corvette team was working on something even more impressive.
“ZR1X has always been part of the plan,” D’Souza told GM News. “The exact numbers, how much power we delivered, evolved with time.” A collaborative one-upsmanship took hold, with everyone on the powertrain team pitching in to find ways to make more power, reliably, from the hybrid all-wheel-drive system. “It was already a capable system, but we really pushed the envelope,” D’Souza said.
Starting with the 5.5-liter twin-turbo LT7 V8 engine that powers the Corvette ZR1 – which itself earned a place on the 2025 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems list – the ZR1X adds an additional 186 horsepower from its front-axle e-motor. Beginning with the front e-axle in the Corvette E-Ray, D’Souza and team increased the torque by roughly 20 percent, and increased the operating window of the hybrid battery by an additional 20 percent, increasing the amount of time that the all-wheel-drive system can operate while lapping on a racetrack.
“This gives the driver more confidence and vehicle handling capability on a racetrack,” D’Souza told GM News. “When the driver feels more confident, it translates to quicker lap times. On the racetrack, the hybridized drivetrain is the difference between getting great lap times with the ZR1 and exceptional lap times with the ZR1X. That’s part of how we got a 6 minute, 49 second lap time at the Nürburgring.”
Part of what makes the ZR1X so amazing – as noted by nearly every review in the automotive media – is the fact that it’s designed to excel away from the racetrack, too. As Wards points out, “it can settle down and seem as docile as any hybrid,” a proud achievement for D’Souza.
“There are vehicles that are hyper track-focused, but they’re not very good to drive on the road,” D’Souza said. “This isn’t like that. The ZR1X is a great everyday driver, too. You can comfortably take long road trips in it and still feel fresh when you arrive at your destination. I’ve driven up north to Sault Ste. Marie in the ZR1X and it felt great. And then, when you push the pedal down, it’s a beast.”
Achieving this mix of performance and refinement was no small feat. “It’s quite a task integrating the hybrid drivetrain to make sure it plays seamlessly with the internal combustion engine,” D’Souza told GM News. “There is no mechanical connection – the two systems are talking to each other through electronic control modules, constantly exchanging information.”
For D’Souza, and for all the engineering teams that contributed to the creation of the ZR1X, the project was a labor of love. “To know all the work that went behind it makes it even more rewarding,” he told GM News. “So many people worked on this, and all that effort coming together to deliver this kind of performance is really gratifying. It’s one of those pinnacle experiences in any career, to work on a vehicle like this and be part of a team like this. ZR1X has placed Corvette right up there with the top supercar and hypercar players. The team knew our North Star was to deliver exceptional performance, and that guided them through all the challenges.”
Like everyone on the Corvette team, D’Souza is quick to acknowledge the team spirit and passion that goes into a project like ZR1X. “The teamwork is what stands out in all of this,” he said. “Without people collaborating, going that extra mile, this wouldn’t have happened.”
11,064 horsepower from the LT7 5.5L V8 engine plus 186 horsepower from the eAWD (electric drive unit).
Take a look at this year’s Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems award winners, and two things jump out. One: For the first time in the 32-year history of the annual awards, every winning vehicle has an electrified powertrain – either fully battery-electric or hybrid. Two: The 1,250-horsepower1 Corvette ZR1X is by far the most powerful vehicle on the list, topping the next most powerful competitor by more than 500 horses.
“The reason this hybrid system exists is to enhance and augment the performance of an already stellar internal-combustion powertrain,” said Vijay D’Souza, assistant chief engineer and program manager for the Corvette performance hybrid system. “It takes the Corvette ZR1 and raises it one notch further to deliver the exceptional numbers you see with the ZR1X.”
The Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems award “honors innovative engineering in the latest powertrains offered in vehicles in the U.S. market.” This year, Wards Auto judges evaluated 26 nominees on criteria including power, smoothness, efficiency, and innovation. Only vehicles with all-new or significantly improved powertrains (or winners from the previous year) were nominated.
The 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X earned glowing praise from Wards jurors, who called it “a rocket ship for the road” and said that the team behind the 1,250-horsepower1 powertrain “delivered a masterclass in electrification, making this hybrid an even more alluring version of the award-winning vehicle.”
D’Souza was integral in making this award-winning powertrain come to life. A few years ago, he worked on the Corvette E-Ray, which launched in model year 2024 as the first all-wheel drive Corvette. With an electric motor powering the front axle and a small-block V8 driving the rear wheels, the E-Ray offered both all-weather confidence and jaw-dropping acceleration. But the Corvette team was working on something even more impressive.
“ZR1X has always been part of the plan,” D’Souza told GM News. “The exact numbers, how much power we delivered, evolved with time.” A collaborative one-upsmanship took hold, with everyone on the powertrain team pitching in to find ways to make more power, reliably, from the hybrid all-wheel-drive system. “It was already a capable system, but we really pushed the envelope,” D’Souza said.
Starting with the 5.5-liter twin-turbo LT7 V8 engine that powers the Corvette ZR1 – which itself earned a place on the 2025 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems list – the ZR1X adds an additional 186 horsepower from its front-axle e-motor. Beginning with the front e-axle in the Corvette E-Ray, D’Souza and team increased the torque by roughly 20 percent, and increased the operating window of the hybrid battery by an additional 20 percent, increasing the amount of time that the all-wheel-drive system can operate while lapping on a racetrack.
“This gives the driver more confidence and vehicle handling capability on a racetrack,” D’Souza told GM News. “When the driver feels more confident, it translates to quicker lap times. On the racetrack, the hybridized drivetrain is the difference between getting great lap times with the ZR1 and exceptional lap times with the ZR1X. That’s part of how we got a 6 minute, 49 second lap time at the Nürburgring.”
Part of what makes the ZR1X so amazing – as noted by nearly every review in the automotive media – is the fact that it’s designed to excel away from the racetrack, too. As Wards points out, “it can settle down and seem as docile as any hybrid,” a proud achievement for D’Souza.
“There are vehicles that are hyper track-focused, but they’re not very good to drive on the road,” D’Souza said. “This isn’t like that. The ZR1X is a great everyday driver, too. You can comfortably take long road trips in it and still feel fresh when you arrive at your destination. I’ve driven up north to Sault Ste. Marie in the ZR1X and it felt great. And then, when you push the pedal down, it’s a beast.”
Achieving this mix of performance and refinement was no small feat. “It’s quite a task integrating the hybrid drivetrain to make sure it plays seamlessly with the internal combustion engine,” D’Souza told GM News. “There is no mechanical connection – the two systems are talking to each other through electronic control modules, constantly exchanging information.”
For D’Souza, and for all the engineering teams that contributed to the creation of the ZR1X, the project was a labor of love. “To know all the work that went behind it makes it even more rewarding,” he told GM News. “So many people worked on this, and all that effort coming together to deliver this kind of performance is really gratifying. It’s one of those pinnacle experiences in any career, to work on a vehicle like this and be part of a team like this. ZR1X has placed Corvette right up there with the top supercar and hypercar players. The team knew our North Star was to deliver exceptional performance, and that guided them through all the challenges.”
Like everyone on the Corvette team, D’Souza is quick to acknowledge the team spirit and passion that goes into a project like ZR1X. “The teamwork is what stands out in all of this,” he said. “Without people collaborating, going that extra mile, this wouldn’t have happened.”
11,064 horsepower from the LT7 5.5L V8 engine plus 186 horsepower from the eAWD (electric drive unit).