Chevrolet to debut Corvette Stingray Z06 at Detroit Auto Show

A year after it officially debuted the sublime 2014 Corvette Stingray, Chevrolet will debut to the world a high-performance Z06 edition at the Detroit Auto Show.

The car will be the most capable version to date of the all-new, seventh generation Corvette, known as the C7.

“Chevrolet is America’s favorite performance car brand, and for 2014 we are going to offer enthusiasts more choices than ever before,” said Alan Batey, senior vice president, Global Chevrolet, said in a statement.

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Details on the new Z06 are slim, save for a teaser image Chevy released Wednesday. But a slower car than the outgoing model is a near impossibility.

The 455-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 in the base C7 released this year made a nice leap in horsepower and efficiency over its predecessor. Much of this was achieved through tricks like direct-injections and cylinder deactivation. Expect the same from the C7 Z06 model.

The previous-generation C6 ZO6 version used a massive 7.0-liter naturally-aspirated V-8. It pushed 505 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque through a six-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels. It shaved weight off the base Z06 by using carbon fiber in some of the body panels.

Chevy didn’t say whether the new Z06 would continue to be naturally aspirated, use turbocharging or -- like the outgoing full-bonkers 638-horsepower ZR-1 -- introduce supercharging into the mix.

Another possibility is the car would use a hybrid drive train. Though this may seem far-fetched for a red-blooded American sports car, remember that General Motors president Mark Reuss hinted that such a version of the C7 could be a possibility in the future.

Pricing on the C7 ZO6 won’t be announced until the Detroit show, but don’t expect it to change much from the current model’s starting price of $78,000.

The news of the latest model comes on the heels of a strong showing for the new Corvette so far this year. Through November, Chevrolet said it sold just under 14,000 Corvettes. 7,600 of those were the outgoing C6 model that stopped production in February. The other 6,400 were the new C7, which went on sale in late August.

Year-over-year Corvette sales through November of 2013 versus 2012 are also up by 228 percent, Chevrolet reported. The brand also laid claim to most popular performance brand in the U.S. for the first 11 months of 2013. The Camaro and Corvette made up approximately 25 percent of all segment sales, Chevrolet said.

The timing of Wednesday’s Corvette Stingray Z06 announcement was no coincidence and underscores the rivalry between Chevrolet and Ford. Ford has long planned to reveal its next-generation Mustang to the world on Thursday, and does so with the Chevrolet Camaro squarely in its sights.

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