2013 is shaping up to be a frantic year for Chevrolet,
with over a dozen reveals and launches on its calendar. New iterations
of the most financially and emotionally important vehicles to the brand
are launching little more than a few weeks apart – the 2014 Silverado (financially) and the 2014 Corvette
(emotionally). Better than any other models, these two lines form the
bedrock for the Bowtie's identity and bookend its portfolio. The pickup
is the backbone of the brand's profits (and indeed, those of General Motors) and the Corvette is its spiritual core and flagship.
The 2014 Corvette Stingray will slay a few sacred cows.
It's fair to say that upon first impression, the new Silverado didn't exactly bowl over the assembled media – or the
Autoblog
commenteriat – with what many see as largely incremental improvements.
(This, at a time when rivals are rewriting the book on what it means to
be a full-size pickup). By contrast, the 2014 Corvette Stingray will
slay a few sacred cows along the way to what is its arguably its biggest
model-over-model change in decades. And at least at first glance, the
Vette appears all the better for it.
We'll get to the specifics of its genetic makeup and appearance in a
minute, but for now, you'll want to focus on these key bits: The all-new
LT1 small-block V8 holds on to the same 6.2-liter displacement as the
C6, here producing 450 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque backed by
either a seven-speed manual or a six-speed paddleshift automatic. And
although GM has yet to release the car's weight (we only know it won't
be under 3,000 pounds as previously rumored), it's promising a better
power-to-weight ratio than the Porsche 911 Carrera and Audi R8.
In fact, Chevy pledges the C7 will run from 0-60 in less than four
seconds and Z51 Performance Package examples will achieve cornering grip
of over one g right out of the box. Further, 60-0 braking distances are
said to be consistent with that of the outgoing Grand Sport and so are
its lap times – impressive for a standard model.
Aesthetically, the car seen here is a big departure, though from most
angles, it's still quite clearly a Corvette. About the same size as
before, the C7 should nevertheless look significantly smaller in person
thanks to its shrink-wrapped sheetmetal (err, fiberglass), which is much
more angular. The front end is pure Corvette, with more detailed HID
headlamps and much greater surface definition and tension in the hood,
which, like the roof panel, is rendered in carbon fiber to shave weight.
For reference, the C7 looks to be about the same size dimensionally as
the 911, albeit with a significantly longer 106.7-inch wheelbase than
the rear-engined German.
The biggest change to the C7 is its rear end, which is unlike any Corvette before it.
The C7's profile is the same basic view that's been around since the C4,
with one big exception – the institution of a secondary side window,
something not seen on a Corvette since 1962. The move was necessitated
by air intakes mounted atop the rear fenders that feed the rear-mounted
heat exchangers on automatic or Z51-equipped models (more on both in a
moment). The ducts also mean the backlight is no longer a wraparound
piece of glass, it's more flat and tapered. Otherwise, the side view is
the same long dash-to-axle layout, albeit again, with more muscled
contours to the skin, particularly in the body's lower third.
The biggest change aesthetically to the C7 is undoubtedly its rear end,
which is utterly unlike any Corvette before it. It's likely to be the
new design's biggest source of controversy, as well – there's no getting
around it, the unusual taillamp treatment is going to be the crux of
most styling discussions. Not only are the quad lenses not round, they
are clustered together tightly, angular and have real depth and interest
thanks in part to their lens internals and because they are surrounded
by unusual new vents. There are new vents in the extremities of the
blacked-out bumper, too, all part of a massively reworked aerodynamics
strategy that has been "blatantly lifted from the C6R" racecar. Combined
with the new side window and roofline, we almost see a bit of Nissan GT-R
in the shallow rear three-quarter view, but there's plenty here that's
distinctive, including four Howitzer-sized exhaust outlets.
