Australia’s Corvette Z06 Is Now $36,000 Cheaper And Built To Your Exact Spec

Chevrolet has done something car companies almost never do. It has made its most expensive model in Australia cheaper, and not by a token amount either.

The 2027 Corvette Z06 is now on sale locally from $299,990 before on-road costs, General Motors Australia and New Zealand announced today. When the Z06 first landed here it carried a $336,000 sticker, so buyers are looking at a saving of just over $36,000 on the track-bred, naturally aspirated flagship of the range.

Orders opened this morning, and the way you buy one has changed too. Every Australian Z06 is now built to order at GM’s Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Kentucky, with production kicking off in January 2027 and delivery timing hinging on how wild you go with the options list.

That options list is where things get dangerous.

Buyers can pick from 10 exterior colours, three of them new for MY27 (Pitch Grey Metallic, Admiral Blue Metallic and Roswell Green Metallic), plus a spread of forged 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels. Tick the right boxes and you can add carbon-fibre ground effects, a transparent removable roof, racing stripes and an engine appearance package with carbon panels, LED engine lighting and a red engine cover, so the V8 sitting behind your head gets the museum treatment it deserves.

And what a V8 it is. The hand-assembled LT6 is a 5.5-litre flat-plane crank unit with dry-sump lubrication that makes 475kW at 8550rpm and 595Nm at 6300rpm, then keeps pulling all the way to an 8600rpm redline.

It’s the kind of engine that has no business existing in 2026, which is precisely why people will queue for it.

Aussie cars still miss out on the full American tune, mind you. US-spec Z06s are rated at 500kW, while ours run an exhaust with a petrol particulate filter that trims the output, the same compromise European buyers live with.

Power heads to the rear wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch with a Z06-specific final drive, backed by Magnetic Ride Control 4.0, six-piston Brembo front brakes and an electronic limited-slip differential. If that isn’t enough, the optional Z07 Performance Package bolts on a carbon-fibre high wing and extra aero, performance suspension, bigger brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres, with carbon-ceramic brakes also on the menu.

Inside, the Z06 is only sold here as the top-spec 3LZ coupe. That means GT2 bucket seats in Nappa leather, carbon-fibre trim, a carbon wheel and paddles, a head-up display, a 14-speaker Bose system and a front lift with memory.

The cabin also picks up the new three-screen cockpit seen across the Corvette range, pairing a 14-inch driver display with a 12.7-inch touchscreen and a 6.6-inch auxiliary screen. Google Gemini is built in, as are over-the-air updates and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while the Performance Data Recorder now offers side-by-side video analysis and automated speed tips.

“The new Z06 combines the iconic naturally aspirated V8, genuine track capability and an impressive level of personalisation,” said Greg Rowe, Acting Managing Director of GM ANZ.

“Importantly, its sharp new price point makes the Z06 more accessible, while the exclusive build-to-order model ensures every customer can create a Corvette that is distinctly their own.”

Here is where the maths gets interesting. The Corvette E-Ray hybrid is now priced from $292,990, which leaves just $7,000 between it and the Z06, while the Stingray coupe starts at $193,990 in 2LT trim.

We’ve spent plenty of time in the Stingray and rate it the best value supercar in the country, but at this money the Z06 makes a strong case of its own. Very few new cars at any price give you a flat-plane V8 screaming to 8600rpm, and the European exotics that do generally cost a whole lot more.

The Z06 arrives on the back of the MY26 Stingray and E-Ray launch, as well as the Corvette Z06 Bathurst 12 Hour Special Edition, which was limited to just 12 cars and timed to the brand’s gutsy Bathurst 12 Hour debut earlier this year.

If that race program proved anything, it’s that Australians will turn up in numbers for a loud American V8 with a genuine motorsport story attached. Now it costs less to park one in your garage than it did when the Z06 first arrived, which is not a sentence we expected to write in 2026.