Description
The Chevrolet Corvette (C7) is the seventh generation of the Corvette sports car manufactured by American automobile manufacturer Chevrolet from 2014 until 2019. It was introduced for the 2014 model year as the first to bear the Corvette Stingray name since 1976. The first C7 Corvettes were delivered in the third quarter of 2013.
GM executives began planning the next-generation (C7) Corvette sports car in 2007. The car was originally planned for the 2011 model year, but was delayed. Mid-engine and rear-engine layouts had been considered, but the front-engine, rear-wheel drive (RWD) platform was chosen to keep costs lower.
The lead exterior designer of the C7 Corvette was Hwasup Lee, whose team completed the design between 2010 and 2011. The design director for the C7 was Kirk Bennion and the design was approved by the division’s design director, Tom Peters, in 2011.
The 2014 Corvette debuted on Sunday, January 13, 2013, in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show. Chevrolet also showed the new crossed flags logo for the Corvette.
While overall the C7 attempts to provide an evolutionary redesign to an iconic theme, the car’s designers incorporated aggressive angular elements. The C7 received criticism for some of the more styled elements of the car. “The rear contains what will surely be the C7’s most controversial styling elements. It’s all creases and vents back there, with aggressive trapezoidal taillights similar to those found on the current Camaro and quadruple-barreled tailpipes lined up in a neat row in the center of the rear valance”, wrote Jason Kavanagh for Edmunds. Functional aerodynamic aids are tacked on or cut into every body panel of the C7, often juxtaposed against sharp creases. This is a radical departure from the prior generations of Corvettes, whose styling had no spoiler, few body panel creases, and only semi-functional gills for front brake cooling. In addition, past Corvette models minimized the size of headlamps or even hid them altogether. The C7 reverses that minimalist styling language with intricately styled headlamps with integrated LED daytime running lights (DRL).
The C7’s all-new LT1 6.2L Small Block V-8 engine develops 455 horsepower (339 kW) and 460 pound-feet (620 N?m) of torque, which can accelerate the car from 0?60 mph (97 km/h) in 3.8 seconds. The optional Z51 Performance Package or the Grand Sport bumps up the LT1 to 460 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. The C7’s suspension consists of independent unequal-length double wishbones with transverse fiberglass mono-leaf springs and optional magnetorheological dampers, similar to its predecessor.
