Car of the Day - 50th Anniversary Corvette Stingray Concept
Chevrolet has over the past few years developed the Corvette into a respected sportscar. Previously, outside of the US there has always been the view that the Corvette brand is predominantly about eye-candy. With the latest ZR1 it has served notice to the SuperCar establishment that there is another competitor in the mix.
Back in February 2009 at the Chicago Auto Show Chev first displayed the 50th Anniversary Corvette Stingray Concept, a celebration vehicle to mark the anniversary of the Bill Mitchell’s XP-87 “Stingray”. Whether the new Stingray concept was actually conceived to mark that milestone or GM used the anniversary to kill two birds with one stone and build a new design to meet Michael Bays requirements we don’t know. What is known is that Michael Bay did tour GM looking for product to use in his latest movie for the Transformer franchise; Revenge of the Fallen. Bay reportedly saw the 1959 Stringray racer concept and liked it - “Sideswipe” was born.
Now here we are latte in 2009 and Chev have re-released images of the new Stingray Concept with a new press release which makes for a good opportunity for the first of many Corvette Car of the Day profiles.
According to the new press release the Stingray Concept was an “internal design challenge (between the Corvette design team) to combine classic Corvette cues with surprisingly high-tech features, modern materials, and a striking new appearance”.
The car features a clamshell hood, scissor doors, rear-view camera with night vision enhancement, and a high performance hybrid drive.
Off course it is the last item that is currently the most important aspect of any concept car to indicate possible future direction for a high performance brand. With Ferrari confirming it is developing a all wheel drive hybrid system we are soon to enter a new period in propulsion systems for established sportscars.
In the meantime we can simply enjoy the eye-candy.
Rod Halligan
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