In spite of corporate struggles at GM, 2009 and 2010 were fantastic years for Corvette development and innovation. In ‘09, Chevy unveiled the ZR1, which was the most powerful vehicle ever produced by General Motors. For the 2010 model year, GM released the Corvette Grand Sport. Enthusiasts might remember the Grand Sport as a special edition car from 1963 and ‘96, but the 2010 Grand Sport returned as a regular production car.

For $5,840 more than the standard coupe, a Grand Sport buyer receives a lot of vroom for his buck. For starters, the Grand Sport borrows the front splitter and rear spoiler from the Z06. Next, GM designers built wider front and rear fenders, to better match the wide styling of the Z06. On cars with manual transmissions, the dry-sump oiling system from the LS7 was added, as was launch control (included on all manual Corvettes). Z06 brakes and tires were combined with updated Z51 suspension (Grand Sport replaced RPO Z51), and the Grand Sport nicely occupied the performance gap between the $75,000 Z06 and the base Corvette.

Total Grand Sport production (6,042) made up about half of the Corvettes sold for the 2010 model year. GM built a total of 12,194 Corvettes, but the options list stayed long, and every Corvette could be customized to the owners delight. All eight colors were available on all models, and the ever-popular Torch Red reappeared as the second most popular color for 2010.