Chevrolet planning low-cost Corvette under Stingray?

If you're burnt out on musings about the Chevrolet Corvette, you'll want to go ahead and skip this post. Motor Trend reports General Motors is hard at work on a low-cost version of the seventh-generation sports car for 2015. Rumored to be called the Corvette Coupe, the car will forgo the Stingray and skip the 450-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 engine in favor of a 5.3-liter V8 with under 400 ponies. If you're keeping track, that's a shade of the same engine found behind the headlights of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.

The report also suggests the Coupe will receive a number of aesthetic tweaks to separate it from the Stingray, including different front and rear fascias as well as new front fenders and a rear diffuser. Motor Trend says the point of all this is to cut the car's price tag, which means we may see a Corvette on showroom floors for less than $50,000 if this car comes to fruition.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/27/c...nder-stingray/

 

is that really how its going to look? because I still think it looks fantastic.

However, GM is totally diluting the corvette name. How many versions are there now? ZR-1, ZO6, Grandsport, Stingray...etc

 

No, that's the actual Stingray in the picture. This supposed Corvette would probably be lower grade in materials I would assume to lower price point

 

from the comments sections of the article....

 

I see no problem with it, how many variations of the 911 does Porsche have. Enough to satisfy almost any buyer from those that just want to cruise and putt around town to those that want a serious track weapon. I dont see why Chevy cant do the same with the Corvette.

 

I don't see what the hooplah is about - every Corvette is "low-cost"; that's how they sell. The current base Corvette is surely under 50k...

 

All in how you look at it. Is there any such thing as a low-cost new Corvette? 45-50K is still a lot of cash.

 

In the context of the article, a low-cost Corvette is apparently something under 50k. The current gen entry-level Corvette already is under 50k. That's all I was pointing out.

 

So will there be a ZO6 equivalent model? Even the regular model with 450 hp is anemic for a Corvette....

 

Since when in the **** is 450hp anemic in a car that weighs 3100lbs???? The new C7 will do 0-60 in under 4 seconds and has a better power to weight ratio than a 911 Carrerra or Audi R8.

Now as far as a cheap base model with a generic 5.3 v8 truck motor, that is going to suck IMO. We shouldn't have a base model C7 that is significantly slower than the C6 it replaced. This is like going back to the good old days of the 1980's Camaros, three different v8 options, only one of them was actually as fast as the Mustang GT.

The Corvette is already cheap enough. It'll probably be about $60k nicely equipped with the Z51 track package, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than a Porsche 911(or a Cayman S with a few options).

 

The C6 ZO6 was roughly 3100 lbs too, and boasted 505 hp, with a 0-60 of 3.6

I would expect them to up the ante for the C7.

 

If they keep the 7.0L V8, they will up the power. Base will have 450hp. Z06 they mentioned in Motortrend to offer anywhere from 550-600hp, but it all depends on the final output of the ZR1 which rumor has it will pack 700hp. Again all rumormill but its a good guess

 

They will, just not with the base car. I mean if you start off offering 500+hp on the base car, its kind of hard to do a faster model that seems that much more special. I mean base 911's don't come from the factory with turbochargers or even the larger displacement engine. Audi sells the R8 with a v8 and v10 engine. The Vette is a pretty mass-market sports car, its not like a Viper where they're all the same and they sell 4,000 units a year. Different options for different buyers, as long as you don't dillute the car with something lame like a low output truck motor.