This came from DigitaCorvettes.com.

Take it for what it's worth.


"OMG!!!

Sit down before reading this. It could be life changing....

An old friend of mine who is a GM Powertrain Tech in Warren, MI called me out of the blue today (4pm AZ time). I haven't talked to him since our daughter was born this past July. Anyway, he said he just found out they got their budget to do beta development on the "C7's" powertrain. I said , C7? You guys haven't started selling C6's yet!

He say's all this talk of the "Blue Devil" C6 is misinformation meant to keep the journalists at bay. He says there won't be a "Blue Devil" version of the C6. He said that there will be a Z06 or Z07 (as yet undetermined) version of C6 that will be a 2006 model. It will make 50-75 more HP than the C6's LS2.

Here's where it gets interesting:

He says the "C7" will be out, possibly in 07, more likely in 08, and that GM will sell BOTH platforms concurrently.

Both cars will carry the Corvette badge, but each will be significantly different in design, layout, and capability.

Are you sitting down?

He says the C7 is MID-ENGINED. The chassis is coming from the Cadillac Cien concept car, and the price tag WILL be north of 100 grand. They are targetting the Lamborghini Murcielago as the performance benchmark. I asked about the engine layout (OHC, multi valve, aspiration), but he wouldn't tell me. He just said I'd love it.

Like I said, take it with a grain of salt, but this is the same guy who told me in July that the C6 had exposed headlights, an open cowl, and that the interior looked like a reworked C5's.
I trust him. I'm gonna FREAK if he turns out right again.

Of course I will continue badgering the hell out of him to keep leaking info. And no, none of you can know his name. I don't want to lose him his job."

 

I read this on Corvette Forum yesterday or the day before...

Let me just say I am more than skeptical....

 

Yup I read this too. This also seems pretty unbelievable to me.

 

That's some pretty earth-shattering into for someone at the tech center (allegedly) to be spreading...I know I've never come across info this big without the universal caveat "Tell anyone, I'll kill you "

Anyways, I'll believe it when i see it, but so far this doesn't pass the smell test...If true, whoever leaked this info must not care about his job, because he'll be on his way out on Mon.

On another note, I'm a little disappointed at this trend which keeps taking the performance market upscale...I've always loved and idolized corvettes as a kid, i had corvette models, books, mags, and I'm still a daily visitor to the corvette forums...The problem is that even though the corvette is my dream car, I've realized it will be out of my price range for at least the next 20 years...The best i could hope for right now would be the stang...

Long story short: GM, get to work on the Camaro, already...

 

If it's true, I'm glad to see it, they've needed to set their sights higher and compete in the market with the Vipers and GT40's and such. And the idea that they will be making both, the upscale version and the regular Vette, seems to be a credible type of move, if true...
I too have my sights on one, once the kids get grown and move out...for now I'm waiting on the next Camaro too!....

 

It's difficult to believe really..........

The current C5 is out of my price range...............

C7.........competing with Lamborghini?

I couldn't even afford to glance sideways at it.

 

While I wouldn't completely rule out a mid-engine super Vette, I very highly doubt it would be deemed a "C7". I'll believe it when I see it. There have been too many of these "This same guy told me back in 2001 that the C6 will have 4 wheels, so he's a reliable source!!!" type of claims to believe.

 

The $100K 625hp twin turbo vette was always a pipe dream. I never believed it for a minute.

It made absolutely NO sense to the maker or the buyer. Like I've said before, it would still be a $40K vette with a Lingenfelter drivetrain.

This is the correct way to do things. Keep the vette where it belongs, the affordable sports car.

Then if GM wants to compete with the big boys, FINE. Build a REAL supercar from the ground up and give buyers REAL value for their $100K+. A mid-engined car based off the Cien would be perfect for a GM supercar.

This also takes pressure off to keep moving the vette upscale and along with the price.

 

How would a Twin Turbo 427 Carbon fiber body Vette Not be a real value for $100K? You would have to spend $400,000+ to get something faster.

 

The twin turbo Vette may not be a pipedream for all we know...this little bit of "info" doesn't prove anything. And again, there would be no difference between the $100,000 Vette with the outrageous powertrain and the $55,000 Mustang Cobra R....

 

No I wouldn't. I could buy a '93 Fox body stang, drop a KB '03 Cobra motor in it making 800hp and embarrass the $100K vette from here to Sunday for about $20K. And the Blue Devil driver won't give a rat's *** that I just wiped up the road with him.

See it's not just about being faster. The current Z06 is just as fast as the new Lamborghini Gallardo. BUT WHO CARES? The Lambo's a LAMBO, and a Vette's a Vette.




That's exactly my point.

 

I could see a mid-engine top of the line Corvette for a few reasons. If Cadillac builds the Cien, Chevy would have to be part of the mix with a model with more hp (of course). Two models would justify the expense. Also since the vette already has a rear mounted tranny (since 97) with a little work on the subframes-presto mid-engine. Since the Vette is built on a spaceframe like fiero or saturn-(again since 97-source: Corvette Quarterly) it would be very easy to build a totally different looking model on the same chassis. Finially I would expect an aluminum spaceframe-weight reduction could be a few hundred pounds. (Take a look at www.ev1.com and see the alum chassis GM has already used in production, click on structure at bottom of page. That chassis is 210 pounds lighter (42% lighter) than a steel version.) By the way, the ev1 structure was really just an improved version of what the fiero was built on.

 

I don't think the hardcore vette owners will take something like this too lightly. I don't see this happening bcuz it would be a slap in the face to what the Corvette has become as the "American Icon". This was also looked at about 10yrs ago, and look how far it got. They even had a concept and nothing happened.

Also supposly making a C6 and C7 model and selling them at the same time would be like Ford producing the 03 Cobra and the 98 Cobra at the same time, it doesn't make sense.

 

Not really, the C7 wouldn't be the replacement for the C6, I guess better names would be C6.a and C6.b

11 year old modified cars don't compare to $100K+ supercars.

THink more on the lines of Porsche 911, they range from $69,365 - $192,465 and 315HP to 477HP

 

I just don’t see this happening. Why would they blow so much money into developing and certifying a car like this? It’s already Chevy’s halo car, their image car. Why do they need even more image in it? They could just drop in a TT LS2/7 and still rape a Lambo at the track.

Plus I’m damn sure the Cein wasn’t even on its own platform. It was a show car built with off the self parts. Wasn’t it built with a lot of C5 parts?

I’ll believe this when one hits me next time I cross the street.

GM throw money at my 5th gen. I want my Orange drop top in ’08, it better be on the lot.