Just imagine one of these could do 30mpg even driven hard. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Since the 1960s, whether or not General Motors would finally put a mid-engine Corvette into production has been a perennial question for ‘Vette-watchers. Now they’ve got a new puzzle: is a hybrid Corvette on the way? The answer may be yes, based on a trademark that GM filed last week.

In fact, we asked Corvette’s product manager, Harlan Charles, exactly that question at the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Corvette plant earlier this year: will we ever see a hybrid ‘Vette? Predictably, Charles refused to be drawn into the question and only commented that someone, somewhere within GM R&D was almost certainly looking at the idea.

The idea of a hybrid Corvette makes a lot of sense. If the sports car wants a future in a warming world, the days of single-digit fuel economy for the more muscle-bound members of the class will need to end. BMW’s i8 has already shown that’s possible. What’s more, General Motors has a wealth of electrification know-how now that the Volt is in its second generation.