What does Chevrolet do when it wins Car of the Year for its 2014 Corvette Stingray? It builds a version of the car that’s even better, faster and more beautiful, that’s what. Behold, the 2015 Corvette Z06.
Rumors have been flying for months about the supercar version of the Corvette Stingray, but things got real on Monday when it was officially unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Corvette aficionados and serious track mavens will be awestruck by this beast. It makes the 2014 Corvette Stingray look wimpy. After riding in the 2014 Stingray, I can tell you that its 455hp V-8 let out such a bloodcurdling roar and pressed me back so far in the seat that it was downright scary. I can only imagine what the new supercharged 625hp V-8 in the Z06 feels like.
Even the base model Corvette Stingray presses the limits of what’s remotely practical for a street car. The 2015 Corvette Z06 goes way beyond that, dwarfing the stock Stingray’s 460 pound-feet of torque, boosting it to a neck-snapping 635 pound-feet.
This lovely conveyance is obviously built for those who intend to visit a race track every weekend.
Mark Reuss, head of GM’s North American operations said the slippery design of the Z06 “creates the most aerodynamic downforce of any production car that we have tested in our wind tunnel at General Motors.”
Take a look at Monday’s hypefest in this GM video (the actual presentation begins at 38:30):
Making racers happy will be a 7-speed manual transmission with active rev matching, but for the weekend warriors, there’s the option of a civilized 8-speed automatic transmission that Chevy says won’t sacrifice performance.
It’s getting to the point where the automation in these automatic transmissions can shift better than humans. I especially like the paddle shifters that give you nearly total manual control over the gearbox.
Yes, Chevrolet, this is indeed a supercar. Keep in mind, Chevrolet will still offer the Corvette Stingray in 2015. It’ll probably be much the same as the 2014 model (and hopefully retain its $51,000 base price), but will probably adopt that more-sophisticated 8-speed automatic transmission.
Thinking about buying a Z06? You’ll have to wait until late this year or early 2015, and start saving up your money. This monster is not going to be cheap. Chevy’s not talking price yet, but it’ll probably cost more than $100,000.
Images: Chevrolet