Tadge Juechter, GM’s chief engineer behind the Corvette, is set to retire

The man behind the Chevrolet machine, the Corvette, is retiring.

General Motors said Wednesday that Tadge Juechter, Corvette’s chief executive engineer, will retire later this summer after a 47-year career at GM. His position will be announced later.

Juechter, 63, is leaving what is arguably one of the most prestigious jobs in the auto industry. He began working with Corvette in 1993 and has made industry-leading contributions to the last four generations of Corvette, General Motors said, including the Corvette winning North American Car of the Year in 2020.

In fact, NASCAR team owner and car dealer Rick Hendrick, who is one of the largest Corvette collectors in the country, said Juechter is not only “brilliant,” but has a passion for the Corvette and paid attention to the details of the car he built. it’s big. Hendrick credits Juechter with what Hendrick calls a “huge leap” in Corvettes design and engineering when Juechter converted the sports car to a mid-engine design in 2019.

“I’ve known a lot of great engineers and they’re all very talented,” Hendrick told the Detroit Free Press. “I’m not going to say one is better than the other, but the jump from C7 to C8 (mid. -engine) was huge, and he’s responsible for that.”

Hendrick paid $3 million for the mid-engine Corvette with VIN 0001 to add to his collection of about 140 Corvettes since owning the first VIN of the 1956 model. The Corvette was first introduced to the market in 1953.

More:He owns one of the largest Corvette collections. Here’s a peek behind the closed door

In a statement, Juechter said, “It has been the honor of a lifetime to work at this company, to lead the men and women who have brought to life one of the most iconic and recognizable cars in recent American history. Their strength and ability to push the limits of what is possible in every variant and This generation of Corvette was inspiring to see. I know the nameplate’s future is in the right hands.”

Juechter began his career at GM in 1977 at the company’s Assembly Division in Lordstown, Ohio. From there, he held various roles with the automaker before joining the Corvette team in 1993 as assistant chief engineer. Juechter worked on the fifth generation Corvette, produced between 1997 and 2004, and the sixth generation, produced between 2005 to 2013 while working under Dave Hill, Corvette’s chief engineer at the time.

After launching the two Corvettes, Juechter was appointed to what he described as “development life,” as Corvette’s chief engineer in 2006. In this role, he led the development of the seventh and eighth generation cars, the second. to be the revolutionary mid-engine Corvette.

Juechter’s latest work will be unveiled this summer when GM unveils the ZR1, which is expected to be the fastest Corvette yet. In an article a week ago, Car and Driver wrote that the ZR1 is expected to have a 5.5-liter V-8 engine tuned to 800 horsepower.

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