A Chevrolet dealership in Arkansas has priced a 2027 Corvette ZR1X 3LZ Convertible in Red Mist Metallic at $696,445. The figure is the car’s $296,445 sticker plus a $400,000 line item the dealer calls an “Exclusive Market Value Adjustment.” Autoblog reported the listing on Nov. 4, after photos of the window sticker circulated on social media.
The day in tech, in one email: TLDR is the daily newsletter with links and TLDRs of the most interesting stories in startups, tech and programming.
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
The asking price is more than double the sticker. At that number, Autoblog noted, a buyer could instead take a Ferrari 849 Testarossa at its starting price and keep about $130,000.
The dealer’s markup line and its stated reasoning
Rex Sanchez, Autoblog’s news editor, wrote up the listing in a report that does not name the dealership, identifying it only as Arkansas-based. The listing itself supplies the justification: it cites limited dealer allocations, exclusivity and hypercar demand, and says its adjustments “reflect authentic real-time secondary and primary market demand.” Sanchez added that dealer markups are common on exclusive models and that shoppers should research market value before negotiating.
The car is the top-spec version of Chevrolet’s hybrid-assisted hypercar. The 3LZ is the highest trim, and the convertible roof adds about $10,000 over the coupe. Underneath is the 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged LT7 V8 plus a front-axle electric motor, which together make 1,250 horsepower and send power to all four wheels.
Autoblog’s price ladder puts the number in perspective. The Corvette ZR1, which pairs the same twin-turbo V8 with no electric motor and no all-wheel drive, starts at $198,000, and the Stingray starts at $71,300 with a 6.7-liter LS6 small-block V8. At $696,445 the Arkansas asking price would cover nearly ten Stingrays. The social media post that first spread the sticker photos is dated Oct. 30, so the listing had been circulating for several days before Autoblog’s Nov. 4 write-up.
What Chevrolet charges for a ZR1X before any dealer adjustment
Chevrolet’s own ZR1X page lists the 1LZ at $227,800 and the 3LZ at $238,800, with an example configuration at $264,285. It breaks the 1,250 horsepower into 1,064 from the V8 and 186 from the front electric unit, and it quotes a track top speed of 233 mph. The Arkansas sticker of $296,445 sits $68,645 above the 1LZ starting price, which leaves room for options and the convertible body, and the dealer’s $400,000 adds a further 135 percent on top of that sticker.
Prices have moved since launch. When Chevrolet announced the car in August 2025, Motor1 reported a ZR1X coupe at $207,395 with destination and a convertible at $217,395, with the 3LZ coupe at $218,395. Autoblog says the 2027 starting price of $227,800 followed two increases this year, so the base car now costs roughly $20,000 more than the figure Motor1 reported at the debut, though the 2025 numbers included destination charges.
The listing frames the $400,000 as a response to demand, yet the figure is the dealer’s own decision rather than a charge set by the manufacturer. Autoblog’s report includes no comment from Chevrolet or General Motors, and the dealership is not identified, so there is no named spokesperson to say whether the company intends to respond. Two dealers holding the same ZR1X can quote prices hundreds of thousands of dollars apart, because each sets its own adjustment, and the $296,445 sticker in this case is the only part of the $696,445 that the listing ties to the factory’s configuration.
Auction bids and the one-year ownership rule
The Arkansas listing is not the first ZR1X to attract money well past sticker. In October, Brad Anderson of Carscoops wrote about a 2027 ZR1X on Bring a Trailer with an original price of $296,100 after options, including a $13,000 Carbon Fiber Aero package and $16,000 carbon wheels. Bids had already passed $400,000, roughly 35 percent above the car’s original price. Carscoops cited a 0-60 mph time of 1.68 seconds on a prepped surface and a quarter-mile of 8.67 seconds at 159 mph for that car, performance figures that explain some of the bidding. An auction premium of that size is a market result, while the Arkansas figure is an asking price that no one has yet agreed to pay.
GM has tried to blunt flipping with ownership rules. According to GM Authority’s description of the retention letter, buyers of the ZR1 must keep the car for a year or risk losing access to future high-demand models and most of the factory warranty. The rule applies to selling or transferring the car; it says nothing about what a dealer may charge, and GM has warned dealers about market adjustment fees before.
Carscoops noted that ZR1 and ZR1X models registered and sold within 12 months lose warranty coverage, which is why dealers and auction sellers advertise unregistered cars with full factory coverage intact. A buyer paying $696,445 for a ZR1X would take on that retention clause, and whether any buyer will accept the $400,000 line item remains unknown, since the dealer has not reported a sale.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
The day in tech, in one email: Get TLDR →
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
More from Morning Overview
- Tropical Storm Rachel is dumping up to 12 inches on four Mexican states on its way to major hurricane strength
- The FTC says Lens.com doubled the price shoppers saw in Google ads
- Common allergy, bladder and sleep pills tied to sharply higher dementia odds
- NOAA now gives this winter a 75% chance of the strongest El Nino since 1950
